This week I had the fabric upholstery replaced with Katzkin leather. It looks good and (at least to me) feels considerably more comfortable than the fabric. Incidentally, seems to me the leather Katzkin provides is substantially more supple than the leather used by car manufacturers. The auxiliary battery was disconnected for better part of two days (to avoid accidental inflation of the side air bags). The only effect of the battery disconnection was loss of the automatic function of the driver window, which was easy to normalize. There were no other effects, even the NAV and radio presets were not lost. Glad I did it. Really dresses up the car's interior.
I'm thinking of having leather installed on my Prius as well. Has anyone noted any drawbacks (besides side-airbags) to having leather, i.e.,, more interior noise since less fabric for sound dampening, or seams coming loose, etc.? thx, /mark
Mark, the leather I had installed is made specifically for the Prius, and is available for models with or without side air bags (I have side air bags). I was told that with side air bags, the leather in the air bag area is sewn with breakaway thread.
I actually am glad the car didn't come with leather. To me, leather is cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. I really like the fabric they use in the Prius. Truth be told, even if leather were a NO cost option, I'd decline it.
