Hey All!

My car detailer just informed me that my drivers side leather seats are cracking!! I was shocked to see it when he showed it to me. Small spider vein cracks to the seats! The car is garaged kept, so no sun damage on my end!! I'm going to the dealer this weekend for them to fix my noseiy sunroof, that rattles when in the vent mode. I cant believe that only after a year and a half the seat is cracking already!! My 87 Dodge Dakota has no problem with its pleather seats, it has over 187,000 hard worked miles sitting on them...look and see the photo..cant wait for the dealer to talk his way out of this one!! Was just back three months ago for the leaky tranny....... http://i.pbase.com/g4/97/660297/2/59137659.DSCF6870.jpg click this if photo does not show....

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It's cheap leather.....this is pretty common occurance believe it or not. I dont care for leather anything short of a Mercedes/BMW....and Dodge/Chrysler has been pretty good with having leather seats crack.

 

Hopefully they will replace right?

 

With interiors, its hard to say what the Dealer will/wont do.....as they can say its excessive wear on your part. I would like to think since the car is still under warranty, that it would INDEED be covered.

Something to consider, if you have encountered a bunch of problems, it may be in your best interest to at least contact the Better Business Bureau and learn the Lemon Laws for your state. While I am in no way saying you got one, or that you should screw Dodge over, it wouldnt hurt to know your rights, especially with 2-4 problems relatively early in ownership.

 

Thanks Devil,

I'm giving them to strike three, before I raise a little hell so to say. I spoke with the Service manager, he wanted me to drop car off so they can inspect the leather first! Then order the replacement seat, in turn having me to go back twice for the same repair! I suggested they preorder the seat then if they feel its a warranty defect they can replace it right away! He says that's not the way it works, they need to see it first so I offered to send him my digital photo, he then agreed to view it....let you know the outcome of the email later..

Ed

 

Just sent the dealer an email with the photo..they will replace the seat cover he claims, which they have to special order resulting in a three week wait! Hope it's coming from a different manufacture!!

 

Just a quick question, did you treat the leather with anything too keep it soft?
I have had many people tell me that without treatment once and awhile it will get hard and crack.
15,000 miles is not long at all though.
My wife just found some tears in the back seat from our kids (or?)
Dealer has Dr. Vinyl once a week in to fix problems like that before they get worse.

 

I had a small crack on my lower seat wing driver side by shifter and the dealer called in a seat doctor and whatever he did it was gone..I tried my hardest to find the crack and couldn't..about 6 months ago still looks good..cost dealer about 150 bucks or so....had to leave car 1 day.......

 

Hey All,

Yes, I use this Armor All stuff, the brochure was in the glove box of the the car. It was a little pricey, but cleans the leather great, and does not make the seats slick which I hate. The old leather seat cleaner I had used for my Dodge truck made me slip and slide after cleaning it, if not for the seat belt I would of slid to the floor!!..lol The dealer said he will actually replace the whole bottom seat cover, not patch it because it's under warranty Dodge will replace it. If it was beyond warranty, then I would have the option to pay for repair or replacement. Everytime I get in the car now I check the seats, the downside is this will be my last new American car. It's sad that I have to take a brand new car back to the dealership three times already. Then they make you feel likes it's your fault, or wont come clean on issues they have had with this model. If not for the Dodge Forum alot of us would be in the dark. Mention it to the dealers, there quick to shoot this site down for wrong information. I even had a Hemi Magnum park beside me last week at the Target store, and we compared notes. He also had the Tranny problem, and his back seats had hairline cracks in them, but he was already beyond the 36,000 miles, he bought a returned leased car...anyway...

Ed

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Something I want to remind you and everyone else of is that these are basically first year cars......and typically they have the most issues of any new model. While I can understand your frustration, you have to understand that had you bought an Audi, BMW, Honda, or variety of other model cars....you could have been dealing with the very same issues. First year model cars are simply not the smartest models to buy. I love the Magnums, and for every bad story I hear, I hear a good one.

Be it American or European or Japanese....all cars have problems. I'm sorry to hear that you will be moving on to another manufacturer. However, I am glad to hear that your dealer is taking care of it.