My warranty is up at the end of the month, and while the car has only 25,000 miles, the driver seat looks pretty beat up. The side bolsters are scuffed up and patches of black vinyl are flaking off. I took the car to the dealer for a warranty claim and the warranty claim administrator denied it saying it was normal wear and tear. I've seen posts where people had their seat cover replaced under warranty for tears in the seams and what not.

Should I try to take it to another dealer for a second opinion?

I've used Lexol to clean/condition the leather but of course the damage is already done. I've also contacted Infiniti Customer Care and they were more sympathetic and tried to get in touch with the dealer's warranty administrator.

Topic has been discussed many times. Its either a hit or miss in regards to leather warranty. Would'nt hurt to try another dealer but since you already contacted customer care, I'd wait and see if your dealership does anything first.

Thanks for the quick response. I'll wait and see if I get a call back tomorrow. If not, I can stop by early next week at another dealer.

i would be sure to emphasize that you only have 25k miles... thats really low so "wear and tear" is a lame excuse

if the dealer gives your excuses, keep at it , don't back down easy

i herd of many ppl getting new seat covers due to abnormal wear and tear

Well actually mileage really cant be a deciding factor on this due to the fact that i had 32,000 miles and not a single sign of wear or scratches, but on the passenger side it looks bad. It just depnds on how the person get in and out the car. I get in and carfully eveytime making sure not to rub up on the bolster, and doing the exact opposite everyone rubs on my bolstor and messed up the passenger seat.

No one really sits the passenger seat so it's practically new. Funny thing is, after the passenger seat airbag recall, the airbag sensor in the seat cushion was defective, so they installed a brand new seat cushion- quite a contrast between the new leather and my driver seat. Hopefully Infiniti Corporate will come through and they can instruct the dealer to honor this as a warranty claim.

print out the official TSB on the seat tear and take it to them that should work

My 06 just hit 30K. I think we have some of the lowest mileage 06s out there. I'm surprised someone hasn't made a thread about it. I've run into the same leather issue as well.

I've never had any mechanical problems during the last 4 years. Just physical/cosmetic issues that have popped up in the last 4 months or so. Maybe it's because it's parked in the driveway and not getting much use.

I've had both front mud guards replaced due to plastic warping, right side front and rear door mouldings replaced due to peeling, and the rear passenger door chrome trim under the window replaced due to warping. All of course, covered under warranty.

I've had all the fluids replaced with OEM Nissan fluids and had the rear brake pads replaced with Hawk HPS pads. THough now the brake pedal/action is a bit scary in cold Chicago winters. I probably should go back to putting OEM pads back on.

No call back from Infiniti or the dealer. Guess will have to wait till Monday.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I would have less but I keep having to drive it becuase i feel wierd letting it sit there. Mines mainly driven for pleasure

Yesterday morning, took the car to another dealer for a second opinion, and the advisor basically said the same thing- that leather, unless it's torn at the seams, is normal wear and tear.

In the afternoon, Infiniti Customer Care called to say that I should take the car back to the original dealer for a second inspection with the service manager. I took the car back, and he said Infiniti would not honor a warranty claim on my seat and that the condition of my seat was normal for a car with 25,000 miles on it.

I've been applying Lexol and leather protectant ever since the first inspection before Christmas so the leather looks a bit more supple and pliable than it was before.

I'm just waiting for a call back from Infiniti to follow up and I can tell them that I've been treating the leather since the initial refusal since I need to protect the leather from further damage and that the service manager might have disagreed with me for that reason.

If nothing else, I tried and asked.

Actually let me add my 0.02 in this, we have 3 toyota 4runners in our house all limited with leather. Two are the exact same model and year built back to back. One I used cleaning products such as armor all and lexol leather cleaner. Take note that both 4runners are uses for pretty much the same thing to drive to class and then back home parked outside at all times ones mine ones my brothers. The 4 runner with the lexol and armor all has already had a crack in the dash and the leather already has like stretch cracks but the leather is soft. This was a test I did to see the effect of cleaners and to my theory I was right, the armor all caused the crack in my dash and the lexol caused my leather to be too soft and stretch and crack. I just figured I would lotto know put the cleaners away and use the good ol soapy rag.