OT For those of you with leather seats in minivan...

[busymomma123]

We are looking at buying a toyota sienna with leather interior. Has anyone had any trouble with having leather seats with kids? I can see how wonderful they would be to keep clean, but it scares me that they may put a hole in them somehow. Thanks for any advice.

 

[princesssfws]

I'm on my second minivan with leather seats and wouldn't have it any other way. The leather is a lot tougher than on a leather couch. We have never had any problems. I do have seat protectors under my 2 booster seats but that is more to counter the indentations from the car seats.

Personally, I think with kids leather is the only way to go. If something spills it just wipes right off. Definitely worth the extra $.

 

[tinkandpan]

I agree with princess- wouldn't have it any other way. The leather is terrific and basically indestructable. I love my Sienna so good luck with it!

 

[Nicolepa]

Yup, I wouldn't even think of not having leather with kids! My kids are 7 & 5 and I've always had leather with them.

 

[Carpool Candy]

Leather for us from here on out! After having kids dump milkshades, wet their pants, THROW UP....we ONLY do leather! In fact, we just purchased dark yellow leather couches for our family room. Everytime a juice box gets tipped, it reminds me how happy I am with our decision. I was worried about poking holes but there's not that many sharp items my kids get to play with that are strong enough to puncture it. Only thing to watch out for is- bum designs. My 13 year old's trendy pants cause little scratches so I try to remember to have her sit on something when she wears them (same goes for my pants, too!).

 

[debbiet1]

we're on our 2nd leather seat minivan and I wouldnt have it any other way. Just make sure that you have something put under carseats as the indentations wont go away. Our dealership gave us carpet pieces that fit right under the car seats and colour matched the leather. It was great you didnt see the carpet and it saved the leather from indentations

 

[blackforest]

Leather seates here too! I REALLY didn't want them, but this tricked out van we bought (second owners), already had them. Now I love them. I went to Big Lots and bought seat covers for all the seats, and a bench seat cover for the back seat/bed. That way, if there is a spill the covers are somewhat absorbant and they feel much better on a real cold or hot day!

 

[bellebuzzntink]

When we got our Sienna 3+ years ago, the one thing the salesman kept coming back to with the leather was "when the kids throw up you just wipe it off" (he must have been new and didn't know any of the features yet!)

Now, we didn't go with leather, couldn't afford it at the time, and haven't had any staining problems with the cloth seats, but we did get seat protectors to put under the car seats.

I'll get leather in the next one though! Love the Sienna. Be sure to get the auto lift gate for the back if you can. That's my favorite feature and has totally spoiled me!

 

[Minniemouse07]

We have a Jetta w/ leather seats and they rock! Have had car seats in the car for the last six years and no issues.

Putting on my car seat technician hat:

It isn't recommended to put ANYTHING underneath the car seat when installing. The indentations that a car seat makes into the seat comes out w/ time...we know because dd sat in the center of the Jetta for 4.5yrs until her brother arrived and within a few days you would have never known there had been a seat installed there!

On the other hand, if you are having slipping issues on the leather then a thin piece of rubber non slip drawer liner (the kind you put under a silverware tray) that is cut to the size of the car seat base is fine to use (as per car seat manufacturers).

If the seat protector is REALLY thin (like the thickness of the drawer liner), then as a tech I wouldn't be as worried... but anything thicker may compromise the installation of the car seat. I definitely wouldn't use carpeting!

We are planning on purchasing a Sienna w/ leather seats this spring... I've installed seats in them before w/o seat protectors and I don't plan on using them for our van.

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[Minniemouse07]

I always kept a bathroom towel between their seats and the leather which protected the leather from the car seat and caught all the crumbs for quick cleanup. I remember going to some car seat safety check events and was never told that what I did was a bad or dangerous idea. Now, thing may have changed and it is possible that each state has different requirements so I'd definitely research into the subject further. But in my experience, my seats were in there so very tightly (I sat in them while I set the safety clips) because of the safety clips that they never budged until I pulled them out.

As an aside, when the kids were about 3 they drew on DH's car's beige leather seats with pen. A little Oxyclean and a q-tip got it out and DH never knew

Any certified technician that adheres to their (national) training, would never say that a towel between the car seat and the vehicle seat was safe.

At our checks we advise parents that the towel/seat protector isn't recommended and why. If the parent insists on using it against our recommendation, then it is documented on our check form.

If you wish to research this further you can check car-safety dot org. There is a lot of info there and message boards that have a LARGE percentage of certified techs answering questions.

The official certifying body for technicians is Safe Kids (usa dot safekids dot org). You may find some car seat guidelines there but most information will direct you to finding a certified technician in your area.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

We love our leather seat, and we have a Sienna as well! So easy to clean.... when ds was born, we had both our carseats checked by a certified technician at our local police station, and they said no carpet or towels under the carseat...but you can use those drawer liner (like a pp mentioned). That's what we used on ours, and the two carseats definitely made an indentation on the leather seat. When ds was younger, and when he was still rear facing, they used a pool noodle to get the seat to angle correctly and the pool noodle did prevent any indentation to the seat.

Go for the leather seat..you won't regret it!

 

[barkley]

we have leather in my ford escape. there are trade-offs, the seats do tend to be either colder or hotter than fabric in extreem conditions (no car seats so the kids just use a beach towel or fleece blanket for comfort if needed), but those leather seats can be a god-send if you run into a situation like we recently had.

dd got very ill coming home one evening and vomited all over the seat and floor. it was so bad that despite the best professional efforts of the dealership we had to replace the carpet. we would have had to replace the back seat covers as well, but since we had leather we were able to replace only the cushion (the leather did not absorb the odor as a fabric seat cover would have).

one suggestion i will offer to anyone with leather furniture-esp. if it's lighter in color. when it starts to look a bit dingy-consider having a company that specializes in cleaning leather come out for a clean-up. we purchased good quality but not hugely expensive tan furniture in 1999. when we moved this year i had 'coit' come out-less than $100 for both pcs. and they look wonderful

 

[bigbabyblues]

I can't comment on the leather, but we just bought a 2004 Sienna about a month ago, and I LOVE it!!!

Enjoy yours!