Warranty question: Tear in BRZ seat leather
 

Had my BRZ limited for six weeks, just about to hit 1000 miles (taking my time doing the break-in). Was cleaning the interior yesterday and noticed about a one-inch tear on the passenger seat leather (right about where the seatbelt would cross the door-side of the seat for the passenger).

Haven't had a chance to talk to Subaru yet. My wife and I are babying the car, so this was a shocker to discover.

What should I expect regarding the warranty here?

Probably nothing. A seat is a wear item.

I would say expect nothing but go in with a cool head and talk to them.

Seats are wear items but 6 weeks and 1000 miles in the passenger seat shouldn't be much wear. Depending on the cause of the tear you can probably argue that it's a defect and should be covered.

Yah, on the one hand fixing it isn't a huge deal, whether the dealer helps out or not, but frustrating when I bought this car for pure fun, and my other cars which have carried car seats and toddlers and such and have gone 100K+ have never had this happen to their (leather) seats.

No idea how it got ripped, or even if it was there from the start. Sort of thing I could have missed until I did my first interior cleaning.

Watched in horror a few days ago as a minivan almost backed into my BRZ in an almost empty parking lot. That would have been a lot more painful than finding a small rip in the seat! Thinking I need to put one of those red bicycle flags on my car; seems like people in tall vehicles don't see it.

BTW, loving my BRZ! Happy to have it at 1000 miles, now I can start opening up and enjoying it even more.

I had a rip in the middle of the side panel. Because of the location (not a wearing location), they replaced the seat cover under warranty. If it had been along stitching or in a wearing location, they would not have.

How about a picture ....... we love pictures.......:)

I suggest you take it into the dealer, if they won't fix it, they may recommend a shop that could.

Welcome to the world of driving a small, low car. As you are finding out, your BRZ is usually "in the blind spot" of most larger vehicles.

I suggest you drive it like you're riding a motorcycle ........ assuming NO BODY sees you ...... :eyebulge:


humfrz

And paint it orange!
Although I must confess that I admire the bravery it takes to drive these cars in silver or grey.

The first time I saw an FR-S, was on a dealers lot, on a dark, dreary, rainy, day up here in Washington ......... yep, they called it "asphalt" ...... and yep, it blended perfectly into roads up here.

That's one of the reasons I got a white one ...... :thumbsup:

Asphalt - what an unattractive name for a color of a car.

Whiteout - not a heck of a lot better ..... reminded me of a "mistake" ..... :iono:


humfrz

Better than mine. Dark grey metallic. Very descriptive and completely void of any kind of excitement. Blah. Subaru has the worst paint names, except for WRB. If Subaru had Hot Lava it would be called Dark Orange Metallic. Lame.

"What should we name it?"
"Well, it's white paint with a satin finish and pearlescent hue, what about Satin White Pearl?"
"That's brilliant! With capabilities like that, you're destined for upper management!"

That's too funny. I'd rather know my paint color was "Flat Metallic Red" or "Dark Pearl Green" than "Omnipresent Butterfly Hatred" or "Magical Unicorn Fart Sprinkles".

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I would buy those colours in a second just to be able to answer when somebody asked!!!!!

getting a bit off topic here with paint names but was anyone else incredibly let down when the "Lunar Storm" paint name of the RS2.0 turned out to be that creamy white/biege color? When I first heard lunar storm I was thinking of a dark metallic purple/black color but we ended up getting "There was a small bit of chocolate ice cream left in the vanilla soft serve machine but I'm sure it will look ok when it comes out"


Back on topic:
As most people have said the dealer can probably claim this as a wear item and it is not their problem to fix. The tone you have when first approach the dealer will probably have a massive effect on whether or not they will do it for free/small charge or tell you to pound sand.

I would still like to see a picture ........either in color or B&W ......;)


humfrz

If I really wanted know what to expect from Subaru I would talk to them instead of getting opinions from a message board.

But...I guess that's just me.