If anyone makes a successful mod, I hope they will post a picture here. I'm a musician, and although I'm not a bass player, I've had many a double bass in the back of my 09 Matrix. The fold flat is essential for an instrument like this. Not to mention that if the seats fold flat, it just makes the hatch easier to load. I understand that in the Prius C, the battery is under the rear seats, and they wanted to include as many cubic feet in the rear cargo area as possible, but folding flat would have been far more useful for me than 2 or so extra inches of vertical height.