Beware of your seatbelts

[squiggyacfd]

I had my rear passenger seat down for the last 2 days. Today when I raised it, I noticed a very deep dent in the leather on the top part of the seat. I figured out that when I put the seat down, the "male" part of the shoulder belt got stuck. It was on end, digging into the leather the whole time the seat was down. I guess I am lucky it didn't poke a hole through-it.

[cjre1]

That is why they are called leather seats. Leather acutally expands and stretches, so it won't get a hole, unless if the object was sharp. You got lucky on this one...

[sg77]

Something similar: I usually have the driver-side rear passenger seat down all the time (to improve visibility out the rear window). I noticed an indentation on the bottom part of the seat from the edge of the headrest. Will the indentation go away over time? Maybe I should take the headrest off before putting the seat down (or maybe after taking the headrest off the visibility will be better so I won't have to put the seat down).

[EX35_bernard]

happened to me too. but now i cant even see where the dent was...you should be ok especially in warm weather.

[cjre1]

Amen to that. I can't imagine how much it is to replace these seats.

[SteveTheTech]

Amen to that. I can't imagine how much it is to replace these seats.

The thought scares me knowing how much just a front seat bottom assembly can cost. I'll check on Monday.

As the weather warms up it may be a good time to have a discussion about what you guys use for summer leather care. The leather in the EX is different from the leather used in previous Infiniti vehicles. It is much softer than other models and seems to have more give. I wonder if laying a soft neutral colored blanket (no possibility of bleeding in a really hot car) will prevent any stretch marks or deformation.

Getting your seat belt stuck in the seats is a real PITA afterwards, usually when left in a warm (above 70ish) car for a while the foam and leather should return to its original state. If the leather is treated and still has some of its natural oils. Sometime it needs a good massage with a light oil. Yeah it's a little weird and I too was a skeptic until I started to restore the leather in my old J.

Something like this works well, if you are a detailing nut like some of us.

If any of you are familiar with some of the other Infiniti models, 00-04/05 MY are a prime example or what happens to leather when it dries out. I think the EX has uses higher grain leather or a different tanning method but it feels much softer, so I think it will age more gracefully than the older models. It's still no excuse to neglect them

I wonder if there is something quick that could be done to remedy this almost automatically when the seats are going down.... Is there a practical to tuck the belts in if no one is using the rear seats in the near future? I have a feeling as the weather warms up we will be seeing some more reports of this as these softer seats will indent easier than it's closest interior styling neighbor the FX.

[cjre1]

Steve,

Thanks for this post. I think that I am the most craziness deatailing nut that there is.

One day after I got my car, I waxed it three times, buffed all the light covers, spent 2+ hours on applying Meguiars leather conditioner, scotch guard all my carpets, placed rubber all weahter floor mats down, carpeted the rear cargo area, cover the headlights with the clear Bra material, machine polished the rims to a high gloss shine, RainX the windows, Tinted the entire car. Added two K&N Filters, Used a protective medium gloss shine coating to the plastic areas on the doors, added and Bra to the front of the car and even added a rear bumper protective cover. All within three days. So if this is not a deatialing nut, I don't know what is.