Question on the Leather seats of the Limited

I have a question about the Leather seats on the 4Runners. I have a 2022 Limited and it's only been just over 2 years since I bought it new, today I saw the leather is starting to rip like a vinyl would. I put conditioner every 3-4 months. Is this normal for this Limited?

 

How big is your butt?

sliding off/out causes this. Try to lift your booty up and over.

 

lol, I can't believe that now I have to pay attention how I do get out. I just surprised this leather seat have this issue with not even two years old. I know some folks that have old Toyota (10-15 years old) with leather and no issues.

 

This is pretty common on all vehicles from the constant repetitive movement. I’d venture to say the 4Runners deteriorate a bit quicker though

 

I would try to go warranty route, but they will probably decline claiming abuse.

 

I had multiple cars that had like-new leather after 10+ years, but you have to treat leather to prevent drying off. So no, I don't think it is common to see leather starting to fail after only 2 years. Unless it was left out in Texas sun without seat covers or sunshade.

I did notice that leather on my new 4Runner was on a very dry side when I got it. I treated it with Lexol conditioner to fix this.

 

go poke your head in trucks that actually get used as they should on a daily basis.

 

Ironic I do live in EL Paso Texas, however I keep the windshield cover on when it is parked. I also do condition the leather, I guess I need to do it every two weeks. Unfortunatelly the warranty expired as my car has close to 50K miles. The reaosn I am surprise is that I have a 2011 Chevrolet car with leather and still looks like new.

 

Are your seats leather or Soft-tex?

 

They don't look knew. I bet they have cracks/creases in 'em that show the wear. Sometimes you just get bad leather that deteriorates faster than others. Remember what @Jynarik said: Lift yourself over the seat, don't drag your ass (regardless of how big or small it is) across the seat. When you drag it across, you're making it stretch/flex & wear in an abnormal way.

Fun Fact: I had a 2021 Tacoma for 2 1/2yrs with the "SofTex" leather, and the seats barely showed ANY wear-n-tear. They had minor creases in them when I sold the truck.

 

My wife’s 2017 Limited has sat outside in Texas sun for 3 years with no deterioration to the leather seats. Conditioned probably twice a year

 

its limited, it has leather

 

That part of the seat upholstery is vinyl, not leather.

The reason the vinyl is cracking like that is due to the foam cushion underneath deteriorating allowing the vinyl to rub against itself which results in cracking.

For reference, I run an upholstery shop that does these types of repairs on a daily basis.

 

What do you do to repair it in such instances?

 

Replace the damaged panel with new material and rebuild the foam cushion underneath.

 

How many customers opt for that vs. replacing all the panels?

 

When there's more extensive damage I offer my customers two price points usually. One for us to repair (replace as needed) the upholstery in house and the other to replace with a new OEM cover.

 

you can get a patch job done at an upholstery shop, We had a similar thing on my wife’s old Nissan and they said it would not quite match color/texture but it was on the side panel similar to yours and very very minimally noticeable.

 

We don't do that kind of work in our shop. That's something a used car dealer would do to a vehicle in their inventory. I do however offer free strips of duct tape to anyone wanting a patch job.

 

First car? Every car I have owned without cloth seats, would eventually develop cracking, wrinkle…
Actually in my 1st gen taco.. the cloth material also developed permanent wrinkles on the driver side bolster

Not as bad as this….

 

I was offering something from my personal experience to help. If your shop doesn’t do that, ok.

 

Most cars (and home furniture) only have leather on the areas that you will sit on and touch. All other areas are vinyl, leatherette, pleather, etc. It helps keep the costs down.

 

I don't know if true or not, but I have been told that in many instances the top (face) is leather and that the sides are vinyl even though they look and feel the same. There is a test to figure this out but knowing the industry it wouldn't surprised me that they would cut corners everywhere to save a penny. I am in the process of replacing mine all together. Pics coming soon.

 

I would think it wouldn't be that hard for manufacturers to reinforce that part of the seat.

 

It wouldn't be but that would go against the industry wide trend of using the cheapest materials that they can get away with.

 

From what I've seen Toyota is still doing full leather faces on most of their interiors, but that's definitely not the norm anymore. Like you said, these manufacturers are cutting corners wherever they can get away with doing so.

 

^^^This. If you read the description carefully (for the car, couch, chair, etc.) it says "Seating surfaces" on Toyota's website it states "Leather Trimmed". It doesn't say "Full Leather". That means the sides, backs, etc are vinyl or a faux leather. And thus will show signs of wear faster.

 

Car manufacturers have used leather where your back/butt touch the seat and vinyl on the "sides/back" of seats for several decades. The only exceptions are Rolls Royce, Ferrari etc.

I've had 2 sienna vans, 2 camrys & a ford exploder with leather and in all cases the driver seat leather finished worn off on the seat/back closest to the door. My 4 runner with Soft Tex is doing it, although not nearly as bad as the real leather seating. The leather used in car seating is typically lesser expensive with lots of paint/finish to help with staining & durability.

I was skeptical about the Soft Tex but it is amazing stuff.

I believe the portion in the photo beginning this thread that is cracked is vinyl.

 

The amount of misinformation in this thread is getting a little out of hand at this point.

Anyone who would like questions about their vehicle interiors answered by someone who actually does this for a living feel free to message me.

 

But how do we judge whether you are good at what you do?