Artico Leather Wear

[Nige1960]

I purchased a new Glc 250 in March 2016 and by January 2017 a small area had worn through on the drivers seat. Returned to Merecedes who after numerous phone calls and visits to dealer eventualy replaced the seat under warranty on 30th June 2017. October 2017 and same problem has returned top layer peeling off on new seat. Dealer said this has never happened before and would come back to me within 3 days, now been 16 days and no reply but not unusual as took 3 months for anyone to sort out last time. Car has only covered 6000 miles and surely on a 40k car this material can't be such cheap rubbish. Had Range Rovers for last 18 years and never had any problems with seats anyone else had same problem ?

 

[A.J.]

Do you mean Artico rather than Article ?. On the build sheet on my car it clearly says Leather but it is actually Artico, in other words vinyl.

On my drivers seat I too have a very small area where there is evidence of pealing. Unfortunately the car is now five years old so there will be no hope of a warranty claim even though the car has only done 23,000 miles.

Oh, and welcome to the forum Nige

 

[EmilysDad]

I used to have pictures here (courtesy of Photobucket) of the cracking/splitting of the side of my seat on my car. My car was somewhat older though. Crap/cheap seat coverings to save money.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Artico seems to vary a lot from batch to batch, judging by comments for or against over the years.

My S204 has Artico, and has also been hammered for almost 200k miles, but the drivers seat (the one with most use, normally) is almost as pristine as when it left the ArtificialCow factory.

My CLC, same vintage, has genuine cow, and although the seat shows nary a sign of wear in the material, the leather has stretched.

My osteopath told me that people who keep their wallets in their back pockets get more back trouble than those who don't - and they also suffer from premature driving seat wear!

 

[EmilysDad]

.......

My osteopath told me that people who keep their wallets in their back pockets get more back trouble than those who don't - and they also suffer from premature driving seat wear!

I've been told that too. S'pose it depends too on how big your wallet is

 

[EmilysDad]

This was my seat ..... doesn't help that the car is tall so you climb over the same bit of the seat each time

This is it repaired .....

 

[A.J.]

This was my seat ..... doesn't help that the car is tall so you climb over the same bit of the seat each time

This is it repaired .....

That should wear better now the size of your wallet has been reduced

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Difficult one this as no doubt you’ve lost confidence in the Artico product, I certainly would have. No doubt MB will offer another repair which hopefully won’t suffer the same fate, if it does and the car is out of warranty you should be able to replace the affected panel at a local car upholsterer

As an aside my first MB was a 88reg 300TE with blue cloth interior, unfortunately the quality of the cloth was very poor, not only did it become threadbare on the bolsters but the material faded as well. In the end I swapped the front seats from another E Class to get round the problem, not what you’d expect from a high end manufacturer

 

[EmilysDad]

That should wear better now the size of your wallet has been reduced

it was actually only c£100 and the repaired removed & refitted it, all within 24 hours

 

[umblecumbuz]

it was actually only c£100 and the repaired removed & refitted it, all within 24 hours

No real difference to the thickness of your wallet then!

 

[EmilysDad]

No real difference to the thickness of your wallet then!

Not really ...... I'm sure my suspension will help make up for it.

 

[A.J.]

it was actually only c£100 and the repaired removed & refitted it, all within 24 hours

That's a hundred quid more than I have in my wallet !!

 

[EmilysDad]

That's a hundred quid more than I have in my wallet !!

Who uses cash any more?

 

[carlls]

me

 

[SL63 Mark]

It should not wear out after a year period. However, seat wear can depend on the size and shape of driver, as well as what they have in their back pockets (metal comb anyone ?) and the way they lower themselves into the seat.

I try to hover slightly before I gently lower my derriere, sliding over high bolsters will cause wear eventually.

 

[Mr Filipov]

I am personally quite happy with the artico. Had full artico in the CLS before my E class, and while it was showing signs of use after 100k, it was spot on as to what you would expect.

The 50/50 in the E class is as close as you can get to a new seat condition following 75k miles from 2011. No sign of rubbing off, cracking etc. You would never guess the mileage on the seats.

 

[jjp35]

I purchased a new Glc 250 in March 2016 and by January 2017 a small area had worn through on the drivers seat. Returned to Merecedes who after numerous phone calls and visits to dealer eventualy replaced the seat under warranty on 30th June 2017. October 2017 and same problem has returned top layer peeling off on new seat. Dealer said this has never happened before and would come back to me within 3 days, now been 16 days and no reply but not unusual as took 3 months for anyone to sort out last time. Car has only covered 6000 miles and surely on a 40k car this material can't be such cheap rubbish. Had Range Rovers for last 18 years and never had any problems with seats anyone else had same problem ?

Absolutely Disgusting :

Cheap quality material used on New Mercedes now

My ML was just over 4 years old when we noticed cracks in both front seats Artico leathers. Passenger seat look perfect but when you press the material you can see cracks in material.

Must have started to crack few years ago.

Reported July 2017 and still struggling to get Mercedes to repair free of charge.

Keep getting the standard reply from Mercedes- Car out of warranty if not happy go to Ombudsman.

47k car and seats won't last 4 years.

Won't advise any one to buy Mercedes again.

 

[jjp35]

It should not wear out after a year period. However, seat wear can depend on the size and shape of driver, as well as what they have in their back pockets (metal comb anyone ?) and the way they lower themselves into the seat.

I try to hover slightly before I gently lower my derriere, sliding over high bolsters will cause wear eventually.

Mercedes should put warning sign on the seats *Artico Leather Please don't use the seat if you weigh over XXKg*

 

[EmilysDad]

And you still see cars for sale with 'leather' seats that are clearly Artico, main dealers included. If you're lucky, the ad tells you further down what they're really made of.

 

[lasa]

Bought my car from main dealer, MB approved car, I knew little about MB specifications but had an inkling that the Artico wasn't leather.

I ask the salesman "is this Artico actually leather?", reply was "yes artificial leather"; me-so is it leather or not? salesman - "yes artificial leather", struggling to remain composed I ask "is the material made from animal skin?", salesman "no" and he acted like I would never notice his prevarications.

I bought the car but never trusted anything I was told by that dealer thereafter, not saying all the staff were like the salesman but it does put one on guard, I suppose I expected more from an MB main dealer.

To be fair to the main dealer, they did a great job of rectifying my complaint of the paint polishing job that I only noticed was defective when I viewed the car on a dry sunny day a couple of weeks after the car was purchased (we don't get much sun up here).