23109VC

my 2007 MDX has about 45k miles.

I've noticed the leather has worn excessively in my opinion. there are too many creases and in some spots, they almost look like minute cuts/slices...

what is odd is the passenger seat is worse than the drivers seat and that seat is empty much of the time..... to me they look defective. i brought it to the dealers attention when it was in for service recently and they said it was normal wear and tear and would not change it. they told mem it was likley $500-600 to change each seat if I wanted to do it out of my own pocket.

i dind't push the issue, but wonder if this is a known problem on the MDX... or other Acuras... mY RL has 38k miles and the seats look excellent... my wife and I don't do antyhing abusive to the seats and don't wear stuff with zippers on the butt or anything that would cause excessive wear...

is the leather on teh MDX known to be bad?

how many of you have complained about this and got them to repalce it my car is still under warranty but not much longer....

thanks.

billman730

When I was looking at used MDX's last year I saw a 2008 that had what I thought were very worn seats as you described. It was a nice car but the seats caught my eye as they looked worn out! 26,000 miles on it I closely Looked at the floor mats. Of the near dozen cars I looked at several had this seat issue. I figured the odometers had been messed with and passed on buying the cars.

The funny thing was my 2004 MDX still had mint seats with 43K. And People constantly thought it was a brand new car when looking at it from outside or inside so I ended up giving that car to my Daughter when I bought the '09. A year later it looks OLD now but the seats are still mint... LOL

StanleyMDX

My 2007 MDX (base package) has the same issue, little pock marks in the leather of the front seats. Just like yours, little cuts/slices, passenger side is worse than driver's side. No abuse, no zippers. I have 48K miles on it. I brought it to the dealer who told me "seats are a discretionary item", and they won't fix it. I didn't fight it, but told them "how can the leather be discretionary, if I didn't have a choice in the seat type? I think I may revisit this with them before the warranty is up. Must be a cheap leather supplier.

Hodog16

Have a little over 22,000 on my 2008 and noticed the other day that the driver's side is wrinkly. Have not looked close enough for any "cuts" but will check later. The passenger side looks fine as it is unoccupied probably 85% of the time.

SpicyMikey

yea my 08 MDX leather looked terrible (only 25k miles on it). Worn on the edges and wearing through in spots. I have 3 other Acura's in my driveway, an 07 RL, 09 TL, and 10 TL. The leather seems fine in those and of high quality. I've heard this complaint many times regarding the MDX. Canadian leather? I don't know.

By the way, I had Acura replace the leather recently on the driver seat since it was so bad no one would argue it was "excessive". The passenger seat is marginal. The new replacement leather feels thicker and better. Maybe they changed suppliers since 08. If it's really bad I'd push to have them replace it for you as they did for me.

billman730

Most service writers are professional at telling you what they can not do for you but have you leave the place happy just the same. I would go at it again mentioning you read this forum and others in the same year have had seats replaced FREE! And with no hassle!..

SpicyMikey

Yes, I never had to argue. I showed them the seat and said this doesn't seem reasonable. They agreed without hesitating and put new leather on the seat (back and bottom). It's leased so I didn't care too much about the passenger seat since it will be ok for the next 6 months until the lease is up. However, if I owned it, I would have told them to replace the leather on both seats.

taower

Same issue with my 07 tech. Doubt the Stealerships will be helpful.

billman730

Dealerships are eractic when it comes to service. I drove in with an '04 that would not play DVD's and the service writer put it thru my warranty that was 8 mths expired.

In the same dealership A friend wants a new rear camera cause the original has lines going thru it top of screen to bottom. At least 100 hours have been lost to the car owner leaving it at the dealers but the camera still sees lines that are not there!

JZDX

You all are way too nice to the dealers .. put some pressure on them and they will give in and do the right thing.

I agree the seat issue is a tough one though. Seats are about the most abused part of the interior ( minus floormats ) especially leather ones.

23109VC

i agree - seats can be abused and you are in/out of them all the time - but my MDX is a car driven 90% of the time by my wife with the kids - the kids are all in car seats in teh back and NO ONE sits in the pass seat!

the pass seat is the least used seat and it looks horrible - as bad as the drivers seat..it's as if it is wearing / cracking due to AGE , not due to actual usage..

my 06 RL has 39k miles, our 07 MDX has 45k miles... they are close in mileage and the leather in my RL looks BRAND NEW... literally, it looks new. the leather in the MDX looks like it has 120k miles on it..

to me, the leather wear on our car is unacceptable for a car that cost this much and has so few miles...

streckjc

I just bought my 08 MDX Sport/Entertainment and after about 6 months of looking I would agree that there is something "off" about the leather they use in the MDX. Saw some 08's and 09's with less than 10k miles with seats that looked like they had 100k miles on them. Bit worrisome to say the least.

I sold an 03 CL-S with black leather and 103k miles. The seats showed some creasing in the leather, but in no way did they look "worn." I actually got a lot of compliments from my detailer and dealership on the quality of the seats.

I'm going to watch mine like a hawk and at the first sign of wear/spots/etc I'm going to tell them.

SpicyMikey

No question there's a problem. Also, doesn't seem to be anything you can really do about it other than not sit on the seats.

My dealer replaced my driver seat TWICE in 2 1/2 years. The passenger seat was never replaced because it was rarely used, but even the passenger and back seats are starting to look like hell now after 2 1/2 years. It's a lease and I'm returning it in October, so I don't care much. But I'd be pissed if I bought this car.

It's just bad leather coming from that Canadian supplier. The good news is the last recovering done about 6 months ago is holding up perfectly. Maybe they finally fired that supplier.

dAPiT

My 2008 MDX leather is also has the same problem with 23000 miles. Leather on my 05 TSX with 56000 miles is still much better than my 08 MDX

23109VC

update - the leather on my 07 MDX with just over 50k looks terrible. I have the extended 100k warranty, and my next visit I plan to address this vigorously.

as a comparison, my 2006 RL that has about 42k miles has leather that looks NEW on both seats.

the MDX leather is clearly inferior. even the passenger seat is worn excessively despite the fact that my wife drives the car 90% of the time with NO ONE in the front seat...so no way it is due to actual use/abuse - as the pass eat gets 10% of the use as the drivers seat and it's still terrible looking.

i will update you. I would hope that Acura would help me out - a household with an MDX and RL - you would hope they woudl consider us "loyal" customers and address an obvious defect...

VQPower37

my 07 type s tl had this issue ... but i got the seat cover replaced under warranty ... if you get your car serviced at the dealer it seems they are more likely to help you out

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Bumping this thread. I'm not even going to post pics of my driver and passenger seat after some 90,000 miles but they look like hell. Previous owner must've been obese with an even larger wife because of the amount of creases and wrinkles.

How much do you think the dealer would charge to replace the leather? Is it something that can be DIYed?

U3A6

Got a 2010 MDX tech as loaner this week. Had just over 10K miles on it and the front drivers seat looked really worn. I know loaners take a beating-but the steering wheel and the rest of the interior looked almost new (including the front passenger seat). Maybe just more noticable on the black interior this vehicle had. I have 06 3G TL with parchment interior-and they showed wear in the first few months.

As I understand it-automotive seats have some kind of colored sprayed on finish on the leather. The type and thickness of the leather as well as the thickness of the color coat dictate how durable it is. Acura goes thin and cheap for most domestically produced vehicles. I guess the RL has better quality leather because of its position in the line-and the fact they are made in Japan.

There are a few places (search: Leather refinishing) that can respray the color coat (some even come to your house) and it is way less expensive than replacing covers. If I had to pay out of my pocket, I would never replace with the over priced Acura seat covers (as the replacements will wear just like the original)-custom interior shops are somewhat more expensive, but you select the quality of the materials used-and you get a warranty on wear.

3dluvr

I'd really like to see what the worn out seats look like as I am not sure if our '07 MDX has them or not (our previous vehicle was not leather seats).

Would someone please post daytime photos of the seats that look worn off so I can compare. Then the rest of us could go to the dealerships are raise the issue if our seats look similar.

GEB

I was thinking about getting the running boards to help reduce the wear on the seats. traded my 03 CL for a 2007 MDX about 10 days ago and I noticed that I tend to slide off the seat because of it's height. Those of you who have the wear issue, do you have running boards?

db22

I have a 2010 with the Milano leather, it is very soft and I like it but it does crease easily with a large butt. I do not know if previous years offered 2 different qualities of leather but if they did, maybe it would be differentiating on this thread.

Lakaynido1

The leather used on the MDX has differences in quality. I bought a 08 Sport/Entertainment because of the difference in the leather, it came with Milano leather which is much softer and more pliable and Milano leather id dyed all the way thru instead of just the surface like the base thru tech MDXs. Even today, if you want better leather you must upgrade to the Advance which has the Milano leather. So for you who wants the best of everything, pay to get there.

wilsel

Are any of you conditioning the leather?

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Leather conditioner doesn't have any effect on coated leather- found in most all cars. Just makes it greasy.

JLW TL

Last month We just got a 05 MDX with 70k miles and the seats in it look far better than in my 07 TL-s which had 35k miles. I was shocked that the seats look much better, with no tears and very little cracking. This is the only major complaint i have had with the car so far.

Rexorg

I've had dozens of cars with leather seats; from bad to excellent. The key to durability is the thickness of the leather. If you want the soft look and feel you have to have relatively thin leather, or highly processed skins. It's just like a premium golf glove that wears out after a few rounds from the friction, while a chepo will last a lot longer. The same goes for car seats. The heavier the driver and/or passenger then you will get more wear sooner, plus jeans and dirt and grit will do a number on leather seats. The worst offender is hot and sunny climates. It's very important to clean and condition your leather, or pleather seats, to keep them in tip top shape.

dominik331

Do the replacements look the same color as the rest of the seats in the car?

Acc20yrs

I have an 01 MDX with 156,000 on it. Both driver and passenger seats look their age, not excessive wear at all. This is definitely a cheap leather issue on later models. I've found in this blog that Acura has some dirty little secrets and leather seats is just the tip of the iceberg....

VQPower37

nope ... all leather are made in batches, and batches although similar have differences if u look closely

db22

I remember comments regarding the Connelly leather in Jaguars - After 20K miles the seats looked "old" but after 120k miles the seats still looked like they did at 20k. Conclusion: the seats blend into use very quickly but then they stay that way for years.
The other comment regarding the seats is true for most things - the easiest way to have your seats looking clean is not to dirty them in the first place.

rajeev6

Is that right? I was hoping that there'd be a solution to keep the leather seats in shape. I've only 15k in my '09 MDX and it's already looking like it'll crack in couple of months!
How does then shoe polish work? is that not coated leather? What about leather jackets?
Just asking - hoping you're more knowledgeable on leather, related manufacturing and their upkeep.
Thanks.

VQPower37

the best thing to do for our leather is keep it clean. wipe it down with a damp cloth, because the little grit that builds up on the seat slowly tears throught the leather when you sit on it over and over. ill post a pic of what my seat looks like at 77k with just being kept clean

VQPower37

here are the pics as promised of only using water to keep the seats clean at 77k miles ... for reference im 180 lbs and 6'3'' so its not like im a small guy that doesn't stress the seats at all.

Rexorg

Often inexpensive brands of leather conditioners contain gloss agents and petroleum distillates, silicone or silicone oils, which cling to the surface and then are wiped onto clothing. They leave a greasy finish that can transfer to clothing. For the health of your leather, choose a water-based, pH-balanced leather conditioner. The best in the world is Connolly Hide Care (about $28 US for an 11 oz. jar) which is used by Ferrari, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, and Bentley. The Connolly Cleaner is also around $28, but you get a 16.9 oz bottle and is used 1:12 with water. Always use a microfiber cloth for wipe down and final buffing.

rajeev6

Thank you - just ordered a Connolly combo pack off Amazon!

23109VC

update. my MDX now has 85k miles. I don't think the leather has gotten much "worse" but it still looks as crappy now as it did back at 50k...

i was detailng the car this weekend and I think I want to replace the seats or at the very least put seat covers on them... even a relatively cheap, but nicely fitting seat cover, might look better than the cracked/faded crap that Acura put in my car!

i have a tech model... non-perforated leather.... it feels cheap compared to the leather that was in my RL or in my new TL-tech with perforated leather...