Double Rachel seat staining

[pablo1]

Well, kia finally showed their true colours this week. I have had the same problem as many Carens owners with water staining of the light grey "Double Raschel" seats in my 2007 Carens SR.
Notified Kia UK of this in January, when the car was 4 weeks old. They didn't seem to want to know then, but said, book the car in with a local dealer and they'll take it from there.
Well, being busy, didn't take it in until 1st 10000 miles service in May. Told the dealer. Picked the car up later that day. They told me they had informed Kia of the stains and would wait for their response, but the service manager did say to me, there would be no point in changing the seat covering, as they would only stain again.
A couple of days later, the contacted dealer contacted me, requesting digital pics of the stained seats.
I sent them 8, high quality pics, which they say they forwarded to Kia.
A couple of days later, Kia & the Main dealer e-mailed me saying they would not do anything and suggested i cleaned the stained areas of the seats with some sort of upolstery cleaner.
The dealer & Kia have admitted there is a problem with this seat covering, saying they would only stain again if the seats were recovered.
KIA & KIA dealers, take the best part of £14000 of you, then run a mile when you try to make a claim under their WONDERFUL 5 year warranty.
I had heard all the horror stories about Kia and their dealer network but thought no major manufacturer could be that BAD.
OH YES THEY COULD.
I have recommended Kia and especially the Carens to everyone whos asked me about it.
All i'll tell them now, STEER CLEAR, Great cars, let down by CRAP dealers and a customer service department who dont give a damn.

[Carens UK]

I fully agree with you fella I have an ongoing issue with Kia UK and now Trading Standards are involved watch this space.

[Blow-in]

The seat cover staining seems to be random. I've no marks after 11 000 miles which includes dumping wet & salty sailing kit on the seats. Looking at the North American posts the experience seems to be the same - some people have it, others don't. Sounds like an issue with the manufacturing process and I would tell the dealers to fit new covers to see what happens - mine have not stained so why would your replacements (would be my approach - nothing to lose).

[crabby apple]

What we need to do is try even harder to get it rectified. I am driving around with beach towels on my seats. This is embarassing and angering in a brand new car.

[conwelpic]

Originally Posted by crabby apple

What we need to do is try even harder to get it rectified. I am driving around with beach towels on my seats. This is embarassing and angering in a brand new car.

still no problems on my seats. Have you tried Scotch guarding the seats? To clean, my dealer uses a 10/1 solution of Spray Nine increasing it as required, worked fine on the only single stain I've ever had since purchase.
This problem is not an issue in my case.

[crabby apple]

My dealer submitted for new seats/seat covers. He completely sees the problem then when Kia tried to say it is not a problem I directed him here. He was in shock. He really went to bat for me. Mechanically the cars--both (we have two) are wonderful. I really just want the seat thing rectified and we have a small issue with the ground effects on the other car. When they have a design issue it seems they do not like to fix it.

[pablo1]

Well, Kia have been in touch. Want to clean my seats for me, and, WHEN available, give me, F O C some lovely "Tailored" waterproof seat covers.

They'll be nice to sit on in the summer, lovely and sticky and sweaty, and bloody cold in the winter.

All i want is my seats re-covering in a material that will not stain with RAIN, but that is obviously asking too much from the 5th biggest selling manufacturer in the world at present.

Kings of the FOB OFF, wonderfully helpful KIA.......Not.

Have just sent them my reply, and what i think of waterproof seats in my family car. I'll let you know their response.

[Carens UK]

Kings of the FOB OFF, wonderfully helpful KIA.......Not.

Totally agree with the above statement m8, and I was of the opinion that Vauxhall CS was bad, how wrong I was

By the way fella have you checked your centre caps on your 17s, as I have had to have all my wheels replaced because my centre caps had perished and you can not order the caps on there own, you have to have the whole wheel

[Blow-in]

Originally Posted by Carens UK

Kings of the FOB OFF, wonderfully helpful KIA.......Not.

Totally agree with the above statement m8, and I was of the opinion that Vauxhall CS was bad, how wrong I was

By the way fella have you checked your centre caps on your 17s, as I have had to have all my wheels replaced because my centre caps had perished and you can not order the caps on there own, you have to have the whole wheel

Were the wheel replacements under warranty?

[Carens UK]

Yes m8, wheels are only 2months old