I just purchased 2006 TL and did not noticed at the time of purchase that a portion of leather on a seat is kind of crampled and not as smooth than the rest of the seats. See the picture below.



Notice how the selected area is different from the area above.

Needless to say my wife is upset already by the fact that she has to put 91 type gas, she want me to go to the dealership and tell them about.

Is something like this covered by warranty?

If they do this, will it require replacing entire seat?

Does your seat looks like that?

 

probably they will if the car is new, but if it was a used car, they might give you problems. see if it works, i have to go in to because the driver side headrest is a diffrent type of leather, i think, it has a diffrent feel.....

 

The car is brand new. I bought it with 8 miles on it.

 

I have the same problem. Refer to my earlier posts. Others have also complained. You must speak to the dealer and get a regional manager involved. They refused to fix it in my case. This is my last Acura.

 

I'm guessing they won't replace that without a fight. They will say it is a natural material and variations can occur. And they would be saying a true thing. The real question is aside from that will they replace the seat to make you happy.

About the 91 gas here is my math:
I do 10K mi/year and average 25 or better MPG. That's 400Gal. In may area the difference is 10 cents between 93 and 89 (I can't get 91). 400gal X 10 cents is $40 a year. Big freaking deal. People piss more than that away monthly on cell phone plans, cable, etc. Others have run the car on 89 and find that the MPG goes down so the "real" savings does as well.

If you live in an area that has a really big price difference between the price of grades then that's different. Either way the best way to minimize the price of gas is to drive in a way that gets you better mileage NOT to use cheaper, lower octane gas. If I used 89 and got 1 MPG less it would actually cost $10 more annually. The math here is all "linear" so if you drive more or less the comparison is still the same.

And please, don't whine to the dealer about the octane required. It's pretty clearly stated on on the filler door and that's all part of researching cars.

 

Excellent post Adobeman.

 

I went to the dealer on Saturday to see if they can replace the back seat. We looked at other TLs and none of them had the same problem with leather. The service guy told me that this woyld be the service manager call. I will come back on Monday to talk to service manger about this.

Also, this is a defect. We had the same problem with the leather in our other car and eventually it cracked. Yes we did aply the leather protection in our other car, thinking that that would help. We should have went to the dealer in the first place.

 

You did the right thing and reported it to the dealership. If they dont fix it...just keep climbing the ladder until the do. Adobeman is right....they might give you the natural leather thing and variences, ect (which is true).....but if you are unhappy....they will likely change it out. My guess is....they would just pick one of em from the lot that doesnt have it and swap and sell the problem to the next person who might accept it as a natural occurance.

 

my new Tl has the same issue but it is in the middle section of the rear seat. very small section but nonetheless, annoying. this is my ONLY complaint/issue with this car. i am headed to the dealer on monday for the service manager to check it out. i am hoping for a deal on the protection stuff they offered to put on the interior at the time of purchase that i declined. prior to 04, the leather was very plush in the TL (as was in my 03)
i think all the other awesome features outweigh this small flaw...unless of course the leather completely deteriorates...then i will be VERY dissapointed

 

So, I went to the dealer to talk to the Service manager. He had no problem replacing it; however, there is one small problem. The do not replace the back seat. What they do, as he explained to me, order the new leather cover, take the seat to the upholstery shop and the upholstery shop puts it on. He also said that there is no guarantee that the new cover will be as tight as the original one. It most likely will be looser. He also said that this portion may stretch with the time, but if I do not like it I can replace it any time during the warranty period.

I do not know if this is BS or not, but I am not willing to try it out.

 

Man, that seems like a more expensive fix than just swapping the seat back assembly, due to the labor involved.

 

I hate to say it but viewing the picture and the area of concern to you is not an issue I would have brought to the dealer's attention. Maybe the picture just does not show the issue clearly enough to me.

For example, look at your driver's seat now that you have used it. See new wrinkles? I thought so.

You back seat has a little more character to it and if you let people ride in the backseat, the leather will develop more wrinkles.

And like the Service Manager told you, if it cracks, they will replace it under warranty.