How can I take the front seat out if it is stuck forward so that I cannot get to back bolts that hold it in place?

The seat is connected with 2 bolts in the front and 2 nuts in the back...which are accessible by moving the seat backwards or forwards. There is really no way to just remove the cushions while the seat is in place.
So before seat removal ... I would cut a metal coat hanger. Bend so there is at least 2 feet straight with a about a 1/8"-1/4" small 90 degree bend at the end. I would fish that down from the front with the seat fully back ... between the console and seat ... as far down as you can and try hooking the ring ... even though you can not see it ... you may hit it and can push or pull it so you can then see it. But you are correct, that it could be in the track ... in which case the coat hanger will do nothing.
Then I would remove the 2 bolts up front and loosen the rear nuts but not totally remove the nuts. You could then hopefully just tilt the seat backwards without disconnecting all the wiring harnesses....to uncover the ring. If the ring is in the track ... you may have to totally remove remove the seat.
The front bolts may not be that easy to remove due to corrosion etc on an 18 year old car.
Good luck on your troubleshooting!
Helpful?

Front Seat Removal

• Open the door to the seat you wish to access. Locate the bolts holding the seat assembly in place. They will be positioned on all four corners of the seat assembly. Adjust the seat all the way to the back to access the bolts in the front. Loosen the bolts with a socket wrench and pull the bolts from the floorboard. Repeat this for the other front bolt. Slide the seat as far forward as possible to gain access to the rear seat bolts. Remove these bolts with the socket wrench. The seat will be loose from the floorboard. Tilt the whole seat to the dash to gain access to the wiring assembly underneath. Disconnect the wiring by separating it from the connectors. Use some help to lift the seat from the car. The seat may be bulky or heavy to lift. The driver and passenger seat are installed the same way.

get under the front seats there are 4 bolts holding the seats in the floor plus a torx bolt for the lap belt, take seats out the back seat has 2 torx bolts at the front bottom of the lower cushion remove them and pull the bottom forward the back has 2 bolts holding it remove them and lift the unit straight up, be carefull there is wires under the front seat for the seat belt warning light carefully unhook them 1 for each seat now you need hog ring plairs and a bunch of new hog rings to secure the new fabric, use side cutter plairs to remove old hog rings carefully remove the seat covers, hog rings can be got at car glass shops the pliars can be got from summit racing or a place that sells car uppolstrytake your time and you can do it!!

slide it forward undo the bolts holding seat to floor , slide seat back and remove those bolts , lift out seat

Fold the top of the back seat down. My 1990 civic lx has a place to put your key at the top to release the seat. Remove the trunk carpet from the seat back by pulling out the plastic screws. Remove 2 bolts (10 mm) on each side holding the seat on a bracket. The top part of the seat should now slide out. Once you get the top part of the seat out, a bolt should be exposed just to the right of the center of the seat bottom attaching it to the floor. Unscrew the bolt. Now tip the seat bottom up and forward. There are two hooks to the front of the seat bottom. You will have to move the seat back and forth a few times to unhook them and then pull the hooks out of the slots on the floor.

Hey everyone--after searching in vain for an entire 10 days, and absolutely REFUSING to pay Ford's $100 diagnosis fee, and their $300 replacement suggestion ($400??), I decided to figure this out myself. And I did. Do the following to let loose the tension that has kept your seat stuck in the down position (though my truck is a 2008 Ford Escape, I have a strong feeling this is the case with any vehicle):

1. Remove the seat bottoms (which are folded forward and upward against the back of the front seats). To do this, find the bars that are bracketed into the floor. There may or may not be a little yellow lever on one of the two brackets. If so, flip it and slide the bar out. If it stops, pull the other side out. Doing this should allow you to completely remove the seat from the car. Repeat with other side.

Now you should have plenty of room to work. Move front seats forward, and you've got even more.

2. Remove your back seats entirely. (Sorry- it's a must.) For many, you will require either one or both of these:
One Torx T-50 socket to remove T-50 bolt (which bolts seat belt latches to the floor)
One Torx T-55 (which bolts the folding seat into the bracket that bolts seats to the floor).
One socket extension (tip: the extension gives you much more torque, and its easier to remove bolts) and
One a 5/8" socket. (See continuation after following tip.)

TIP: if you have a 40/60 split, you have to remove the 40 first! This will allow you room to move around the 60 seat and its stuck belt.

Continued:
Remove bolts that bolt bracket to car floor (this is the 40 seat). I believe there's two: 1 directly below the seat, and 1 that also bolts the 60 seat (you'll be using the 5/8" here)-- Don't hold me to it, though, as I've seen some different stuff. Pull seat out of the way to avoid potential damage. NOTE: THOSE BRACKETS ARE SHARP. WATCH THE LEATHER/SEAT MATERIAL-- AND YOUR HANDS.)

2. Remove bolts on the 60. Though the top part of your seat is down, you should be able to the bolt that keeps the bracket to the floor beneath where the seat cushion would be (and where the upper part of the seat is laying flat). A ratchet would probably be best for this since you can keep the socket in place and wind the thing completely out. I should say here that my seat couldn't have been tighter to the floor. If I got mine out, I'm sure you can, too.

Now here come the tricky, but verrrrry easy parts. They are vital.

1. Now that the brackets are off of the floor, the 60 seat should now be free-floating in your hands, but tethered by the T50 bolt that is keeping the seatbelt buckle to the floor. Remove it. Now you should be able to remove the seat altogether. I had to bring mine inside where it wasn't 15 degrees in my garage, but I believe you'll do these parts in the next five minutes. Do this next:

2. TIP the 60 SEAT UPRIGHT (just like it would if things were back to the normal operational mode). This is VITAL. If you cannot fix it with two or three tugs from here (don't waste more time than this-- the final part is coming), then do this next:

3. Find the latch on the back of the seat that locks onto the latch of the car. Using two gloved fingers (or tools), press the latch inward until it's in the LOCKED position (fooling it into thinking you've put it up and latched into into the truck bracket).
This should have also reset the button or lever that you used to unlock the seat in the first place. Now give your belt a tug. It should come loose like normal.

IMPORTANT NOTE: seatbelt tensioners rely on gravity (thing momentum during a crash) that locks the belt. If the seat is not sitting UPRIGHT (like in normal use mode), that mechanism is going to obey gravity if it is tilted backward or forward (which is why the seat got in the downward position to begin with) and lock.

That's it. Bolt the seats back in, and go buy yourself $400 worth of rewards.

there are plastic covers over the front bolts that hold the seat to the floor remove the screws the hold these covers on then remove the two front bolts under these covers then move the seat all the way forward and you should be able to see the two bolts that hold the rear of the seat to the floor pan there could be covers on these to remove the bolts and then tip the seat forward and unplug the wire connector for the power seat(if it has this option).hope this helped

only 4 bolts hold the seat in they may have a plastic cover on them that can be popped off with a screwdriver.remove the bolts and lean the seat back check the wires going to the motor and make sure it has power going to it.Don't know of any way to manually recline the seat without taking it apart.

Take apart the drive box in front of seat track, on both sides with an allen wrench. You can then push the seat to get at the bolts to remove it. My trolley drive motor had bad brushes. I am now looking to replace the motor, if I can find the replacement.

My intuition tells me that the 6 way power seat track forward / reverse motor is bad. Sometimes you can replace just the one motor but most often a whole new power seat track is the only way to repair. It is not too bad to replace but the seat will have to be removed from the car and placed upside down to access the track assy. There are 2 bolts in the front of the seat and 2 bolts in the back of the seat that hold it down to the floorboard. Once it is loose you can rock the seat backwards to access and unplug the electrical connectors.