Westfield Sports Turbo Seats - Beware of hand gel

[Hafod]

Hi all,

In these Covid safe days we should all be cleaning our hands with hand gel after filling up with fuel but beware. We spilt some disinfect hand gel on the passenger seat and wiped it up almost straight away. However, when we got home we have noticed the top coating layer of the pvc seat has been stripped away. The Sports Turbo seats are only 7 months old and now look terrible in my new car. 

 

I would have thought Cobra would have chosen more resilient materials and tested them with typical spillages. I am in manufacturing as this is normal practice. 
 

I will call Westfield on Monday and hope they have good customer service to sort this out and arrange a replacement panel for the squab. 
 

Anyone else had similar issues and if not take great care with hand gels. 

[Richard (OldStager)]

geez sorry, yeah hope they can help you.

 

i will guess its the alcohol in the hand stuff, i did a fair bit of research on this the other week regarding ethanol and plastics, and certain ones when in contact come off worse than others. no help to you but a good warning for others.

[Richard (OldStager)]

for others to browse, here were the two sites i found that best suited my questions regarding alcohol and plastics

 

https://www.terrauniversal.com/blog/chemical-compatibility-chart-plastics/

 

and

 

https://www.theplasticshop.co.uk/plastic_technical_data_sheets/engineering_plastics_chemical_resistance_guide.pdf

 

last link is more technical but answered my stuff.

[Hafod]

The very thin leather grain effect in the seat has just melted away after about 1 hour from wiping off the spilt hand gel. Pretty poor I think.  

[Richard (OldStager)]

6 minutes ago, Hafod said:

The very thin leather grain effect in the seat has just melted away after about 1 hour from wiping off the spilt hand gel. Pretty poor I think.  

yeah you would think a major seat manufacturer would test the most common of liquids on their products, is there any paperwork or disclaimers when you got the seats, might be worth looking at the small print in case you get fobbed off.

 

it may be worth asking cobra direct before you contact wf.

https://www.cobraseats.com/contact.html

 

ask them are the seats tested for chemical resistance and see where that goes.

[Richard (OldStager)]

9 minutes ago, Hafod said:

The very thin leather grain effect in the seat has just melted away after about 1 hour from wiping off the spilt hand gel. Pretty poor I think.  

incidentally what brand was the hand gel...

[AlanHodge]

We’ve had the same on Discovery 5 leather seat. Not tried anything on it yet open to suggestions though, doesn’t show up as bad on photo 

[Richard (OldStager)]

7 minutes ago, AlanHodge said:

We’ve had the same on Discovery 5 leather seat. Not tried anything on it yet open to suggestions though, doesn’t show up as bad on photo 

i am no expert in leather products, but at least you have the benefit of having a natural fabric, rather than a synthetic one as in pvc. you could try a decent leather feeding cream, i have some here if you want to use some.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

I suspect some of the gels being used in retail premises etc is the cheapest of cheap, nasty chemicals.

 

FWIW, I know three people now that have had the same happen with tin tops, and leather seats, (the outer coated layer being damaged), and several that have had clothing affected.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Just now, OldStager said:

i am no expert in leather products, but at least you have the benefit of having a natural fabric, rather than a synthetic one as in pvc. you could try a decent leather feeding cream, i have some here if you want to use some.

unfortunately, a lot of leather in cars has sprayed on artificial coatings over the top, it’s not just raw, but dyed, leather.

[Richard (OldStager)]

ah ok, well the offer is there anyhow.

[AlanHodge]

4 minutes ago, OldStager said:

ah ok, well the offer is there anyhow.

Thanks for the offer, I’ve got some leather care products from some furniture we bought so will try that in first instance thanks again 👍🏼👍🏼

[BigSkyBrad]

If it's doing that to seats, what the hell is it doing to your hands?!

[Richard (OldStager)]

2 hours ago, BigSkyBrad said:

If it's doing that to seats, what the hell is it doing to your hands?!

and the reason i refused to accept any when i had a covid jab the other week.mine are bad as it is without adding other chemicals.

[Steve Smith - Joint Hampshire & IOW AO]

I had to stop using it as it has dried my skin out and making it crack.