Poor Quality Leather

[The Zee]

Spotted the attached the other day. The car is only 2 years old with 13,800 miles. I think this wear is quite unacceptable.

 

The seats have only been cleaned occasionally with a barely damp cloth, I have never used any chemicals.

 

Anyone else spotted this? I would be interested to know if this is common or just my bad luck before taking it up with the dealer. I have had cars with leather seats in the past,  Saab for 12 years, Discovery for 8. Neither showed any wear like this.

 

Your thoughts appreciated.

[Superb170]

The first pic does look a little bit excessive alright.  Is it the shiny appearance on the second pic that is the issue?  I noticed the shiny base to a certain extent on my last Superb however after three years and 120k kms it was not quite at that level.  Remember that on the areas of the seats that normally don't make contact with the body the leather is generally more artificial i.e. on the back and sides however they should still hold up.  Having said that I have seen some BMWs with even worse wear after shot periods.  Would you jump in and out of the car a lot on short runs etc? I presume you have had the car since new - if it still under warranty it might worth a trip back to the dealer.  They will probably throw the  'normal wear and tear' clause back at you but worth arguing it all the same(especially for the part along the stitching) 

[The Zee]

The shiny appearance does not bother me as your backside will cause this effect. it is the wear along the raised edge of the seat that really annoys me. There just does not seem to be any thickness in the leather. Now I am only 10st. and quite slight so when sitting down I do not get anywhere the edge. It seems that you brush over this getting in and out. Not a very good design in my opinion.

Yes I have had the car from new, like others in the past my driving is a mix of short and long runs. The point is leather is meant to be more hard wearing than cloth seats.

[kopparberg]

Don't know if you wear jeans but a lot of them have metal press studs on the back pockets, it maybe that you've been catching it as it's pretty unavoidable when getting in and out.

[Danny 57]

I use the seat memory buttons, position 1 driving and position 3 with the seat right back and lowered plus the back rest angled even further back. Therefore only one button to press.

Edited 6 October, 2014 by Danny 57

[Stinker]

Have to agree Zee, that is completely unacceptable on a car in this price range (or any price range come to think of it), age and mileage. Trip to the dealers required but be prepared; if you don't get a satisfactory result when they come back in from looking at it DO NOT take the key back! Especially effective near closing time. Stay calm and restate that you find this unacceptable when they repeat that this is normal wear and tear etc. after a few of times stating it's unacceptable SAY NOTHING and don't take the key back. By offering no movement towards the car or further dialogue all movement will have to come from the other party to diffuse the situation, which should hopefully get things moving towards settling your issue. Hope this helps.

[FLAPPERJACK7]

Tricky ! Looks like external influence.

[silver1011]

What other influence is there going to be!?

 

Seats get sat on, that sort of wear on a car as new as the OP's is clearly a manufacturing defect.

 

Blue staining, denim.

 

Scratches, rips - zips, studs, things sticking out of pockets etc.

 

5+ years, high mileage, overweight, poor mobility.

 

All fair wear and tear.

 

What I see in the first picture is consistent wear but obviously accelerated due to the poor quality of the material. 

[The Zee]

To be clear,

 

1) I am not overweight - c**p anyway, the seats should be able to cope.

2) Don't wear jeans

3) Don't put things in my back pockets

4) Have perfect mobility

 

In fact, bit of a lightweight actually.

 

Trip to dealer on the cards.

[silver1011]

To be just as clear my post wasn't aimed at you.

[Supurbia]

It's normal although not good, just look on Autotrader at most modern cars inc BMW etc and you'll see premature sagging and deformation of the leather,

 

VAG leather is horrible anyway, maybe not so much in the Skoda but the Passat Highline B6 seats are like some sort of faux hard plastic rather than a comfy leather, Insignia leather is better but not by much, still sags and doesn't have that Austin Westminster/Rover 3500 sort of leather feel.

 

You should mention it at the dealers, officially the seat fabrics are covered by the warranty, don't let a numpty service guy put you off either, if he says no open it with SUK.

Edited 9 October, 2014 by Supurbia

[The Zee]

To be just as clear my post wasn't aimed at you.

I never thought it was. just interested to see if others have noticed this on their seats.

[numskull]

It does look like entrance / exit wear from clothing. The wear is more pronounced at the centre of the bolster, which depreciates to the rear (to the left in the picture) and at the inner edge (top) of the piping. What is odd is the spacing between each of the pieces of damage.

 

Nevertheless, a good dealer should try to get the seat cover replaced under warranty because of the age of the car, its low mileage and of course, goodwill too.

However, if they do say its normal wear and tear and no-can-do on warranty, Gliptone Scuff Master will cover the damage and lasts really well. I know this as a fact as I use it with great success on my MKI (with 120k+ of wear on the driver seat!). Gliptone already have Skoda Ivory available in their colour bank from my original order. Although this is shown as 2006, the Ivory colour has not been revised from the MKI to the MKII. I think a kit is about £14, and I’ve used it in anger once and it’s had a few “top-ups” since then, and I estimate I’ve used less than 10% of the bottle – I suspect it’ll probably out-last the car!

[Danny 57]

My fat back side caused some wear when I first bought the car but I then simply used the memory function for getting in and out of the car. Now over 2 years later absolutely no further wear. "Simples!"

Edited 9 October, 2014 by Danny 57

[FLAPPERJACK7]

Not seen the same wear. I get in and out of several Superbs each day and really taking notice of them since reading your op.

[Mayor of Newark]

Combs in back pockets can be a real killer!

 

I feed my seats with Autoglym Leather Care every few months - leather needs feeding (just like quality shoes).

 

Used it on my Mercs, as well.

[Supurbia]

Combs in back pockets can be a real killer!

 

I feed my seats with Autoglym Leather Care every few months - leather needs feeding (just like quality shoes).

 

Used it on my Mercs, as well.

 

 

It's not so much that it the squabs sink and the side supports crumble inside the leather, you'll know when you find yellow dust on the rear floor, only real cure for wear on the sides getting in and out is to return to 2CV days where the doors hinge from the B pillar like an old bread van,#

 

The leather ain't the best anyway though tbh, the leather on my desk chair is better.

[numskull]

The leather ain't the best anyway though tbh, the leather on my desk chair is better.

 

Yeah, I agree Supurbia; the leather finish is better, the facings are more "supple" and have a better "feel" on our MKI, than those on our MKII. That being said, although very slightly too narrow in the area of ones Derriere in my case, they are more supportive, have better adjustment for overall comfort.

[The Zee]

SUK response - wear and tear, cannot help.

 

Still don't think this is good on such a new car.

[Eddie-NL]

SUK response - wear and tear, cannot help.

 

Still don't think this is good on such a new car.

On my Octavia Vrs the bolster was creased after just 300 miles

 

They told me the same, total cr**

 

Audi nappa leather is better than the offerings from Skoda and VW but that still is not best either

[wiilydog]

pretty sure the mk1 superbs came with nappa leather from the audi a6,  

[silver1011]

The bolsters aren't even leather, it's a synthetic material called leatherette.

[Knowsley]

I had a Mk1 Superb with (I believe) nappa leather - much better quality

[Watsona6]

Your pic's looks like my faulty settee which DFS are replacing. Settee suffered bad yet the arm chair was bob on. Faulty leather according to the upholsterer.