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defect in back of cloth seats

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by fintonissimo, Aug 31, 2010.

  1. fintonissimo

    fintonissimo Member

    Joined:
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    Both of my front cloth seats have developed sags in the back of the seat along the seams. The right front seat sag was fixed as a warranty repair about 1 1/2 years ago. Now the left front seat is exhibiting the same problem. Here are two pictures of the left seat:
    sag-1.jpg sag-2.jpg

    It is easier to see in person, but Sag1 shows the loose material along the right hand seam, and the seat pocket is not straight because of the extra material. Sag2 shows how it should look with me holding it in place.

    Has anybody else experienced this problem? My car is no longer under warranty as I've passed the 36K mileage mark. However, it is still less than 3 years old.

    Do you think I have a valid case to request a warranty repair on this? The seat that was already repaired looks like it is starting to sag again as well, although it doesn't look bad yet.

    Thoughts?

    Thanks in advance, Chuck
     
  2. 2009Prius

    2009Prius A Wimpy DIYer

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    Go ahead and ask the dealer since there was a previous repair done to the other seat. Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)
     
  3. fintonissimo

    fintonissimo Member

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    I went to the dealer and talked to the service manager today. Basically, I'm out of luck. He said because I was over 36K miles the repair would not be covered by the warranty, even though the car is only 2 1/2 years old. He gave me the name and number of the person that does the upholstery work for them. I showed the seat to him and he said that along the seam underneath there is a clip and it has simply come undone. He was able to manipulate the clip back into place and didn't charge me anything, but he said it probably wouldn't be a permanent fix. He said for $100 he could fix it so that it will last. I'm not interested at this point in spending money on it, so I will live with it.

    I suppose I could make more of a stink to see if Toyota would cover it, but I don't think it's worth my time.

    Chuck
     
  4. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Chuck,

    Below are pictures of the seatback covers turned inside out. You can see the white plastic clips sewn into the seams that the upholstery guy is talking about.

    [IMGLINK]http://priuschat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25386&d=1283311371[/IMGLINK] [IMGLINK]http://priuschat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25387&d=1283311371[/IMGLINK]

    My guess is that if one of the clips comes undone again (i.e., comes off the metal wire that it clips onto), you can easily put it back on yourself either:

    (1) By feel from the outside; or

    (2) By unclipping the bottom flap straps that go under the seat (wear gloves so you don't get cut up by the underseat metal wire and edges which can be VERY SHARP) and then reaching up the inside of the seatback to hook the clip back on the metal wire.

    And if the clip needs to be re-stitched to the seam, then I think you can remove the seatback cover and re-stitch it yourself. Note that if you opt to remove the seatback cover, then you should check out these seat assembly instructions:

    http://jaygroh.dreamhost.com/prius/Prius%20Info/Official%20Toyota%20Info/Repair%20Information/Repair%20Manual/SE%20-%20Seat.pdf

    And if you need more help, then ask one of the PriusChatters who reupholstered their seats in leather themselves. You can find them in this thread:

    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-bartlett-corporation-leather-ebay-150-a.html

    .
     

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