Well guys, I'm happy to say that my dealer went the extra mile for me and decided to replace my leather with the new '05 style skins. I only had buttprints on the bottom driver cushion, but my dealer is great and replaced not only the seat bottoms, but the back's as well. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the seat back leather, but he said he wanted to make sure everything was matched and I wouldn't end up with new bottom cushions and worn seat back leather. Also, I looked at the skins before they installed them and it looks like the newer '05 covers have some additional backing material under the leather in the area where the buttprints have been a problem. This extra material is attached under the lining on the leather and appears to be some sort of foam padding. I can't say how happy I am with my dealer and the service he's given me. They didn't try to weasel out of anything, and the fact that they replaced the WHOLE seat was way beyond what they needed to do. Acura did right by me!!

 

Great news and good dealership.

Did they also replace two bolsters aside?

 

Yes....the leather that covers the seat bottom and back also contains the bolsters. Good thing since my driver side bolster has already been showing some wrinkles and slight wear from sliding in and out of the car.

 

What dealership was this?

 

My dealer is "Jones Acura" in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. John is the service guy who ordered the skins and has been great about keeping me happy. They didn't give me any argument when I told them about the buttprint issue, they just ordered a whole set of seat covers and said it was no problem to swap them for the '05 style. As far as warranty issues go, I believe the dealer has a lot of leeway when it comes to ordering the '05 style covers...they're the same price anyway. John agreed that replacing the covers with the '04 style wouldn't solve the problem. The new '05 covers seem to have some additional padding under the leather so in addition to the extra seam, the padding should help keep the wrinkles and buttprints from comming back. I'm one happy camper!!

 

When my wife and I test drove an '04 TL back in Dec '04, the salesguy said the only difference in the '05 was the air bag light and an extra stitch in the seats. He really downplayed the buttprint problem which I did not know of at the time. We are going to wait and see what the '06 has before my wife buys hers.

 

Does anyone know if Acura is doing anything about the butt print issue? My dealer seems to think they are, but I have no way to confirm it.

 

The butt-print issue has been a problem since the second generation model. Acura hasn't done anything to prevent it or fix it, so I doubt they will do anything in the near future.

 

All I can say is the '05 covers they put on my '04 TL appear to have more padding under the lining that is attached to the leather. They also put an extra seam or stiching to lessen the area that could be stretched do to sitting on that back part of the seat. It's still going to stretch, but the seam will make it less obvious. Also, the leather appears to be slightly thicker than the leather on my '04TL. This is especially noticable around the perforated holes if you pinch the leather together and see how thick it is although it might just be the extra lining material. Unless I could take a piece and remove the lining I can't say for sure how think the actual leather is. There is a big improvment between the '04 and '05 design, so don't say Acura didn't do anything to fix the problem...they did.

 

Acura has acnologed the problem but for most people they seem unwilling to fix it. my 04 has the but print and I took it to my dealer to get fixed and they said they can't do it. They said putting an 05 part on an 04 is "aftermarket" and they can't do it under warranty. I even gave them a recipt from hondaonly when he got his done and they said no. My mom has called ACS and they are not denying the problem they are just unwilling to put 05 covers on an 04 for some reason!! I am trying to get this fixed on mine. Is there anyway you could scan your recipt so I can try to use this with my dealer or go to another dealer and try? My mom has been dealing with problem but I think I am about to intervene and go bust some heads at the dealer like I did with the tires, the dealer doesn't wanna mess me Thanks

 

Tennisjon....PM me with your Email addy...and I'll send you the receipt showing my dealer swapped my seat covers...sounds like you need a better dealership to work with. I'm glad my local dealer is so helpfull....they don't have a fancy customer lounge...no starbucks...big screen TV....stuff like that...but one thing they do is keep their customers happy!!

 

pm sent

 

Tennisjon2002, what dealership are you using in the Triangle...I have heard mixed things about Performance. And Leith is suppose to have much better service, just wanted to see who you are using...

 

Been using performance, they have had decent service in my recent visits, they gave me new el-42's after 12K. My last visit was a dissapointment though. The told me they couldn't fix one of the rear deck rattles becasue it was from the seatbelt and they tried replacing it and it still did it. They again failed to fix the sunroof rattle and they messed up the seat memory settings. I am going to take it back to them and make them correct this and try to get them to put on the seats, I am going to talk to them personally this time not my mom becasue my mom really doesn't know what she is talking about. I am also going to try to get a free oil change since they messed up my seat memory. I have heard of leiths service and I have called them and couldn't really get an answer over the phone whether they would put 05's on, they just said bring it in and they will look at it. I figured I will give performance one more try then make my way out to leith which is kinda inconvenient but w/e.
Edit btw I bought my TL at performance so they better do some better service on it and it is my moms TL not mine but i always like 2 call it mine lol

 

anyone had any luck in getting the seat covers replaced by leith?

 

JetJock, that's great news. I was also able to get my 04 covers replaced with 05 covers back in December. I was very impressed with the way my dealer went out of their way, but it sounds like yours went even further. I just had the seat bottom covers replaced, not the seat backs. I do agree that it's the extra padding, not the extra stitch that makes the difference. I was allowed to inspect the seat covers before they were installed and did notice the extra padding, but I had never seen the bottom of an 04 cover so I couldn't really compare. It's been 4 months now and I still don't get butt prints. At worst, I see a mild distortion which goes away pretty quickly.

Acura clearly knows about this problem, but they don't want TL owners everywhere to come in and ask for replacement covers. Even my dealer has stopped doing it after several people here called them up. So consider yourself lucky, JetJock. I wouldn't be suprised if your dealer stops doing it once they get flooded with calls from other TL owners.

 

Walker Acura in New Orleans replaced my Driver side seat with another 2004. So far it is holding up. If it starts to pucker again, I will ask them to replace both seat with 05 covers.

 

I am waiting for a dealer to look at the person complaing of butt prints and saying well I think the seats are fine, but your butt needs work!!!!

 

does someone have a picture of the butt print issue? i would like see what is happening...

 

you all have big asses that is all

 

I have 05' and I still get the butt print.

 

do you have the 05 covers or an 05? Most people seem to be fine with the 05's.

 

here are Ania's pics http://www.pbase.com/t4trbo/acura_seats_

 

Guys, keep in mind that replacing the '04 covers with the '05 style not only requires replacing the leather, but since the '05 cover has an extra seam, that seam has a rod with two hooks that anchors down into the cushion, pulling the seam down creating the crease. Since the '04 seats only have one seam, replacing the covers with '05 skins also requires replacing the cushion below to get the extra hooks to hold down that extra seam. Acura is only doing this on a "case by case" basis and is not replacing every '04 TL seat otherwise they would be swamped with thousands of repairs. They do realize there is a problem with the '04 seats, but getting it repaired depends on your relationship with your local dealer. You are not going to get any help from Acura on this issue because of the complexity of the repair and cost involved. I believe it's going to run nearly $1000 to swap covers on both seats including the cushion under the leather. Good luck with your individual cases. This problem is not a general warranty issue so please don't use my case as a basis for getting your dealership to help you. I've had an exceptional relationship with the Acura Dealership and they did it as a personal favor to me and me alone.

 

You know, this is BS. I understand it will cost Acura a lot of money to replace the seats, but for the people that are having problems, they should fix regardless. Not all 04 owners are having the issue, so its not like every single car will have to be fixed. I guess I'll never buy a first year production vehicle again.

 

I had butt prints on the front seats of my '04 TL navi and my dealer took my car to a trim shop. They added more padding to the seats and voila, the butt prints are gone. It has been 6 weeks and all looks good.

 

Oh, Man! I wish I had read this last week! I went to my dealer, and they took me and my big fat azz to a machine shop, where they removed about10 pounds of excess lard.