Kia C'eed Front Seat Wear

The_Jester

I have a 2009 C'eed 1.6CRDi with 61,000miles. The front seat has begun to deteriorate quite rapidly over the last year.

[IMG]http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/<a href=http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/Argyll68/media/Carseat_zps1cc7b6ec.jpg.html target=_blank rel=nofollow>[/img]

I took it to the Kia garage but have told me it's due to wear and tear and is not covered under warranty.

While I accept it is down to wear and tear what I don't accept is the fact it has worn so badly at just 61,000 miles. I had a Nissan Primera that had 147,000 miles on the clock and the seat had only just started to wear like this.

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii551/Argyll68/Carseat_zps1cc7b6ec.jpg

I'm just a regular guy who drives his car to and from work and use my car socially and for shopping etc.I believe the seat has not lasted a reasonable amount of time and it should not wear like this given the amount of mileage it has done.

Would you expect a seat to wear like this so soon? What are my options?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

The_Jester wrote: »

I have a 2009 C'eed 1.6CRDi with 61,000miles. The front seat has begun to deteriorate quite rapidly over the last year.



I took it to the Kia garage but have told me it's due to wear and tear and is not covered under warranty.

While I accept it is down to wear and tear what I don't accept is the fact it has worn so badly at just 61,000 miles. I had a Nissan Primera that had 147,000 miles on the clock and the seat had only just started to wear like this.

I'm just a regular guy who drives his car to and from work and use my car socially and for shopping etc.I believe the seat has not lasted a reasonable amount of time and it should not wear like this given the amount of mileage it has done.

Would you expect a seat to wear like this so soon? What are my options?

well I cant see the pic, you admit its wear and tear, its 5 year old car with you leaning in and out getting in and out even when not driving the vehicle so miles is non starter for gauging wear on a seat and how long its going to last.

Crabman

I was at a Kia dealership and saw bubbling rust on a Kia Sportage panel (no damage evident). It was around 2 years old.

Have you found other similar reports on forums? There is a Kia owner forum so it may be worth searching to see whether it's a commonly reported issue.

AdrianC

At the end of the day, it's a 5yo, 60k mile "value"-brand car that's showing signs of wear. Well, hold the front page.

Your options are to hassle Kia UK and hope for some kind of a goodwill contribution, live with it, get that seat retrimmed or buy a new seat.

clayton16749

Personally, I'd just live with it. It's a 5 year old budget car with average-ish miles. I doubt it'd be worth forking out for a new seat - unless you really can't put up with it.

The_Jester

So you all think the wear is acceptable for a five year old car with 61,000 mls? Bearing in mind it has a 100,000 mile and 7 year warranty on it.

droopsnoot

It's hard to know without seeing the picture. But wear is subjective, some car seats wear more quickly than others. As Crabman said, you should have a look around to see whether other owners are reporting the same thing, and if they are, you can take it two ways - one is that the seat isn't really fit for purpose, the other is that they all do it, yours is not unusual.

From the manufacturers point of view, how do they know how it's been treated, other than by your word? It could have had a really hard life that the mileage alone doesn't reveal. I was going to ask if it was the one used on Top Gear for the "Star in a reasonably-priced car" feature, but I fear that might not go down too well*.

As for the warranty, these things usually exclude items that they expect to wear, and the drivers seat, more so than any other part of the interior, will wear sooner than the rest. Does the warranty paperwork say anything about trim, seats and how it is covered?

Or as AdrianC said, get in touch with Kia customer relations and see what they say. They might overrule the dealer. I had a balljoint fail an MOT at 35k on my car, dealer said "wear and tear" but referred it to the manufacturer who agreed that there's no way it should be failing at that mileage, and paid to replace it. You don't know until you try.

(* and that has racing seats fitted, before anyone picks me up on it)

atrixblue.-MFR-.

The_Jester wrote: »

So you all think the wear is acceptable for a five year old car with 61,000 mls? Bearing in mind it has a 100,000 mile and 7 year warranty on it.

looking at my kia warranty handbook (I have a 2013 proceed) interior trim INC seats, external paint warranty (not anti corrosion they are different) are only covered for the first 12 months, the 7 year warranty then falls to mechanical parts excluding brake pads and fair wear items.


I'm afraid KIA are correct to refuse a warranty claim because those items are outside of the 7 year warranty anyway. they are under first 12 months from new.


Also my dad had a 2008 kia ceed, he had from 12 months old, and part ex it for a 2013 model, he had put 40k on the clock to take it upto 48k the interior was like new, nothing broken nothing scratched up nothing faded.


If you have the faux leather seats in that model. they need conditioning just like leather does but with less harsh conditioners (like cheap as chips leather cream) if you use baby wipes or other non recommended products then its user error they have failed.


I understand your grievance, but you cant ignore the fact the seats failing are extremely hard to prove its not wear and tear and lack of or mis use of products (if faux leather).


looking on ebay front seat for 2008/2009 pre 2010 model cee'ds are around £150.00 or your option is to retrim probably more expensive than a used good condition seat, they are this price because the airbag in it and active head restraint system.


or press really hard on KIA HQ with photo's and dissatisfaction letter to have good will towards getting it replaced.

chrisw

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

If you have the faux leather seats in that model. they need conditioning just like leather does but with less harsh conditioners (like cheap as chips leather cream) if you use baby wipes or other non recommended products then its user error they have failed.

Faux leather is a form of plastic or vinyl so I'm not sure what benefit conditioning would have. Leather is natural skin and the conditioning replaces the fats and oils that are lost with wear.

colino

Have you owned it from new? A few round here used to bumble around as Motability cars and they usually end up with strange damage/wear.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

chrisw wrote: »

Faux leather is a form of plastic or vinyl so I'm not sure what benefit conditioning would have. Leather is natural skin and the conditioning replaces the fats and oils that are lost with wear.

its a breathable poly made material, not vinyls, this material needs to breath or when you sit on it will split on the first go.


it still needs taking care of to make it pliable and durable, leather creams that are NOT harsh deep cleansers will do the job nicely, been using creams on this type of material for a long time and never had an issue EVEN on faux leather settee's . I made the mistake of using baby wipes first going off which made the meterials split and separate over time.