Mandatory leather steering wheel - major fail

[ScubaDadMiami]

Count me in for being pro-options and no leather.  I would even pay the same price, but with some type of cloth option.  I am vegan, and I am having to deal with making the choice of getting a product that does not allow me to avoid this material.  I would have probably already placed my order, but for this issue.

 

I want an SEL with power seats, hands free lift gate, fog lights, all the little things that you get with the SEL, but WITHOUT leather.

[asb]

I'm with you!  I'm vegetarian and really had to weigh this one out.  Because I have messed up hips, the power seat would be spectacular for me because I constantly need to change the seat height and distance from pedal.  Plus, I really wanted the rear camera.  But I will NOT sit on leather seats.

 

As for the steering wheel, my thought process was - in the end, what will help me 'save the planet' more?  Hybrid with leather steering wheel or no hybrid?  I opted for hybrid and I deal with the steering wheel and lack of extras that I wanted.  I do my best to keep my footprint small.  I am sad that I had no other non-leather options.  But, so happy to have a hybrid.

[DR61]

Hmm, I was told by medical personnel that normal glass allows UV light. Appreciate the suggestion for added film.

I've looked into this somewhat (being a stage III melanoma survivor). Normal house window glass does transmit considerable UV light.

I think most standard auto glass these days has a fair amount of UV protection added as standard.  However that protection can be improved substantially with various afermarket tints. I get the legal tint for side and back windows installed on our cars.

 

Here is one reference that tested some Mercedes cars some years back:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12925188

[Max Power]

Almost all plastic will block UV light.  In fact it is hard to find ones that don't for certain laboratory applications.  Even the thin films in automotive glass to make it shatterproof will generally block out 95% of the UV.  Noting wrong with getting rid of the final 5% though.  Tinting is also very protective of your eyes in the long run.  

[Hatchman]

Most of the UVA/B is already blocked by the factory glass, shatter proofing, and factory tint.  Yes, there is a tiny bit of tint in all your factory glass, it is not perfectly clear/untinted.   A tint shop can easily make it more UVA/B proof, I even tinted the sunroof, and even if you don't want to tint it, just keep the shade shut.  

 

Leather is awesome, I love the leather steering wheel and shift boot.  Leather smells good an feels good.  Yes, there is leather on the seats, on the seating surface, where you butt and back touch.  Looking at the black seats, it is easy to tell.  The leather is the "insert" in the middle of the seat.  It is a slightly lighter shade than the plastic/vinyl material.  Look at it in bright sunlight, the leather is a shade or two lighter than the vinyl, think dark grey compared to black.  Leather wrinkles when you push your finger into it, while vinyl doesn't.  Lots of Youtube videos on how to tell leather from vinyl.  

 

I figure McDonalds isn't going out of business anytime soon, so if they need millions of burgers,  they can either make use of the entire product or not. 

 

My wife is vegan,but she didn't seem to mind the leather, since it is much easier to care for than cloth.  We work out a lot, so sweaty seats are much easier to maintain when coming back from the gym than cloth that would just suck it up.  

 

I wouldn't call it a "major fail" since the majority of the market prefers leather.  

Edited March 14, 2013 by Hatchman

[ScubaDadMiami]

I support the non-leather option.  I live in a place with hot sun.  People here do not want leather anything.  Other people are vegan.  Why not make options for them?  "Options" should not mean dealing with getting a loaded SE; they should mean being able to get a power seat, loaded SEL but without leather.

Edited March 18, 2013 by ScubaDadMiami

[valkraider]

I agree they should have easier configuration options, even if its for a minority of consumers. For example - I would have liked them to at least offer the HID headlights and LED lighting packages like they have in the European C-Max. I know they would be expensive on top of an already expensive car - but why not at least offer them?

 

But I do have this question:

 

What does leather have to do with hot sun? Plastic heats up just as much. I have lived in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, and California. Plenty of leather in those places. I have family in Arizona, and have worked on contract in Georgia and Missouri. Plenty of heat in those places too.

 

Heck, most convertible vehicles I have owned were equipped with leather (my last one was black leather - and that was Mississippi).

 

I have never heard of a person complaining about a leather steering wheel due to heat. They *all* suck in the heat. :)

 

Here is my own personal thoughts on the leather steering wheel and vegan issue. I am fairly far from vegan. I consider vegetables to be what food eats. I also feel (personal opinion) that vegans tend to be overly political about their choices. I find irony in the fact that there is a problem with a leather steering wheel but not a problem with an entire supply chain for automobiles and gasoline which devastates entire Eco-systems. It's bad to have a leather steering wheel but OK to drive a car? Makes no sense to me. But that's all personal choice, and we all have different rows to hoe.

 

But there is no reason Ford shouldn't make the options available - they should sell as many cars as they can...

 

I am not sure I consider it a "major" fail though...

Edited March 18, 2013 by valkraider

[asb]

Many of us try to keep our footprints small. There are no options for public transportation where I live. So these are the decisions I have to make.

[Riddley]

There is a great discussion about after-market window tinting in the "Exterior" forum. Since Ford seems to have not made privacy glass an option with the C-MAX, many CMAXers are getting after-market windows tinting. The best products offer excellent UV protection. See: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/index.php?/topic/291-tinted-windows/. Its a great idea in the sunny climates, and I'll be getting my glass tinted even though I live near Seattle. 

[valkraider]

Privacy glass cannot be an option. The c-max is classified as a "passenger vehicle" and as such has to meet the restrictions for tint. If it had been classified as a "wagon" or "utility vehicle" then they could offer privacy glass from the factory.

[HotPotato]

"I figure McDonalds isn't going out of business anytime soon, so if they need millions of burgers, they can either make use of the entire product or not."

 

Speaking as an animal lover and former vegetarian - My thoughts EXACTLY. I don't think many cattle are being killed specifically for their hides; I think it's a byproduct of meat production that's happening anyway. If pleather is petroleum-based with toxic byproducts, and leather is a natural product that would otherwise be wasted, a case could even be made that leather is more responsible than pleather.

 

That said, I'm sure Ford could have come up with pleather that feels better and costs less than the real but low-grade leather on the wheel, and it wouldn't offend some people.

 

I have ZERO sympathy for the SEL seat material argument tho. You can easily option up an SE to be an SEL with everything but the leather seats and fog lights, and if this matters to you, it's not much effort to find or order one so equipped. Ford is trying to keep it simple for buyers: one model is basic and can be optioned as desired; the other comes standard with what the market considers to be luxury features, and to the mass market leather=luxury.

 

It will not surprise you that this same discussion happens in reverse in Prius world, where dealers have Katzkin leather seat kits at the ready.

[mtb9153]

My daughter refuses to buy or wear leather. Interestingly, she's moved from strictly vegetarian to eating occasional free range meats from humanely treated animals. I love my leather interior CMax but totally appreciate others' values. As a side note, I wanted the leather but not the sunroof as I've dealt with melanomas. Couldn't have one without the other, ( except perhaps factory ordered?)so that sunroof will probably never be used.

just keep the screen closed and your in good shape.

[asb]

Well, no. You cannot option up without getting the leather seats. And some of us were not a le to take the option to wait 2 months for their car. The world is not a one size fits all scenario.

[ScubaDadMiami]

Some things that were important to me, but that you can't get without leather:

 

Power seat for driver (there is a big difference in comfort IMHO)

Fog lights (without HID or LED, this took on importance for me)

Hands free lift gate (very important for me)

[HotPotato]

Last I checked, the only two things you can't add to the SE are the power driver seat and fog lights. That's it. Everything else -- yes, including the power lift gate -- is available on the SE. Fog lights can be added in the aftermarket if you can't live without them.

 

Source: build & price tool on the Ford website, which also has a finder to locate the nearest car equipped as you like.

 

You may not find many thusly equipped, though. "Loaded with everything except leather" is probably not a popular spec.

[ScubaDadMiami]

You can get the power liftgate with the SE.  You can only get the foot activated version with the SEL.

[valkraider]

Dark leather seats in a car maintain the resale value of a car better than any other single option.

 

(I worked as an analyst in Automotive Data for three years prior to this past December)

 

Don't ask me why. It's just what the numbers say. I think cloth or light color leather show wear & tear worse - but that's just my guess.

[StoBro2]

I had a couple of cars with light gray leather seats. I had a terrible time with dye transfer into the leather from my clothes. Denim jeans were the main culprit, but I've also had times when the (dark) leather jacket I was wearing would have to be peeled from the seat back, depositing dye along the way.

 

My SE C-Max is the first one in several years with cloth seats. The fabric seems sturdy enough- much better than the mouse-fur velour of years past. Time will tell.