Quality of leather seats....

[ilovemygenesis]

I reported this on my last service and the dealer had to contact the Hyundai rep to see whether they could or would do anything about it. Still pending.

EDIT: Per the service department, Hyundai rep says nothing can be done because the leather is soft and will bunch like that.

That's going to be an issue in 2 or 3 years when people return the cars off lease, dealers will charge for us to get the seats redone. The seats will look 5 or 6 years old instead of 2 or 3, i have issues with my seat now, I'm not happy about that.

 

[jwaters943]

No they won't. My Honda Pilot, VW Passat, and Acura TL were all leased and had noticeably stretched/wrinkled leather on the drivers seat after 3 years. It wasn't even mentioned at my end of lease inspection on any of them. My Passat was the worst, the passenger seat had water damage from me leaving the window down slightly on accident in the rain (the leather became very rough and hard). You have to show signs of serious neglect for most lease inspectors to ding you.

Leather doesn't stay new looking like cloth. It wears a bit, but at some point the amount of wear should level out provided you clean/condition your seats regularly.

And FWIW, lots of cars with leather get similar complaints. Visit any Honda/Acura or Nissan/Infiniti forum and you'll find people with the same issues.

 

[TJPark01]

And FWIW, lots of cars with leather get similar complaints. Visit any Honda/Acura or Nissan/Infiniti forum and you'll find people with the same issues.

I am driving my brothers Mercedes CL550 while he is out of town, it's only a year old and has 10.5k miles on it. The leather is doing the same thing. The sticker in the car says 120k. Now I fell much better. FYI, the leather is not that much different from the premium leather in the genesis, now I feel a lot better!

 

[jwaters943]

It's all about perspective.

If Hyundai falls short of expectations, they have work to do. If MB falls short of expectations, it's probably just designed/engineered to be that way. It just goes to show you how far a good reputation can carry you.

 

[GripperDon]

And how long they have had a good one.

 

[TJPark01]

I am driving my brothers Mercedes CL550 while he is out of town, it's only a year old and has 10.5k miles on it. The leather is doing the same thing. The sticker in the car says 120k. Now I fell much better. FYI, the leather is not that much different from the premium leather in the genesis, now I feel a lot better!

Here are some pics. Yes it happens on a 120k car too.

 

[knight]

I am driving a loaner Santa Fe while my car is at the dealership and the first thing I noticed is that on a much cheaper car the leather (if it is leather) wasn't wrinkled at all. Nicely padded and comfortable.

On the long trip I took last week, while I was driving I was occassionally leaning forward since it felt like my shirt had bunched up and was uncomfortable to lean back against. It turned out it was the wrinkles in the leather on the seat back and I ended up just wearing a t-shirt while driving to minimize the annoyance (and pants of course).

-knight

 

[ck2118]

Sorry to bump an old thread but...

I took my car into the dealership yesterday to have them look at a few things... one was the stretching of the leather. Now before you sarcastic types chime in with your sarcastic comments... this was for the back seat. My girlfriend sat back there once while my buddy was in town ( Yes I know... I'm an a$$) for about 30 min... All 110lbs of her, I might add. So the leather in the back was stretched and had a rippling effect to it... Like a water droplet hitting more water.

The service rep agreed with me and so did my salesman... stating that the seat did not look normal for a car with 1100 miles on it. So I leave the car there and come back 5 hours later after the tech guys call me to say there was no problem. I ask the service manager to come with me and to my suprise... the seat was tight again! I told him I was not crazy and he suggested that the heat (texas summer) could have possibly caused the leather to "shrink and tighten" up again... Is this possible?! Any other theories?

 

[JDC]

Sorry to bump an old thread but...

I took my car into the dealership yesterday to have them look at a few things... one was the stretching of the leather. Now before you sarcastic types chime in with your sarcastic comments... this was for the back seat. My girlfriend sat back there once while my buddy was in town ( Yes I know... I'm an a$$) for about 30 min... All 110lbs of her, I might add. So the leather in the back was stretched and had a rippling effect to it... Like a water droplet hitting more water.

The service rep agreed with me and so did my salesman... stating that the seat did not look normal for a car with 1100 miles on it. So I leave the car there and come back 5 hours later after the tech guys call me to say there was no problem. I ask the service manager to come with me and to my suprise... the seat was tight again! I told him I was not crazy and he suggested that the heat (texas summer) could have possibly caused the leather to "shrink and tighten" up again... Is this possible?! Any other theories?

Seems like you nailed it. My seats wrinkle up after a short time in them, as in the photos a few posts above, and once cooled down look good again.

 

[nearwater]

Yeah, leathers stretch and shrink. I noticed that the driver's seat(where most of the stretching and wrinkles are) looks better after letting the car sit in the garage for a few days.
I think conditioning the leather once in a while will help it maintain that softness/elasticity so that it doesn't crack or wrinkle.

Dan

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[RLREILLY81]

Also, I was wondering hat the year of the car may play a role in this. I know that CK2118 has a 2010 since he has 1000= miles on it but most of these threads were from 2009. And from what I have read there was someupgrades to the leather of all versions of the Genny's.

I may be wrong

 

[ck2118]

Here's the crazy part... My driver's seat looks like the ones in the pictures above... Slightly stretched. However, after the 5 hrs in the sun, the drivers seat looked exactly the same... slightly stretched. The back seat had about the same amount of excess fabric (maybe a little more) but just didnt stretch as "gracefully" as the front... How could the back tighten up and not the front? Also, I condition my leather 2-3 times a week... possible overkill.

 

[RLREILLY81]

Here's the crazy part... My driver's seat looks like the ones in the pictures above... Slightly stretched. However, after the 5 hrs in the sun, the drivers seat looked exactly the same... slightly stretched. The back seat had about the same amount of excess fabric (maybe a little more) but just didnt stretch as "gracefully" as the front... How could the back tighten up and not the front? Also, I condition my leather 2-3 times a week... possible overkill.

Well I can tell you this. I played soccer for years with some of the most exotic leather cleats available. Leather stretches, especially the more you condition it. I was told by an old coach who played in Europe to only condition my cleats if I needed them to stretch, otherwise just take a damp cloth to them to keep clean.

I know the leather my be different but it may be an explanation why its happening. All leather stretches.

 

[ck2118]

By exotic do you mean kangaroo? (Fellow soccer player here too).

Again, the issue wasn't merely that the leather stretched... but how it stretched. Ripples, wrinkles, etc. Not just excess fabric... Again, both service rep and salesman agreed that it was not normal. Although the leather is tight again, you can still see where the creases etc were.

 

[RLREILLY81]

By exotic do you mean kangaroo? (Fellow soccer player here too).

Again, the issue wasn't merely that the leather stretched... but how it stretched. Ripples, wrinkles, etc. Not just excess fabric... Again, both service rep and salesman agreed that it was not normal. Although the leather is tight again, you can still see where the creases etc were.

Yup kangaroo. Well in all honesty if the salesman agreed that it was not normal cant or wouldn't it be covered under the 3 year 36 month warranty? That is supposed to cover everything in the car. Just a thought.

 

[ck2118]

Sure, it would have been covered except... when i took the manager out there to show him... It was magically tight again!

My tilt limiter switch won't be in until the 20th or so... I'll take it back and address the situation then if I notice it again. They are already pulling the driver's seat out to see why its not cooling properly. Unbelievable that I have to go back for the tilt switch though... I made the apt. about a week ago in which the tech assured me they had the part in stock but didn't notifiy me that the part was on backorder until after I dropped it off.

 

[cschuler]

The seat backing appears to be coming through the holes in the leather ... this has been reported and discussed in other threads.

 

[ck2118]

The seat backing appears to be coming through the holes in the leather ... this has been reported and discussed in other threads.

Not sure what you are referring to... perhaps the fuzzy hairs cited by other drivers in other threads? I was asking about the leather tightening up on its own due to heat.

 

[coatseast]

2012 Genesis with the Premium package (saddle brown perforated leather). My seats started showing wear very early and look like total crap. Discolored, scratches and now full failure of the leather between the perforations. Very low quality compared to any leather seats I have owned in my 30+ years of owning cars -- all but the first two had leather. And yes, I wear jeans when I drive!

 

[Kraig Wilkinson]

2012 Genesis with the Premium package (saddle brown perforated leather). My seats started showing wear very early and look like total crap. Discolored, scratches and now full failure of the leather between the perforations. Very low quality compared to any leather seats I have owned in my 30+ years of owning cars -- all but the first two had leather. And yes, I wear jeans when I drive!

I have a feeling these cars dont fair well in sunny hot climates..