Normal Wear and Tear?

Unlike the steering wheel thread, I do consider this to be abnormal (however pervasively it may occur), given the mileage and age of the vehicle.

 

Something tells me I'm going to agree with you on this as well...

 

It does appear something was catching on the leather upon entry/exit causing the marks, therefore the dealer was likely correct in stating "wear and tear" are not covered. What other opinion were they supposed to offer? They go by what they see and observe, not by what you say. However, they rose above it all and offered the goodwill repair. The key word is repair, not replace. For minimal surface damage, leather can be sometimes repaired to minimize the look and appearance of the damage. If the leather had split open or torn apart at the seams, a replacement would have been in order, but even then it's likely the dealer would still say it was "wear and tear".

 

not cool. i'd be pissed if my seats looked like that with your stats

 

If the leather was in fact defective causing it to be hypersensitive to something catching on the leather and leaving wear and tear-like marks, the OP could have demonstrated that by purposely scratching the affected side and showing that it's hypersensitive to such marks compared to the unaffected side.

Some people got the black iPhone 5 with defective anodizing coating that looked like hell after just two short weeks, easily demonstrable by showing that the black comes off with rubbing.

 

There are a variety ways the leather could be scratched or scuffed. If ChaiLove is shorter and needs to have the seat positioned closer to the steering wheel, getting in and out of the seat could suffer from scuffing and if wearing a belt or other clothing with metal parts, scratches can occur without being aware of it. Even a dog could potentially scuff the leather too. The drivers seat received the most wear and tear. The leather in my previous 10' Prius IV didn't suffer any scuffing or scratches during the 49k miles I had it, even when the occasional button on my pants pocket would catch.

 

Might be too late now, but can you purposely induce a scratch on the supposedly defective panel and show that it scratches more easily than the other side? That's the way to demonstrate that it's in fact defective, not just your words that it's not an user inflicted damage, even if you caused it without knowing it.

I'm not sure what you meant by you did not authorize the repair. You handed the car to them to do the repair but didn't inquire what type of repair they'd do. Dealers typically do the cheapest repair they can get away with. A dealer once dented a previous car of mine and they wanted to fix it cheaply with body filler, which I refused.

 

Got it. They surely jumped the gun on this one.

 

Looks like this was a misunderstanding between you and the dealer. They knew you were not happy with their standard answer, got approval for the "goodwill" repair, and didn't realize you were to be contacted prior to the repair. Maybe they thought since you were notified they would do the repair, that was the notification you wanted? Did you specifically ask them to call and tell you exactly what they were going to do before they do it? Unless you were very clear and specific about it, they did what they said they were going to do. I'm just playing devils advocate here and not taking sides. I've seen it happen in many situations where people have a set of assumed expectations for the other party involved, but when they're not met, one side is even more unhappy, and the other side is just thinking this is a no-win situation no matter what they do. Maybe if you had asked specifically to have the leather replaced, you would have had a different result.

 

Does the dealer/Toyota rep know exactly what you want? You haven't stated that in this thread so my guess is they don't know either. All we know is what you didn't want. You got them to re-look at your seat and received an approval for their good-will repair. Either they forgot to call and tell you exactly what the "repair" will be and get your approval first, or they were not specifically told to do so and were not aware of your expectations. They likely thought by your acknowledgement of the good-will repair meant they could go ahead and do what they did. Going to a different dealer would not have helped as far as getting the dealer to do something. Dealers in the same geographic area deal with the same Toyota reps. Dealer service dept's generally don't do anything they are not compensated for, so they either look to the car owner or directly from Toyota for payment. In this case, you got Toyota to pay for the repair - it's not the dealers fault you're unhappy.

 

Is anyone aware if this happens to softec? This is my first vehicle with it and this thread is making me nervous...

 

No reported case. Don't worry because so far it's indicative of an user-inflicted damage as the OP has not done a scratch test to prove otherwise or shown any additional wear in over a year since if it were in fact defective.

 

The stitching does look bad and I agree that it doesn't look good or match the original texture. But short of getting a whole new seat or seat cover or replacing that panel of leather, what were you expecting them to do? Again, I have to state that you did not specify exactly what you wanted them to do, and whether explicitly or not, they thought you had given them approval to repair it. At the very least, you should have asked 'how will you repair it?' The bigger issue is the difference of opinion you have with Toyota on the diagnoses of the original problem. You think the damage to the leather is the fault of Toyota, and obviously the dealer and the Toyota rep think it's not. If it was found that the leather was defective, a replacement would have been in order. But because it's not, the goodwill repair was the option they could grant you. Someone has to pay for repair/replacement, but Toyota has made clear they are not liable and therefore will not pay to replace it. I suggest finding a shop that does automotive upholstery repair, show them the before pictures and ask them what should have been done short of replacement. Then compare what they tell you to what was actually done, then take your case back to the dealer/Toyota rep.

 

I agree with this. If you wanted a replacement, the burden of proof is on you to show it's actually defective by 1) demonstrating additional wear above and beyond the pictures in your OP in the 14 months since or 2) doing a scratch test. To expect otherwise is akin to walking into an Apple store with a shattered iPhone screen and telling them it just happened and expecting them to replace it.