An assembly for holding open a locking mechanism for a motor vehicle folding seat includes a locking mechanism having a gear shaft and a release link fixedly attached to the gear shaft that transitions the locking mechanism between an engaged and a released orientation. A hold-open pin attached to the release link is received within a follower link notch to maintain the locking mechanism in the released orientation. An actuator positions the follower link notch to receive the hold-open pin within the follower link notch.