OMP seat - Backrest issue

[girarcat]

Hi! I've owned an OMP TRS-E bucket seat for several years now.
Some time ago, as I went hard on the brakes to avoid an accident, I heard a loud clunk noise and the backrest metal plate sort of bulged inwards, as I put quite a lot of pressure on this area. I punched the backrest from behind a couple times, and it went back to normal.

Since then, every time I go a bit harder than usual on the brakes, same thing happens once again, and I'd say every time it takes a lower amount of pressure for the issue to show up. It's quite annoying because the sudden movement on my back makes me lose my feeling on the brake pedal, and I almost always end up crashing the car.

I cannot understand how something like this is even possible on a FIA homologated bucket seat. It generates quite a dangerous situation.

Has anyone suffered something similar with their bucket seat? Any Ideas on how to fix it?
I was wondering if attaching a metal or wooden strip across the rear side of the backrest might provide some extra rigidity.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Sounds like your seat is EoL (end of life)

Fia seats have a limited period of use because in a race car a seat is wear item ( as you have discovered)

As the TRS-E is a steel frame seat it should be possible to "repair" it by stripping the cushions away and weld in reinforcements. That would also be the perfect opportunity to shape the back rest ergonomocally to your back
by preforming the hard back rest or at least the cushion.
As you noticed the braking forces should not be underestimated and in a worst case scenario you could injure yourself when the seat back breakes.

If you google pictures for TRS-E you´ll probably find pics of the "naked" steel frame.

 

[girarcat]

Sounds like your seat is EoL (end of life)

Fia seats have a limited period of use because in a race car a seat is wear item ( as you have discovered)

As the TRS-E is a steel frame seat it should be possible to "repair" it by stripping the cushions away and weld in reinforcements. That would also be the perfect opportunity to shape the back rest ergonomocally to your back
by preforming the hard back rest or at least the cushion.
As you noticed the braking forces should not be underestimated and in a worst case scenario you could injure yourself when the seat back breakes.

If you google pictures for TRS-E you´ll probably find pics of the "naked" steel frame.

Thanks for your answer! It does look like the seat has reached its end of life, however it's quite disappointing. I've owned it for about 5 years. The issue appeared for the first time about 2 years ago, meaning the seat was roughly 3 years old. Besides, I'm a very casual driver. It may be months between one racing session and the next one. I could say the seat utilization has been very limited throughout those years.

I understand the TRS-E is one of the cheapest homologated bucket seats out there, but even a toy car's seat would last longer than that before suffering structural failure.
I'll certainly never use one of those bucket seats in a real-life car. If they are not even capable of coping with the forces involved in a racing simulator...

I've tried to look for pictures of the naked steel frame to try and envisage some DIY solution but haven't found any such image so far.

 

[stigs2cousin]

That´s a shame, I´m sure i´ve seen pics of, the frame.
Had to do with the attempt to fix bassshakers to the seat.

Edith:
searched some more and couldn´t find it either.
Sorry to mislead you, must have misremembered.

 

[girarcat]

That´s a shame, I´m sure i´ve seen pics of, the frame.
Had to do with the attempt to fix bassshakers to the seat.

Edith:
searched some more and couldn´t find it either.
Sorry to mislead you, must have misremembered.

No worries! Thanks for trying anyway!