2013 Genesis R-Spec Stretched/Saggy Driver's Seat

[TheMikeJones]

Hello everyone.

I know this issue has been spoken about before and I have read over the 20+ pages of this issue on this site, but I was wondering if anyone had any supporting information, quick and concise, regarding the issue with the stretched out/saggy driver's seat butt pad.

My car has the cooled driver's seat and it seems like this is likely the reason why the seat has this issue. Mine isn't bad as some of the images that others have posted, but it does exist and it does bother me.

I am the 3rd owner of this G and I have 50k on it. I reached out to Hyundai support and they told me to contact one of their dealers and have it brought it to be evaluated. They did tell me that interior components are warrantied up to 60k but only on production/components issue and not normal wear and tear.

Obviously, this is not normal wear and tear.

Has anyone had any luck with the dealership correcting this issue? Are there specific items to mention to get the dealer to fix the issue?

I also read that some people elected to pay an upholstery shop to fix this. Has anyone had success with this path and if so, any idea how they fixed it?

Here is the image of my drivers seat vs the passenger seat which is not cooled. Obviously it isn't sat in nearly as much but I feel like the driver's side could be better. The pic of my drivers seat isn't too bad but this is also sitting over night with no butt on it for hours. Usually after a long drive when I get out it looks like a 500lb dude was sitting in there, mind you, I am about a buck fifty.

Any help is greatly appreciated!



_Michael

 

[Mark_888]

After looking at the pics, I am stunned that someone would complain about that. Leather is a natural material that shows some wear and will stretch.

I am guessing that an upholstery shop would use a heat gun to shrink the material (being extremely careful not to damage it). Maybe a hair dryer would be best for a non-expert. I am sure you could get a quote from an upholstery shop.

But I am still amazed that anyone would complained about that (although you are apparently not alone).

 

[TheMikeJones]

It does look a little worse in person than the pic shows, but that is also probably the best condition I've seen it in TBH and I think it's because I havent driven it today and it sat in the warm Cali sun here.

If I have driven the car at all it definitely looks worse. I've had a few people mention it to me but only after I noticed it so I know it does exist and isn't just my OCD mind. Coming from an 2007 G35 with twice as many miles and having the seat in it looking like my passenger seat in that pic is what threw me off.

I do love the cooled seat for sure but if I paid $40k for this car brand new in 2013 and my seat looked like this after only 50k I would assume it was a defect.

Mark, you mentioned a hair dryer and I wouldn't be opposed to trying that. Do you have any more info on best practice at all for that?

 

[Mark_888]

Mark, you mentioned a hair dryer and I wouldn't be opposed to trying that. Do you have any more info on best practice at all for that?

No, I don't. Maybe someone mentioned it in one of the many threads on that subject, but I don't recall the details.

I don't think it would hurt to get an estimate from an upholstery shop. I believe I read in the forum that some dealers sent cars to those kinds of shops to make the seats better when people complained within one year of purchase. But those discussions are also located in the forums somewhere.

- - - Updated - - -

Try searching google with these search terms:

how to shrink stretched leather car seat​

There are several YouTube videos in the results.

 

[Gunkk]

How to remove creases/wrinkles from leather (tightens leather up somewhat).
Step #1: Get it wet.
Step #2: Dry it out. Put it into direct sunlight or use a hair dryer.

If you're not comfortable with this, take it to a professional upholsterer.

 

[TheMikeJones]

Right on, thanks for the information Gunkk!

_Michael

 

[PMCErnie]

Suggest you get over it. Your seat looks BETTER, not worse, than the average cooled seat. They will laugh you out of the Hyundai service center.

 

[TheMikeJones]

Hello everyone.

In case anyone cares, I wanted to provide a quick update to this thread as far as my experience is concerned.

So despite some comments from people here telling me I will be laughed at by my dealership I did go ahead and bring my car into Hyundai, both for an issue with my backup camera and the driver's seat.

They installed a new navigation unit as it was determined an intermittent short was causing the camera to fail and this was covered under the extended warranty I purchased. I am glad I did because the materials and install came out to be $6,200 dollars and my warranty was only an extra $2,800 with a $100 deductible, so the warranty has already paid for itself.

Likewise, the dealership agreed that the driver's seat looked worn beyond its years and because Hyundai covers upholstery for 60k miles I was still covered (52k miles on my Genesis). Mind you, while working with my local Hyundai dealer I also reached out to Hyundai corporate and was given a case number, told the upholstery was still under factory warranty, and that my dealer would take care of it. I am happy at this point, the seat is getting fixed, everything is peachy.

This is where the process began to suck...

The dealership called me and told me the navigation unit was fixed and the upholstery was as well. I was thrilled, so I went in and picked up my car and to my dismay, and to the tune of what others have said on here, my seat looked WAYYYYYYYY worse after alleged fix.



To make it worse, I was told that this was normal and that overtime it would tighten itself up. Yeah, cuz we all know that age tends to tighten things up! I also had some friends and even my dad that told me not to mess with the dealership because they will only make it worse, and behold, they did. Not only was it ridiculously more stretched out, the leather color was more flat than what I had so it didn't even match up. I actually liked that flat look better than the semi-gloss I have now but it stood out way too much from the rest of the seat.

So due to me needing to be at work I just took the car and bolted. Later in the day I emailed the service adviser, sent him a picture, and told him the end result was unacceptable. Without telling me that the seat looked miserable, the dealer did agree that it could be better so I brought it into them again and this time, since I had spoken with Hyundai corporate, they were working with the dealer and they sent them a new cushion, new leather, and new straps. I brought the car back in and the next day they had the car ready for me.

Without posting another picture, the end results was the exact same, although this time at least the leather color and shine matched up with the rest of the leather in the car.

So from here I moved to the general manager and he supported me, again without saying the quality sucked, in my goal of getting this fixed. He agreed to send it to a local upholstery shop (which is where we should have started) and assured me that all would be well. He paid for my rental car from enterprise for 2 days and told me he would keep me in the loop on the fix.

It did take two days, but when I went and picked up the car it now looks amazing!



To add onto that, they also did a complimentary oil change, detail, and they gave me 1 free year of BlueLink which I didnt even know was a thing. Not that I know too much about it yet, but I am able to remote start my Genesis from my phone which is cool.

So in the end, the results were fantastic! There was a lot of back and forth on my part. I had two rentals (2018 V6 Camaro and 2018 Nissan Sentra) which they paid for. I was without my Genesis for several days and even had some billing issues with Enterprise that Hyundai took care of but now that it is all said and done I couldn't be happier.

If you have any upholstery concerns, just remember that the factory warranty goes up to 60k miles! And yes, it does depend on the willingness of your dealership but I got lucky. All of the service advisers (I worked with two) and even the general manager were amazing. And while they would never admit that their original "fix" looked terrible, they were quick to acknowledge my ongoing concern and they more then made up for it in the end.

If anyone has any questions about this just let me know!

_Michael

 

[EdP]

Glad it had a happy ending. Sounds like you did well with the dealer.

My wife's seat is starting to sag too, but is is long out of warranty so I don't anticipate a fix soon.

 

[Gunkk]

Well done, Michael.

And for all the other dealerships reading this... Michael's case is how a dealership and manufacturer should take care of a customer of it's luxury cars. Stand behind your product. Stand behind your workmanship. Make it right.

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[PMCErnie]

The interesting thing about this thread is that the ""before" photo of the driver's seat looks quite normal and resembles the appearance of most '13 cooled seats when they were ON THE SHOWROOM FLOOR. I look forward to seeing a photo of the new upholstery in 6 months. I'm figuring that the seat appearance will be back to square one.

 

[TheMikeJones]

The interesting thing about this thread is that the ""before" photo of the driver's seat looks quite normal and resembles the appearance of most '13 cooled seats when they were ON THE SHOWROOM FLOOR. I look forward to seeing a photo of the new upholstery in 6 months. I'm figuring that the seat appearance will be back to square one.

I am hoping not but I have a feeling that this could be the case. Before I bought this car I did test drive 2 others but only 1 of them had the same stretched seat, the other was perfect and I wonder if it had been reupholstered as well. The original pic I shared at the top really was not representative of how it looked. That image made it look better than it actually was but the dealer still decided it was damaged enough to attempt the repair which made me think that they have had this issue in the past.

I did ask the dealership specifically if there was some glaring difference between the cooled drivers and non-cooled passenger seat that could make this dramatic change and other than some perforations in the cushion under the leather (to allow the vented air through) they said no. I never got to see any images with the leather or cushion off so alas I am just taking their word for it.

I plan on having this car for at least 3 years so I will definitely be sending it through its paces. I drive at least 5 days a week so the driver's seat will be getting used but since I am not the "first" owner of this "new" seat, maybe it will be different this time!

Time will tell.

 

[Gunkk]

Photo August 2014 when I bought the car and the same seat today, never cleaned, never treated, only sat on with my 240lb rump as a daily driver for 3-1/2 years.

 

[PMCErnie]

Photo August 2014 when I bought the car and the same seat today, never cleaned, never treated, only sat on with my 240lb rump as a daily driver for 3-1/2 years.

Exactly! Yours is a completely normal heated/cooled Genesis seat, given its construction. Yes, the puckerbutt appearance disturbs some. My advice is that if folks don't like to look at it, just sit on it and hide it.