Hi, looking for some views.

My Freelander is now 3 1/2 years old and I have just had to have both front leather seat squabs replaced for the second time. The first time was when it was 18 months old when the leather on the outside of both front seat bases started to 'crack' and look as though they had perished; the leather also appeared to be very thin in this area. Seat base covers were replaced under warranty with no problems.

Recently I noticed that exactly the same thing had happened again and as the vehicle was out of warranty, I contacted LR Customer Services and after a few phone calls they agreed to a 75% contribution towards replacement. I still felt they should replace them at no cost to myself as in my opinion the seat bases were not fit for purpose, but I accepted their offer as the vehicle was out of warranty. No problems at all with Customer Services – they were most helpful. My 25% contribution was still over £200 though.

Following this second replacement of the seat bases I asked if I could have the old covers in case a similar thing happens in the future – I would then at least have leather of the same colour to do a repair as I doubt if LR will contribute anything to any further replacement. I was told that I couldn’t have them as they had to be returned to LR.

My question is “as I have now paid for these twice (well 1 ¼ times) surely I am the owner of these seat bases and they should be returned to me if I ask for them”?

Any views would be most appreciated.

I think Land Rover have every right to keep the old ones, your original purchase of the vehicle included 2 leather seat squabs, this is what you still have.
They may well want them to investigate the problem or go back to their supplier.

Just my 'pennarth

Agree that LR should have them and maybe claim back themselfs from the crap manufacturer who made them

In fact the "leather" seat sides (squabs) are NOT real leather, just a cheap and nasty plastic leather-look-a-like (Pleather in my world). My 2007 low milage Freely is also out of warranty and the drivers pleather seat squab is splitting, and not being a fat arse I am very supprised it has done this, although it is a common problem so it seems  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

I am 8 years retired from Service Manager with Ford when we only had 1 year warranty but then the law was:
If you paid any contribution (no matter how small) towards a repair that repair was covered by manufacturers warranty.
The fact you paid money means you are also covered by sale of goods act. All FL2's (3) Gone
2011 Mercedes C180 CGI Gone
FL2 GS Auto SD with heated leather, factory tints, alloy spare and a few other bits.

This happened to my FL1 ES (the then top spec). Turns out that only the seat facings are real hide, the rest is fake (pleather/leatherette/vynil - take your pick!

I left it and the dealer didn't make a point of the clearly obvious cracks when doing the p/x inspection when I chopped it in for a RRS. The car was 4 years old then and went straight into their used car stock. I noticed when collecting my new car a few weeks later that the old car was still unsold and still had the torn leather. The RRS was an SE, so had the same leather facings and placcy everything else but I didn't have a problem with it in 3 years. Only when I specced up to HSE did the whole lot come in leather. Same with the Freely I've got now, which has the 'windsor' leather'.

It is a rather dubious point that LR own them outright as you have contributed towards their cost. Either you own 25% of them or you could argue that as being defective and not fit for purpose they are only worth the amount you contributed so should be yours in entirety

It would be nice to think that LR would take them back to examine and identify the cause of early failure. The reality is if the dealer hs not been instructed to skip them that is exactly what will happen on return to LR.

My old FL2 had a split in the passenger squab and my wife would be justifiably miffed if the reason was placed on her. If the RR seats can survive their typical driver there is no reason for the FL2 seats to fail. Prog rock is cool!
2012 XS SD4 Indus Silver

Although the plastic imitation leather must be of poor quality for it to crack early, I have a theory as to why mine at least may have split .

Our Freely is always parked in a (normal width) garage which does not allow the drivers door to be opened wide. This means that every time the Freely is used from/to the garage the drivers side squab is squashed more than it would be when the door is fully opened when getting in and out. The passenger normally gets in/out, outside the garage and therefore that seat squab is not squashed in the same way. Not surprisingly the passenger side provisionally show's no wear.

Both Freely users are of similar "normal" weight and use the vehicle equally as much. Although totally the drivers seat is used considerably more than the passengers, the above reason may well contribute to the drivers seat squab being subjected to extra stress and strain and eventually causing the damage.

An earlier owned BMW with similar leather/plastic seats was used every day for 7+ years and never showed similar seat squab wear. 2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.