Leon FR drivers seat problem

Jul 24, 2021
4
1
Hi folks, first time poster on this rather awesome forum. Sadly it's with a bit of a problem....

I got a gorgeous 2016 184 FR in Alor Blue about 2 months ago - it has the 1/2 leather interior. Unfortunately, the stitching on the drivers back (not seat bottom) bolster has burst. The material hasn't ripped but the stitching has given up. It now looks crap and will only get worse.

Firstly - is this a common problem with these seats or am I just unlucky?
Secondly - what other seats will direct fit in the car? For example, if the warranty I got doesn't cover the problem, I'm minder to put a full leather interior in. What other car/model will be a direct fit? For example will VW Golf R mk 7 seats fit? And will the rear Golf bench be a direct fit? Seat Leon seats in full leather seem a bit rare, and the R seats have an embossment that could (kinda) pass for 'FR' on them. I want something that looks factory and not like it's just been jammed in.

For anyone that's swapped seats, the SEAT seats seem quite narrow, is this an issue with fitting Audi/VW seats that look a bit more lardy? In an ideal world I'd get Lean leather rears and Audi wingback fronts, but not paying £5k for seats! :D

Thanks in advance for any info...
 

black_sheep

Active Member
Mar 10, 2013
1,256
585
To be honest, the Leon FR interior wears far better than most of the MQB cars. Our old 63 plate FR interior looked like new with 135k miles on the clock when compared to a 63 plate VRS with 100k miles. Currently waiting on warranty to come back for our Cupra 300 as the faux-leather/stitching has started to fail after 2yrs/25k miles.

As per @Carl Levoir, google ‘auto upholsterer’ or ‘interior smart repair’ in your area, or reply with which area you live in so that others can give recommendations - they can either repair the stitching, reinforce the panel and re-stich or replace panel and re-stich. Another option would be to buy a replacement seat cover rather than the whole seat - again, replacement probably best done via upholsterer due to airbags in seat.

Another piece of advice is that the fault codes will need to be reset if the seat is removed from the car, as the air-bag warning light will be displayed.
 
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Carl Levoir

Active Member
Jan 2, 2019
67
22
Yes a friend had a panel in his leather seats replaced due to a hole being torn, it was fixed for only £150. He was expecting to be buying a new seat a one point
 
Jul 24, 2021
4
1
Cheers for all the replies! My thinking was that the cost of a replacement interior when taking in to account the time the car is off road will probably be less than a repair? The cost of interiors isn't that great - although I hadn't factored the airbag issue. I have an Autel OBDii reader that reads and resets VAG codes (a bit like like OBDEleven or Carista but with the fun coding stuff missing)...but.... Will component protection come into play with the air bags? If so, resetting the air bag light won't make a bit of difference.
 
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