Driver seat leather tearing in just 39K miles

[Barryb54]

Quick question about interior seats. My MME IS 4+ years old with 39K miles. I’m all of 165lbs and use the car for mostly commuting. I’m flabbergasted that the driver seat is already beginning to shred apart at the mild height bolster. This has never happened to me before with this low use/mileage. Have any of you experienced this? Does Ford cover it? My dealer says no…

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[nuMach]

Katskinz. installed a set in my past 5.0 Mustang. Quality product.
Install wasn't too difficult. Cadinal red would be nice in most of our colors

 

[Barryb54]

Ha! TY… I took it to a quality upholstery shop who quoted me $395 to fix the existing seat. I’ve used Katzkinz leather before on 2 other vehicles & their product is very high quality & durable!! But hope to avoid that level cost if I can!!

 

[Dana3502]

Katskinz. installed a set in my past 5.0 Mustang. Quality product.
Install wasn't too difficult. Cadinal red would be nice in most of our colors

Can you give a ballpark on the cost? The website would only give it to me if I provide them with the information to spam me.

 

[Barryb54]

If you’re asking for the dealer cost, I’ve got an appt next week & will circle back with their estimate. My service rep confided in me that ‘maybe’ Ford might split the cost. I plan to press for full coverage/reimbursement, but we all know how successful I’ll likely be with that endeavor!

 

[Richard Pittack]

Quick question about interior seats. My MME IS 4+ years old with 39K miles. I’m all of 165lbs and use the car for mostly commuting. I’m flabbergasted that the driver seat is already beginning to shred apart at the mild height bolster. This has never happened to me before with this low use/mileage. Have any of you experienced this? Does Ford cover it? My dealer says no…

I have a three year old AWD ext range with lower mileage and noticed that the driver seat was cracking on the base. I pointed this out to the dealership and have already been told that the warranty has expired and Ford won't cover this. I have had this on any other vehicle that I have driven before l, surely leather should last a lot longer. I've seen cars older than mine and the leather is fine. Appreciate knowing if anyone else has got anywhere with Ford

 

[Makiato]

I have a very similar issue on the seat bolster - drivers side 2021 34K miles. asked the body shop guy at the dealership. they can get the OEM part from the supplier (FORD subcontract) & install it for just under $1K. covers the whole bottom seat & will match color. 4 bolts hold the seat in, but there are 6 plugs to manage and the side airbags need consideration...... as much as I appreciate "Vegan Leather", the real dead cow stuff on my 1994 Accord looked really good when I sold it after 25 years. I might look around for another option......

 

[Barryb54]

Ha! So it appears this just isn’t me. TY. And no way I’m forking over $1K for a fix of what I would characterize a poor quality material. And with that fix being OEM, it’ll begin to shred/tear in another 35K miles! I wonder if Ford knows/knew about this & changed materials in newer MME’s??

 

[Teslaeata]

Quick question about interior seats. My MME IS 4+ years old with 39K miles. I’m all of 165lbs and use the car for mostly commuting. I’m flabbergasted that the driver seat is already beginning to shred apart at the mild height bolster. This has never happened to me before with this low use/mileage. Have any of you experienced this? Does Ford cover it? My dealer says no…

They lasted that long?

 

[nuMach]

Only sold as a set for all seats and mine included door card trims. I didn’t do the doors.
close to $1000 and I did my own. Rear seat is a breeze. Front seats took more work. Removing each front seat was easy. Getting the old covers off not bad. New covers were tight and needed patience and effort. Wrinkles disappear after a nice hot summer days heat You can use a heat gun, but I let nature do it for me. My old stang didn’t have heated seats so I got their kit and added seat heaters as well. Added a bit of complication to reassembly. However in the mache case, it would be straight forward. You can customize colors and perforation panels. Also piping. Looked awesome. Do the rear yourself for sure. Pull out your fronts and take to an upholsterer if you aren’t handy. Shouldn’t be a lot.
i felt 1k$ including heat kit. Canadian. Was fair for a custom leather interior.

 

[Barryb54]

Honestly… that sounds like a really good deal. I’ve done this kind of work years ago on my Vette. It took a couple special tools & patience, but came out great. Those days are behind me, tho! Thx for the info!!

 

[Teslaeata]

Only sold as a set for all seats and mine included door card trims. I didn’t do the doors.
close to $1000 and I did my own. Rear seat is a breeze. Front seats took more work. Removing each front seat was easy. Getting the old covers off not bad. New covers were tight and needed patience and effort. Wrinkles disappear after a nice hot summer days heat You can use a heat gun, but I let nature do it for me. My old stang didn’t have heated seats so I got their kit and added seat heaters as well. Added a bit of complication to reassembly. However in the mache case, it would be straight forward. You can customize colors and perforation panels. Also piping. Looked awesome. Do the rear yourself for sure. Pull out your fronts and take to an upholsterer if you aren’t handy. Shouldn’t be a lot.
i felt 1k$ including heat kit. Canadian. Was fair for a custom leather interior.

Interesting! Are there any mods to the base cushion to give more support? Wifey continually whinges about sliding side to side!

 

[nuMach]

Have re-padded a few motorcycle seats over the years to make them more comfortable. & re-used the OEM cover. Companies make it sound like a science, yet my personal results have been very good.

With that, and replacing my seat skins, I'd suggest getting some high density foam, and sculpting L&R side bolsters for the seat bottom. Scotch 77 (I think) spray glue em to the OEM seat pad.

The question becomes how do you accommodate for the "valley" and getting the new seat cover to follow the contour.
1) the seat cover may need extra space to accommodate added foam if you go too big.
I feel an inch of height is doable and still get the Katskiz on.
2) anchor the 'seam' where the cover should lie at the bottom of the sides\_____/.
The stock seats do have some contour already, and they re-use the OEM seat's 'crack' where the skin has a sewn ridge to tuck in. Look at some videos on youtube what's involved.
What I say here may make sense after you see the process.


Have tabs sewn to the seat cover to use as attachment points on the underside to secure to the framework with upholstery cord. If having an upholsterer do 'em, they are more than capable of adding "tie downs" for lack of a better term. I'd use this underside option.

You are bordering on a total custom seat build/custom cut seat cover by a shop.

Replacing the vinyl or cloth OEM with a nice leather pre-made kit, is a less expensive and really gratifying project.

Recommend you call an auto upholstery shop with your ideas and whether a pre-made kit is suitable for adding to the side bolsters and if they could do it, unless you are a keen do-it-yourselfer like myself.

 

[RMoore]

I just noticed the same thing on the left part of the drivers seat. All of these appear to develop at the same spot and the number of complaints over several threads that I found by searching suggest that there must be a defect in the material. I don't understand why Ford wouldn't cover this. I'm post the warranty but have an extended through Granger. Has anyone had luck getting this repaired/replaced under warranty, either original or extended?

 

[Barryb54]

RMoore - here’s my latest. This absolutely defective material & Ford must know that. But… the car is 4+ yrs old now… My dealer came back at $750 for OEM Replacement & willingness to split it 50/50. I took him up on it as it’s less than 3rd party (barely) but OEM guarantees 100% match! And, dealer gave me the old seat cover that my 3rd party repaired for $75 & it looks good! So in another $30K miles when this new OEM seat cover cracks, this repaired one will be waiting in the wings. What else can ya do?!

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