[jac1241]

Hi everyone,

glad to have found this ressourcefull forum.

My wife's car is a 2013 CTS Coupe, bought new. Exterior is black and interior with dark grey (or charcoal) leather heated and ventilated front seats (premium option).
The sides of the bottom part of the seats are made of vinyl. On the exterior side of the driver seat, just above the electric controls of the seat, the vinyl got cut, only by usage (seating and unseating), and it's not because the wife is heavy (only 140 pounds).

So we went to the dealer where we bought the car and they assured us that it was fully covered by the guaranty (the car is less than 2 years old and less than 8 000 miles). The dealer ordered a new seat covering kit (bottom part of the seat). A couple weeks later he called us to bring the car back to have the seat cover changed. The job was done. When I took back possession of the car, I noticed that the new seat cover had black stiches. The backrest part of the driver seat, and all other seats in the car have white contrasting stiches, same color than the stiches on the dashboard, doors etc... I showed them what was wrong and they told me that they will refer the problem to GM and find a solution.

Two weeks later (it's now over a month since I brought them the car to show them the problem) my dealer told me that the engineers at GM answered them (the dealer) that the car was built with the wrong seats at the beginning!!!!! HUGHHH, and that they don't know yet how to resolve the problem. They are thinking to change all the seats of the car for seats with black stiches!!!!

I made a search on Youtube to see if there were videos of some 2013 Cadillac CTS Coupe, with charcoal leather seats to sell. I found some, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKHYtZRs1N4&feature=player_detailpage where we see clearly that the seats have white contrasting stiches. I told my dealer and gave them the link, but they stay behind the GM "engineers" version.

Is there some of you having a 2013 CTS Coupe with charcoal leather seats with white stiches? It needs to be the same year and same model of car, to be effective as argument.

I really don't understand at all the situation, and why the GM "engineers" pretend that my wife have the wrong seats installed in her car, while we can find a dealer in Indianapolis that has the same car to sell with white stiches like in the Youtube video. We reside in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

I will get you posted on that, it's too weird

Jac

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Sorry for spelling mistakes: ressourcefull should be resourceful and stiches be stitches

Jac

 

[Cadillac Customer Service]

Good morning jac1241,

I can see how this issue with the stitches in your seats and the resulting situation with your dealership would be frustrating. If you are interested, I can forward your information on to our Canadian Care team and request that they contact you to further discuss your concerns. Please PM me with your VIN, odometer reading, dealership name, and personal contact information so I can send this along to my contacts in your region.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Austin J.
Cadillac Customer Care

 

[tinman]

Ahh, that's it. A Canuck car. GM figures you're snow blind and can sell you anything.

Enough fooling around. This is crazy, and it's wrong. GM needs to step up and fix this correctly to the customer's satisfaction.

 

[jac1241]

Thanks Austin J., I took your generous offer and sent you the information you asked.

And Tinman, I thank you also for your good words

Jac

 

[tinman]

Anytime, Jac. Do let us know what happens as the world turns.

 

[HurstGN]

The Tinman may be onto something. Is there a difference in the seat build options for a Canuck car vs a US car? Or did they not give the right option level when ordering your seat cover? I'm betting you are being told the wrong info from the GM Engineers due to incorrect info provided to the engineers. A car coming out of the factory with the "wrong seats" is highly suspect these days, unlike back in the 70's and 80's.

 

[jac1241]

I don't think so HurstGN, the seat options look alike, Can or US. I think that they simply are short of replacement seat covers with white stitches and they try to make me accept a seat cover with black stiches. But I may be wrong I ain't expert in the matter.

 

[tinman]

I don't think so HurstGN, the seat options look alike, Can or US. I think that they simply are short of replacement seat covers with white stitches and they try to make me accept a seat cover with black stiches. But I may be wrong I ain't expert in the matter.

Expert my fanny. Your eyes are expert enough. It isn't right, and don't accept what they have given you.

 

[jac1241]

No news from GM yet, but I think I found what's going on. In 2013 the Cadillac CTS Coupe was offered in 3 versions: CTS Coupe Base, CTS Coupe Performance, and CTS Coupe Premium. Each version had its own group of options. Our CTS is a Premium version. I checked on numerous web sites offering some Cadillac to sell with pictures and here is what I found: all 2013 Cadillac CTS Coupe Base that I found had leather seats with black stitches. All 2013 CTS Coupe Premium that I found had leather seats with white stitches. So one of the differences between CTS Base and CTS Premium was the color of the stitches of the leather seats.

Am I right?

But I still don't understand why GM "engineers" don't remember what was part of the Premium version of the 2013 Cadillac CTS Coupe. There is a bug somewhere.

 

[Tbbt]

I don't know what happened in your case, but I retired from a company the was a major supplier to all of the auto manufacturers and they all use a JIT (just in time) system of products arriving at assembly plants (we called it "just in a nick of time"). With deliveries arriving about 30 minutes prior to installing on cars coming down the assembly line.

There is ZERO area for screw-ups and if the wrong seats arrive, they get installed anyway. The car can't go down the line without seats and that's most likely what you are looking at. GM, of course will deny it, but it happens!

Good luck with your problem, Marv

 

[Backinblack11]

:stirpot:
Very interested to see how GM solves this. Come on Cadillac !! Step up and do the right thing.

 

[tinman]

As Marvin Gaye once sang, "What's Goin' On?"

'Course, he's dead...is this thread?

 

[jac1241]

Dead is not the thread. GM might be. No news from them yet. GM "engineers" are probably asking themselves how someone managed to go on the moon, while they can't figure how to put white stitches on a grey leather seat cover.

 

[HurstGN]

The engineers are creating a TSB that describes a customer complaint of the stitches in the seat cover being too dark in color. The recommendation is to by an artists red sable brush and a gallon of clorox to bleach out the stitches to lighten the color. An additional note that if the stitches get too light, have the greasemonkey jump in the car and slide around on the seats a bit to darken the stitches. :yup:

Sorry for making fun, I just couldn't help myself. Geez, engineers can't figure out the right seat cover. :shrug:

 

[jac1241]

Hi everybody,
got news this afternoon. My dealer called me to tell that they received the part for our CTS and that they would like to have the car for repair. I asked her (she was the girl who schedules rendez-vous) if it was a seat cover with white contrasting stitches. She answered me that she doen't know. OK, then we schedule a rendez-vous for .... July 2nd, they weren't able to do it before. So I have to wait until then, hoping it's not a white leather seat cover with grey stitches, who knows. Perhaps it's a gallon of Clorox like HurstGN suggested.:stirpot:

On July 2nd, it will be over 2 months since I showed my dealer the cut in the seat.

 

[Tbbt]

As I don't know how far you are from the dealer, I would try to go there and look at the seat cover now. Instead of waiting until July 2nd, that way you'll know if it's the correct part. You could also try to call the parts department and explain what you're concerned about, asking them to look at the part while you're on the phone.

Just my 2 cents.

Marv

 

[HurstGN]

Hi everybody,
got news this afternoon. My dealer called me to tell that they received the part for our CTS and that they would like to have the car for repair. I asked her (she was the girl who schedules rendez-vous) if it was a seat cover with white contrasting stitches. She answered me that she doen't know.

<* In the woman's voice done bu Gabriel Iglesias*>
Sir, we have your replacement seatcover in stock. You can schedule an appointment to come get it installed. No, I don't know exactly what the color is called, but it does have contrasting stitches.

:ROFL:

 

[jac1241]

LOL HurstGN

Tbbt, I'am about 15 miles from the dealer. I didn't have the time to go there on the first half of the week, but I might be there on Thursday. I'm ready for any surprise

Thanks both of you for your support

 

[jac1241]

Hi everybody,
I didn't have the time to pass by the dealer before the scheduled rendez-vous (July the 2nd). So I went on July the 2nd and guest what: yep,.... the GM "engineers" found one ebony grey leather cover seat... with white stitches... somewhere in the GM catacombs stockrooms. Eureka. It took over 2 months to find it but they finally succeeded. Let's give them a loud BRAVOOOO. :worship:

Many thanks to all those who helped with there good words, the weird leather seat cover story had come to a happy ending.