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The FAA has proposed mandatory inspections for hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets over concerns that seats may have been installed incorrectly and could come loose during an emergency.
Getting into it: The problem surfaced after the FAA received a report that certain passenger seat assemblies were not properly secured to the floor tracks that hold them in place. Specifically, the aft fitting shear plungers (the pins that drop down to lock a seat into its track) had been left in the raised position on some assemblies. According to the FAA, an incorrectly installed assembly “can disengage from the seat tracks if there is an increased load, turbulence, or emergency landing,” which “could result in injury to passengers and crew during an emergency landing or could block the aisle, which could slow evacuation.”
Under the FAA’s proposal, airlines would have to inspect the seat track fittings on each left- and right-side seat assembly and reseat any that were installed wrong. The order would cover 453 US-registered planes, certain 737-8, 737-9, and high-density 737-8200 models carrying as many as 69 track-mounted seats each.
The FAA estimates each inspection takes about an hour at $85 per seat, putting the total bill for US operators at roughly $2.7 million. Fixing a seat that was installed wrong would run another $85 apiece, with no parts required. Boeing expects warranty coverage to absorb at least part of that.
Boeing is not fighting the move, and the company laid out how to check and reseat the assemblies in a special requirements bulletin issued in December 2025. A spokeswoman added that they “support the FAA making that guidance mandatory.”
The proposal lands on a company whose safety record has been under a microscope. The 737 MAX family has faced intense scrutiny since two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, and again after a cabin panel tore loose from an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 mid-flight in January 2024, forcing the plane back down and pulling 171 jets out of service. A subsequent investigation traced the failure to four missing bolts, and in June 2025 the National Transportation Safety Board faulted Boeing for gaps in how it trained, guided, and oversaw the work that led to the blowout.
