How to identify full leather?

[Sladem]

Hi. Newbie here. I have a 2yo C220D. I bought it from the lease company having driven it from new.

I recently discovered a small 25mm rip in the leather seat cover and have started a warranty claim with DM AG. I've discovered it's not actually leather. I've spoken to several people at the dealer and they've given me different answers on the plastic seats stating mostly that they're more green and more durable and hard wearing however I don't consider a 2yo plastic seat with a rip either of these things.

I've started researching leather seats and have seen many for sale on ebay, just in case my warranty claim is refused. It seems to me that plastic seats have two rows of stitching doing down the front of the side supports whereas leather has only one. This is presumably because the manufacturers can't stretch plastic over the odd side support shape. I've tried contacting several of the breaker yards selling seats on ebay but oddly enough none have answered. I guess quite a lot of them are going to pass off plastic as leather. I wondered if anybody is able to confirm my theory on the side supports?

 

[Cons2348]

Hi. Newbie here. I have a 2yo C220D. I bought it from the lease company having driven it from new.

I recently discovered a small 25mm rip in the leather seat cover and have started a warranty claim with DM AG. I've discovered it's not actually leather. I've spoken to several people at the dealer and they've given me different answers on the plastic seats stating mostly that they're more green and more durable and hard wearing however I don't consider a 2yo plastic seat with a rip either of these things.

I've started researching leather seats and have seen many for sale on ebay, just in case my warranty claim is refused. It seems to me that plastic seats have two rows of stitching doing down the front of the side supports whereas leather has only one. This is presumably because the manufacturers can't stretch plastic over the odd side support shape. I've tried contacting several of the breaker yards selling seats on ebay but oddly enough none have answered. I guess quite a lot of them are going to pass off plastic as leather. I wondered if anybody is able to confirm my theory on the side supports?

That's interesting. I have similar problem on my E280. Visited a little auto trim shop. Lovely chap. Bottom line, leave me the car £400
Leave me the seat £300
Leave me the leather £50
I was very disappointed.

 

[W1ghty]

covered by 3 year manufacturers warranty ??

 

[Mr. B]

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[Cons2348]

covered by 3 year manufacturers warranty ??

Nope 14 years old. But I need to check if leather or not.

 

[ChipChop]

Nope 14 years old. But I need to check if leather or not.

If you can look at the reverse side of the seat material it should be obvious if it is real leather by the suede brushed finish on the inner side.

 

[alecmascot]

Nope 14 years old. But I need to check if leather or not.

The VIN will tell you.

 

[markjay]

The VIN will tell you.

As above. Run the VIN through a VIN decoder.

If it says Leather, it's leather.

If it says Atrico, or Man Made Leather, that's MB speak for plastic.

 

[markjay]

Just to say that the vast majority of C-Class cars are either Artico (plastic), or part-leather on some of the sporty variants (that’s leather along the sides of the seat, while the centre is cloth).

Full leather seats wasn't standard on any trim level of the C-Class, instead it was an option, and one that not many first owners specified. Hence why full leather seats are quite rare on the C-Class.

Search 'Atrico' on this forum and you'll find dozens of threads on the topic of MB's 'Man Made Leather'. Some like it, some loathe it.

 

[markjay]

On another note... if you bought the car from a dealer, and you were told that the seats were leather, and you have documented proof to this effect, than you may have a case against the dealer due to the goods being 'not as described'.

That said, while MB dealers obviously know very well what Artico is, many other traders don't, and you often see cars that have Artico described as 'leather' on Autotrader and other sites - in the traders' defence, at first glance Artico looks deceptively similar to leather (as you have found-out yourself), and many just make an honest mistake because they don't know the difference.

 

[markjay]

That's from America:

Mercedes Loses Claim Over Artico Leather

www.thehogring.com

 

[Cons2348]

If you can look at the reverse side of the seat material it should be obvious if it is real leather by the suede brushed finish on the inner side.

Thanks for that not right through but more I look more it looks man made. As suggested will check using via code. Thanks.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Real leather seats in a W205 have 10 horizontal ribbed sections in the seat backrest and "Artico" fake leather have 5 horizontal sections.

 

[Cons2348]

Real leather seats in a W205 have 10 horizontal ribbed sections in the seat backrest and "Artico" fake leather have 5 horizontal sections.

Thanks to everyone. Yes mine is artico as verified by the vin decoder. That may well make a sticking type of fix easier. Thanks again. Bit sad tho thought it was leather.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

The number of seats, for W205 , for sale on ebay listed as "leather" with only 5 horizontal sections is appalling .

 

[tonysmb]

To give credit to MB, their 'brochures' do state that Artico is man-made leather, ie it's not leather; arguably even calling it 'leather' is slightly misleading. Unfortunately, many sales people aren't as forthcoming about it not being leather. Or they don't know.

Even if cars have genuine leather it is generally only the seat facings and perhaps armrests etc.. The term full-leather usually applies to everything being leather, ie all seat coverings, door cards and possibly dash top. Artico does split, is fairly thin and is not a patch on the old MB-Tex.

I doubt the warranty would cover it (oh, it's the way you slide over the seat bolster etc.[or, never heard of Artico splitting, Sir]).

A trimmer is probably the best way of repairing.

All IMHO.

 

[W1ghty]

Nope 14 years old. But I need to check if leather or not.

I was replying to the op , he says it’s a 2 year old c220?