Hi, I mentioned here that I was unsure about the wear on the leather on my driver's seat:



Well, I emailed the picture to my deal yesterday & they called me today to say to bring the car in Wednesday or Thursday & they would sort out not only the driver's seat, but the passenger's seat too. Fiat UK have agreed to have both done, just in case.

I think it may be a known issue surfacing, as they seem to have a modification ready & said other people have mentioned the same problem to them. Also, doing the passenger side too (which is fine at the moment) suggests that they think it might also develop a problem.

Anyway, top marks to Essex Auto Group for sorting it out so quickly & easily. It gets dropped of Wednesday night & I get it back Thursday. I also get loaned a little Kia while it's in.

If your leather looks like this (some pictures I've seen on here suggest other seats are like this) I would suggest talking to your dealer too.

Had the same problem and replacement of the drivers seat some months ago with the vintage leather. Unfortunately the new seat is showing even greater signs of wear after less than 300 miles.

I assume you mean the big ripple in the middle of the seat, or is it the crinkley bits too? I am interested to hear what "modification" they do, or will they just be putting new seats in? How can they modify the leather on the seat?

It's the ripple really.

They are not replacing the seats (as far as I know) but modifying them. I'll find out how.

Have you taken your second set back ensonricky? What did they say? Perhaps this is why they now have a modification rather than just replacing them....

OrangeSport said:

It's the ripple really.

They are not replacing the seats (as far as I know) but modifying them. I'll find out how.

Have you taken your second set back ensonricky? What did they say? Perhaps this is why they now have a modification rather than just replacing them....

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No other problems with the rest of the car but have lost the impetus on the seat issue and not reported the latest developements to the dealer. The wear btw looks exactly as pictured in your thread. Best of luck with your car.

Im wondering if it has something to do with the fact that it is one big piece of leather in the centre of the seat base? My father in law has a rover 75 with full leather seats, and this part of the seat is made up of long narrow panels sewn together rather than one piece, and theres no stretching on his which is a few years old. Im wondering if this stitching gives the leather more resistance to stretching. Just a thought off the top of my head! Mine is coming up to 3 weeks old and Im gonna keep an eye on it, so whatever work they do on yours will be interesting to hear for future reference.

Should have gone with fabric seats instead of leather. No streching, but very easy to mark with anything (had stains from WATER!!!) No win situation.....

Are people with leather feeding it properly?

Cheers

PD

rallycinq said:

Are people with leather feeding it properly?

Cheers

PD

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Only done 1000 miles but have conditioned regularly with Autoglym, makes no difference whatsoever to rate of wear.

rallycinq said:

Are people with leather feeding it properly?

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Yeah, but I think it is some kind of design flaw. The dealer said they have a modification to fix it & that others have had the same issue. Sounds like they have a fix which has been rolled out. Especially as they are also doing the passenger seat which shows no sign of wear. They offered, I didn't ask. I'll try & find out what it is.

No big issue though. It's just a cosmetic thing, and these things do happen on fairy new cars sometimes. It's how these things are resolved which matters most.

OrangeSport said:

Yeah, but I think it is some kind of design flaw. The dealer said they have a modification to fix it & that others have had the same issue. Sounds like they have a fix which has been rolled out. Especially as they are also doing the passenger seat which shows no sign of wear. They offered, I didn't ask. I'll try & find out what it is.

No big issue though. It's just a cosmetic thing, and these things do happen on fairy new cars sometimes. It's how these things are resolved which matters most.

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I don't want to dampen your spirits but from my experience the modification is probably only effective in conjunction with a new seat if at all.

they are probably going to paint it

OrangeSport said:

If your leather looks like this (some pictures I've seen on here suggest other seats are like this) I would suggest talking to your dealer too.

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I'd be interested to know how old the car is and rough mileage, my drivers seat looked the same as this by 1,000 miles although it's not got much worse since.

Doh , I just read through your other posts and realise your car is about 2-3 weeks old. I might mention this to the dealer next time the car is in but to reassure others I'll post some pics of my seat to show wear after 12 weeks and 4,500 miles.

Would be good to see what yours looks like

It's something I could live with - not that bad. It's just that I wasn't sure if it was a pproblem, and they've offered to sort it (so I guess it must be). Seems to be pretty common though.

Its a bit rum if an expensive option like leather performs worse than the standard cloth (apart from water stains!) It was pelting down with rain when I picked mine up and got water marks on the leather on the doors, I was a bit worried about that staining but luckily i wiped them over with a leather wipe and the stains disappeared. After all this talk of probs with the leather I bought some autoglym leather protector stuff to use to stop it drying out etc. Ive had my 500 for 3 weeks, done about 300 miles and the leather is still flat, no big saggy creases like in the pics. There are a couple of wrinky bits on the actual surface but no stretching. Maybe they will stetch the leather somehow to take up the slack and smooth it out?

OK, update on the "fix". Dropped the car off today & asked what they intended to do. It appears it is something they are aware of. They have replacement leather covers for the bottom part of both front seats. These are made from less leather than the originals, so they fit tighter. I guess the covers are shaped / sewn at the factory then just fit over the seats. Apparently it's day's job. Get the car back tomorrow after work.

In the meantime I have 1.9 TD Grande Punto Sport to play with. That shifts!

Funny thing is that today I looked in lots of parked cars, and most with leather had similar wear. If that had happened last week I wouldn't have mentioned this to the dealer.

All sounds like a pretty sensible approach to sorting the issue as far as I can see.

OrangeSport said:

Would be good to see what yours looks like

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Here you go, the 'wrinkle' appeared quite quickly but hasn't got any worse since. I'd be interested to see how the fix the garage are suggesting works out. Are they putting the new cover over the existing leather?

How long have you had yours brimbling? Mine is red leather, just under a month ive had it, still tight as a drum. fingers crossed here!

brimbling said:

Here you go, the 'wrinkle' appeared quite quickly but hasn't got any worse since. I'd be interested to see how the fix the garage are suggesting works out. Are they putting the new cover over the existing leather?

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Looks similar to mine. I think they are replacing the old leather covering...

nottsfiat07 said:

How long have you had yours brimbling? Mine is red leather, just under a month ive had it, still tight as a drum. fingers crossed here!

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Collected it late September, now has 4.5k on the clock. The 'wrinkle' appeared within the first month I think, certainly in less than 1k.