Strange Carpet Wear/Corrosion

[purse3223]

I spent today giving my IS300h a good clean after it started to look a light beige colour instead of white! Anyway, while vacuuming behind the front passenger seat (rear passenger footwell) I discovered some strange carpet wear/corrosion going on underneath the mat. Pictures attached.

Has anybody had the same happen to them or any suggestions as to the cause? I suspect something may have leaked from the seat and corroded the carpet. Plausible?

It cannot be seen unless the mat is lifted but it is a little annoying. Even more annoying is the fact that the car is out of its warranty by 2½ months!

[Malc]

carpet bugs ........  moth eaten springs to mind !  .....  I have a spider living in my car ( it's so comfortable  )  hope he/she doesn't eat my carpets 

Spiders are generally good news, they eat all sorts of bugs

Malc

[Ben1001]

Do you have kids in the car?

[NemesisUK]

Carpets are man-made fibre (Polyamide?), so I doubt it's moths or carpet beetles.

Any repairs to the seat runners? Out of warranty but still worth giving the dealership a go

[purse3223]

Thanks for the replies guys.

To answer the two questions so far:

No, no kids in the car. 

No, there have been no repairs to the seat runners. At least not in the two years I've had the car.

You can probably just see the purplish tinge around the worn out area. Thats what leans me towards some sort of leak? Would there be some fluids anywhere in the workings of the seat?

[steve2006]

It looks like something has been spilt in the past and not cleaned up.

I have a piece of wool carpet on my garage floor ( not to be posh, just to save it being thrown away) and have noticed this has suffered similar damage. The AC drain pipe sits directly above the damaged area when the car is in there.

 

[Martin F]

There is nothing in the seats to leak.

That looks like somebody has spilt something previously and not cleaned it up quickly enough.

[rayaans]

As above comments. Something spilt and not been cleaned

Try cleaning it yourself - can't hurt - may make it a bit better

[purse3223]

Thanks again for the replies guys!

I appreciate that this does look like a spill that wasn't cleaned up. However, I don't have children in the back and rarely have passengers. Even if there had been a spill I think there would be evidence further back towards the rear seat under the foot mat. This is isolated under the front seat as can be seen. Besides would a soft drink cause the carpet to rot away? If so, then there is even more reason not to drink Coke!!

I took it into Lexus Bristol today where a service manager and two technicians looked at it.

Service manager returned and said '.....umm thats odd, but we like a challenge.' He explained they will need to take the seat out to investigate it. When I told him I didn't want to end up with a big bill with the car 2 months out of its warranty, he told me they would look at that 'favourably'.

So anyway, the car is going in on a date yet to be confirmed.

I'll update this thread with the outcome.

[Malc]

at £160 an hour this is going to be the most expensive carpet analysis in the world !

Malc

[tanimbar]

Might be a fungal growth - mould. Note how the area appears to have grown outwards and the bright white periphery where the fungus is still active. Maybe.

[purse3223]

The car is going in for two days on 6/7th November. I have confirmed that I will NOT be charged for the investigation.

What happens after this will be dependant on what they find/decide. If they decide the cost of repairing the cause (if not mould etc) and replacing the carpet is down to me I'll probably live with it as I imagine the cost will be quite prohibitive!!

We'll see.

[bobmc]

OK I'm curious as to what this might be and what Lexus Bristol say - keep us posted on the outcome

 

[rayaans]

5 hours ago, tanimbar said:

Might be a fungal growth - mould. Note how the area appears to have grown outwards and the bright white periphery where the fungus is still active. Maybe.

Could well be if the carpet has been cleaned with TFR or all purpose cleaner which can precipitate fungal growth if not dried properly. However, I would expect a musty smell in the cabin

[purse3223]

Update. There is no update because at 7.45 this morning Lexus Bristol phoned me to say there was no loan car for me as they had had four breakdowns over the weekend!

Not happy and told them as much!

It is now going in next Monday. 

[Mr Vlad]

Thas bad luck. As for that stain. Is it not possible for you to take out the seat yourself? Have you looked underneath directly below where the stain is?

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, purse3223 said:

Update. There is no update because at 7.45 this morning Lexus Bristol phoned me to say there was no loan car for me as they had had four breakdowns over the weekend!

Not happy and told them as much!

It is now going in next Monday. 

4 Lexus breaking down in one weekend is as statistically likely as Accrington Stanley winning the FA Cup!

Tell them to pull the other one Tim.

[purse3223]

2 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

4 Lexus breaking down in one weekend is as statistically likely as Accrington Stanley winning the FA Cup!

Tell them to pull the other one Tim.

Well put John! Exactly what i thought and probably should have commented at the time on the phone. If that was the case I would probably re-consider buying a Lexus!!

[Mr Vlad]

Yes I forgot to mention the 4 cars breaking down scenario. I find that hard to believe and more of a fob off.

I' going to test the dealer I bought my is300h from due to Bluetooth issues and rear view camera not showing up on the screen.

[rayaans]

On 11/6/2017 at 9:07 AM, purse3223 said:

Update. There is no update because at 7.45 this morning Lexus Bristol phoned me to say there was no loan car for me as they had had four breakdowns over the weekend!

Not happy and told them as much!

It is now going in next Monday. 

I'd be sincerely ****** if it was organised already. 4 breakdown's of what, Lexus CT's? I doubt it

[doog442]

4 breakdowns.....hahahhahahahhaaha

Someone had doubled booked the one CT200h....naughty Bristol 

[Mikeyb999]

1 hour ago, doog442 said:

4 breakdowns.....hahahhahahahhaaha

Someone had doubled booked the one CT200h....naughty Bristol 

Last time I was in there the service department had 3 cars being loaned out - a CT, NX or an IS300h F-Sport  - I was given a choice

[doog442]

22 hours ago, Mikeyb999 said:

Last time I was in there the service department had 3 cars being loaned out - a CT, NX or an IS300h F-Sport  - I was given a choice

It was tongue in cheek. The 4 breakdowns is laughable though.

Decent dealer however and extremely competitive price wise. 

[colin79666]

What happened today (the suspense is killing us )?

[purse3223]

4 minutes ago, colin79666 said:

What happened today (the suspense is killing us )?

Evening Colin and thanks for the interest!

The car went in today with no fuss. I have a 2017 IS300h F Sport as a loaner. Very nice with the safety pack, bigger screen, updated UI etc.

No apparent memory seats in it though? Not standard?

No news yet on my issue. Hoping to hear something tomorrow. Before I left they told me they would be taking pictures and updating head office etc as they have not seen anything like this before. I might be a cynic but that was probably just for my benefit. Or perhaps not......

Anyway I will update this post tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

Cheers.