Drivers seat is stuck in farthest back position and will not slide forward.

Check the seat rail for debris in the track and also check out the seat latching mechanism for proper operation

you would have to disconnect the motor drive but it isnt like the old days where there were grooves to put the adjuster into, the motor shaft holds the position.

There's probably something in the way. Get under and behind the seat with a flashlight and check the back end of the rails to see if something is there.

The fuses for the seat are shared with other features on the car such as power antenna. Has any other power feature gone off as well?
Check the runners the seat slides in. There might be something trapped in there blocking the running action.
There are two fuse boxes. One under the hood in the rear drivers side corner, under a black plastic cover. The other is inside the car, inside the end panel of the dash. (With the door open).
Check fuses 1 and 18 as they cover the power seat functions.
https://autobonches.com/amp/fuse-box/2003-ford-explorer-fuse-box-diagram/

on the 99 the front seats are identical. assuming there was little change in 2000 you unbolt both seats and move the passenger seat over to the driver side. while it is out, you set the sliders manually to be in the middle position and the passenger seat will be stuck there. If you can get light up inside there you will see a cable connector has released at one end meaning it will not release the dog to permit sliding so you may have to pull it manually with a vise grip in order to move the seat forward on the sliders to get at the bolt heads in the rear. unplug the battery before you unplug the seats.

Regarding the passenger seat, to allow someone into the back seat, push the seat back lever DOWN. This will flip the back of the seat forward and allow the seat to slide forward. Simply push firmly on the seat back (no need to touch the lever) and it will return to its original position.

If you pull the seat back lever UP, you can adjust the recline angle of the seat back. Pulling the lever UP will also let you fold the seat and slide it forward, however, it will not return to its original position.

Sorry, cannot solve your airbag question.

Hi and welcome to FixYa!

As a first course of action I strongly suggest that you manually put back the lever while you put the seat on the desired position. Sometimes the adjustment lever fails to go back so you will have to do it manually.

Hope this helps and thank you for using FixYa! Have a good one!

I just solved the problem for a stuck rear center seat belt in my 2002 Jetta.

Flip the base seat cushion forward against the front seat backs. Trace down along the belt to its tether point on the floor. The belt is sewn around a steel loop. The loop is anchored to a black steel hook. A thin silvery retainer plate is spring tensioned on top of the loop to prevent it from sliding off of the hook when the seat back is folded.

Therefore, you need to press the silvery retainer plate away from the hook (push up) to allow the loop to be slid from the hook. The belt was tight with the seat back in the upright position, so it was necessary to fold the seat back forward to create slack in the belt. Now push the belt loop towards the trunk and slide it off of the end of the hook (only possible with the retainer plate pushed up out of the way).

Now with total release of tension on the system via the bottom end of the seat belt being untethered and with the seat back returned to the upright position, normal extension and retraction of the belt will be reestablished. Next, simply extend the seat belt and slide the loop back into place over the floor hook. It snaps past the silvery retainer plate without all the effort required to hold the plate up during removal of the loop during disassembly.

Check again, the seat belt should be extending and retracting properly. Now just put the seat cushion back into regular position and you will be able to safely buckle up three people across the back seat.

It took about as long to do this repair as it has taken to post this answer to the problem. Note, the seat belt safety mechanism only allows normal extension and retraction of the belt when the seat back is upright.

This is not necessary...as many have stated...use a hammer with switch in reverse position. Hammer the seat back...it will catch...

I have had the exact same problem , the actaual cause of the seat not sliding back is due to the small cable retaing clip which fastens at the underneath of the seat this is a very common problem and is very trickY to get to as you say the rear panel appers to need to come off , it does not, you axs the small clip from removeing the liners at the very bottom of the seat where there is a footwell light , when you axs this area you be able to get to the clip or the actaul cable ,to which ever is broken,,