today i noticed a portion near the aluminum trim begining to peel away. what the hell could have caused this? should i bring it to the dealer and see if they would fix it under warranty? a shame how things fall apart so easily

 

Looks like you may have it it with the sealtbelt. Can't hurt to take it to the dealer and see what they say. It definately looks like some sort of cut.

 

seat belt possible, has anyone sat in your car, had your car serviced? kind of looks like a cut from a sharp object

 

Another fine example of cheap materials used in this car....

 

cand see the pic...... dunno how this happened by the way it sounds but in the 2004 intellichoice mag. one of the cons were that (aluminum trim dents easily) havnt seen this tho

 

just refreashed the pic and can see it..... r u sure its coming from the trim??? dosnt look like it to me

 

That was clearly cut by something or someone with something; not sure how that constitutes a cheap part or materials.

This interior is 1000% times better quality than my $35K ’03 Cobra.

 

That is most definitely a cut, and probably with a sharp edge. Seatbelt tangs aren't that sharp to cause that type of damage. I doubt that this would be a warranty item, but you can try. If not, perhaps your insurance would cover it under vandalism. Just my

 

is that the driver's side? looking at the ripples and the angle of the cut.... IF it is the driver's side...

its gotta be the seat belt... and the reason is because the seatbelt is not a sharp knife. thats why there is an indentation to the left side of the cut. rather then if it was a sharp knife, it would have cut immediately.

you see the ripples on the right side and the indentation on the left side? thats because it was cut going from left to right (from the picture's point of view)

theres no reason for me to think that it was NOT the seatbelt

 

it probably was the seatbelt, even though it is on the passengers side. i get lots of freidns in and out of my car, and some are really dumb ones, they prob hit the edge wit ha seatbelt. the material is alsmot plastic-rubber like, so a blunt object lie ka seatbelt could tear it like that i guess. i just hope it doesnt rip open and get bigger, ill see what happens.

 

i'm sure bmw uses kevlar for the interior trim so you won't encounter this problem when you are weilding excalibur in your car.

 

yeah I hate it when people blame clear human error on "build quality". That is clearly a cut by a sharp object, not some tear due to poor quality.

 

When I picked up my TL from the dealer after having my navi touch-screen replaced, I noticed that the aluminum trim on the driver's side was scratched and pitted. Showed it to the Service Advisor and he immediately ordered both the right and left trim pieces. A few days later, both were installed, covered under warranty and it took only 35 minutes on a busy day. I'm happy!

 

Passenger side? Any of your friends wear wallet chains?

That's what my first thought was. Or do they hang their keys or cell phones on their belts?

 

How do you know that ? How the fu*k do you have any idea that it is the material. It is a freeking CUT, can happen with a miillion sharp things...I am pretty sure it just didnt tear apart one fine day, something has to come into contact with it for that to happen...

DAMN people need to fuc*ing think twice before they make some smart ass/ridiculous/LAME comment like the one above...get the FACTS straight before you say anything

 

definitely a cut.... regardless if the material is cheap or not... And it was not the seat belt...

 

My buddy has that happen on the back passenger door of him BMW 540i.

The cause? the technician doing some work had a screwdriver in his back or side pocket of his overalls and propped the door open with his body at one point while working on something in the backseat. Obviously my buddy saw what happened and they replaced it for him.


It can happen in ANY car - regardless of model and build quality, that's a silly statement. Also, it can happen any way. I've seen pens poke holes in seats before, just has to be the right angle and force and it will go thru it.

 

It is a cut, the smoothness of that cut means it was something very sharp, but after it was cut the material was tugged against in a downward fashion which is why you see the 3 distinct stretch marks where the material is bunching up.

It could have been somethning that you were transporting that cut through the material and rested on it afterwords. However this is just my observation.

 

Passenger side - hmmm..maybe wife's or GF's diamond ring?

 

Or..... wife / GF "leaning over" to driver side

 

Nice.

 

Agree with the individuals that state this is NOT a function of poor quality. I'm amazed at how many negative posts there are on this site regarding this awesome car. I've had mine for a year now and (knock on wood), have had no problems.

Things like this don't have anything to do with poor craftsmanship, it is all human error!

 

Awesome!

Even better!! That is why they made tilt steering wheels, afterall...

Wonder if I can get mine to do this. Mine was like this when I bought it. I didn't notice it...also didn't know blindly trying to buckle the seat belt caused it. Definitely put a few more on myself, but not all. Of course, I'm very careful since I read about this problem on here. Guess it can't hurt to ask...getting new front and rear underbodies next week (don't fit well), so I'll check then.