How do you get in and out of your car without wearing the seat?

pns2007

pns2007

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Had my A3 for coming up to 6 months now with 3000 miles on the clock. I only drive 6 or 7 miles a day each way to work and wear a suit generally so the car hasn't had a hard life.

My seat however is creasing quite bad, took it to one dealer who said it was normal, another dealer has taken some pictures and sent it to Audi for a warrenty claim but have said its up to Audi and they may replace as a good will gesture.

Some pics of my seat :-






IMG_1809.jpg



IMG_1810.jpg



Question is, first has anyone elses car seat creased like this in such a short time and secondly, even if it is replaced how can I stop it happening again. It is so difficult to get out of these seats without squashing the edge of the seat against the plastic surround.

How do you guys get in and out of your car to avoid this.

I have an A3 cabriolet with half leather s-line seats. I don't think there is anything different with these seats from a hatch or sport back.

Any ideas to stop this happening or minimise it from getting worse
 
pns2007 said:
Had my A3 for coming up to 6 months now with 3000 miles on the clock. I only drive 6 or 7 miles a day each way to work and wear a suit generally so the car hasn't had a hard life.

My seat however is creasing quite bad, took it to one dealer who said it was normal, another dealer has taken some pictures and sent it to Audi for a warrenty claim but have said its up to Audi and they may replace as a good will gesture.

Some pics of my seat :-






IMG_1809.jpg



IMG_1810.jpg



Question is, first has anyone elses car seat creased like this in such a short time and secondly, even if it is replaced how can I stop it happening again. It is so difficult to get out of these seats without squashing the edge of the seat against the plastic surround.

How do you guys get in and out of your car to avoid this.

I have an A3 cabriolet with half leather s-line seats. I don't think there is anything different with these seats from a hatch or sport back.

Any ideas to stop this happening or minimise it from getting worse
Click to expand...

I don't see any wear just creasing of the leather, we all get this only way to avoid is don't drive the car.
 
From experience Audi are usually a bit funny about anything to do with wear and tear on seats. I would leave them as they are. Even if you get new ones, they will do exactly the same.

Also It may be worth noting that, leather seat covers never go back on as well as they are fitted from the factory.;)

Mine are going exactly the same as yours about 3000 miles. I dont think you can change the way you get in and out of the car. But you could minimize the risk of the leather cracking totally by putting some leather treatment on it to keep it supple.

Part number for Audi leather care 00A096306A006.
 
its on em all ...funny thing bmws do it alot less id say its the qaulity of the leather used .....Its very thin on audis, in that area i think they should stiffen and thicken the leather up on each side ....Its like that in my car audi didnt want to know ...
 
10blazin said:
its on em all ...funny thing bmws do it alot less id say its the qaulity of the leather used .....Its very thin on audis, in that area i think they should stiffen and thicken the leather up on each side ....Its like that in my car audi didnt want to know ...
Click to expand...

I agree they should make the leather thicker. If they want to beat BMW they will have to up the quality.
 
i mean frenchy i dont mean to diss you ...you just work for them and its great you being on here ... But the seats are fine its just them damn bits on both sides how hard is it to just improve on them ,But they must save a fortune even just to cut corners on them bits imagin every seat done in thicker more expensive leather thats a lot of money .. But we the customer pays for these seats so i dont see why they cant improve on it... Qaulity sells and alot of people are now being put off by this problem and alot of people for a few years now have been complaining about the seats , i think its terrible i mean you spend anything from 20 to 50 k on a car and the seats do this after 3000 miles its terrible tbh and because the cars are good design and the in thing at the moment audi dont really seem to give a ***** about it but when the tide swings which it will i bet they change there tune then .....
 
Mine still look like new, as I feed it every few months, and try to slide in without hitting the side supports.
It is in the owner's manual that you have to clean/feed the leather, so can see em wriggling out of it.
Saying that, I do recall an old thread by someone with an RS4 who took it to Audi, and they did something about it. Sorry its a bit vague! Good luck fella.
 
Yeah mine are not that bad and it has 40k on it now....

Maybe they put worse leather on them now.
 
Don't take this the wrong way but.... could it also depend on how big your buttocks are?
 
I have the buckets in mine and its a mare trying to get in without sitting on the bolsters. Usually hold onto the steering wheel and put my back in the seat first then lower myself in. Nice seats but a PITA!!!
 
cameron1 said:
Don't take this the wrong way but.... could it also depend on how big your buttocks are?
Click to expand...

yeah if your a fat kid it aint gonna help lol mine were already creased when i bought mine but seriously you should be able to just plonk in and out of your car without all that if they just used thicker leather for them parts next we will be using block and takle to get in an out hahaha
 
Mines done 8000 miles and my drivers seat is slightly creased, not as bad as yours though. I'm still concerned its going to get worse over time.

I'm not overweight either....I have a 32 inch waist :)
 
mine has the exact same trim in my 3 dr i complained to audi and theysaid its meant to wear like that
 
Don't take this the wrong way but.... could it also depend on how big your buttocks are?
Click to expand...

I'm by no means large, average joe I suppose

My wife says I've got a lovely tight ****, or was it that I am a tight **** :think: lol

I do give them a clean with auto glym leather cleaner to feed the leather. I'm sort of ok if the creasing stays as it is, I'm just concerned that over time it will eventually split where the creases are. Although Audi might not do anything yet, at least its on record should anything worse happen.
 
mine has the buckets and its best if you can drop in and lift yourself up out of the car .try using gliptone leather conditioner it will get rid of those creases if used often enough , when using it for the first time warm the leather first with a hairdryer , not too hot though
 
I tend to grab hold of the roof as I enter/exit to avoid putting undue pressure on the side of the bolster...seems to work well.
 
I bought my A3 with 9k on the clock at just under 3 years old.

The leather on the driver's bolster was completely un-creased at that time, but after 3 months and 2k miles in my hands it has begun to crease. I think this goes to show that it's how you get in an out and what size your body is; i.e. not Audi's fault!
 
Personally I have my own answer. I never buy a car with leather seats.

The 'normal' seats on my A3s look as good when I sell the car after 3 years as they did when I first had the car.
 
h5djr said:
Personally I have my own answer. I never buy a car with leather seats.

The 'normal' seats on my A3s look as good when I sell the car after 3 years as they did when I first had the car.
Click to expand...

+1

I have half leather and the cloth bit is as new.... and warm in the winter.
 
robern2 said:
I tend to grab hold of the roof as I enter/exit to avoid putting undue pressure on the side of the bolster...seems to work well.
Click to expand...

your seats will be fine but you'll have a marked roof :p
 
Usually I take the seat off before getting out of the car.....:laugh:


Seriously though,seat wear is obviously a problem with leather,and even more so with the bucket seats.

I tend to swing round a bit,stick my feet out first and get out that way,using the door pillar to help.
Even so,the door side bolster is getting a bit worn.
 
At least the cloth bit still looks good, on mine which is all leather the main bit you sit on has gone all loose and creased. I'm thinking of getting it retrimmed with half leather half alcantara.
 
My S3 has 10k miles on the clock and the seats are exactly like yours, don't think there is much we can do..
 
Mines got 45k on and the seats still look good, but i have marked the edges of the leather with a canvas seat co i use when going to work and back, so now i use one of the wifes lovely soft bath towels.....But the leather on my 2004 seems thicker than newer cars. We looked at a Honda civic for her last year and the leather felt like paper wouldn't last long at all.
 
Since starting the original thread, I took my car to Stoke Audi and they replaced the bottom cover of the seat. Probably a month or so afterwards the seat started to crease in a similar way as before. I think I would agree with what Frency2475 said

Also It may be worth noting that, leather seat covers never go back on as well as they are fitted from the factory
Click to expand...

I looked at several other cars in the showrooms of several dealers and the seats tend to be in a similar condition. The guy at Stoke Audi asked if my car was on display beforehand as it showed signs of lots of people getting in and out of it. It wasn't though.

Didn't have the option of using the roof to help myself in as the car was a cabriolet. I was told to lever myself in using the hand brake as a support.

Problem solved now as I px'd the A3 for an A4 :)
 
Glade someone brought this topic back up actually as its been plaing on my mnd every time get in and out of that dame seat!!

I have half leather half alcantara and my drivers side bolster is slightly creased but it has some really weird looking kinks in the bolster where the stitching is...

Anyone else have this? It really annoys me, my previous BMW was much thicker better standard leather, mind you it probably cost the lives of about 10 cows, but it looked good and didnt crease!!!
 
The seat in my A5 are awfully creased and wearing through, its done 21k miles in 18 months and i'm only a slim 10 stone chap, it's pretty appauling in my view, but it's clear the leather quality of Audi is not what it used to be. I had an old 1996 A4 Avant with leather interior and that had 127k miles on the clock when it died, but the seats where worn in, but not worn out!

If this happens to the S3 i'll be spending some dosh and getting a professional trimmer to do a good job and use some decent leather to re-trim parts of the seats that need it. That said, I still wont be happy about it if I had to, but like others have said, if Audi do replace it as a good will gesture, it will only be with the naff leather that was there before and wont last long before it needs doing again.
 
Because AUDI leather is made from russian cat's and is poor quality , I think the only way to not get creases or marks is to order open sky light with your car and get the misses to lower you in on block and tackle ...lol

Audi leather

xin_10030420165297432191.jpg


The solution

300px-Block_and_tackle_(PSF).png
 
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audi upgrades
I have buckets in mine, I grab hold of the roof with my right hand, steering with my left and monkey swing in. Works a treat.
 
mine are not it good shape the owner who had it before me was a bit of a lard **** so the seat side is not good lol
 
RonstarS3 said:
I have buckets in mine, I grab hold of the roof with my right hand, steering with my left and monkey swing in. Works a treat.
Click to expand...

Or I hold the steering wheel, and put right hand on the sill and slide in and over the bolster, back yourself in, not hoping in sideways if you catch my drift.

Kevin
 
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