Car seats are necessary to keep your baby safe, but they can wreak havoc on your own car seats. They typically just leave an indention on cloth seats.
Leather seats are a different story. They can cause rips, slowly break down the leather, and cause permanent intentions. To keep your leather seats in top shape, you need to learn how to protect leather seats from car seats.
In this article
How Do Car Seats Damage Leather Seats?
If you’re on your first baby, you might be wondering how an innocent car seat can damage leather seats.
Trust me when I tell you that, over time, car seats can cause irreparable damage. That’s why it’s important to protect leather seats from car seats from the day you bring the baby home.
They Wear Down The Leather
Car seats are buckled into place, but this doesn’t keep them in one position for the entire car ride. As you drive along, the car seat will move a tiny bit. When your baby gets older, they will kick their legs, which will also make the seat move.
As this continues, the car seat rubbing against the leather will begin to wear down the leather. It will result in cracks, worn spots, and possibly rips.
Car Seats Can Lead To Cracking And Tearing
Car seats also damage leather seating by constantly applying pressure to the leather. When the car seat is left sitting in the same spot, it consistently pushes down on the same spot on the seat.
Over time, this can lead to a permanent indention. This indention can get worse, leading to cracking or tearing of the leather.
You Might Wind Up With Uneven Colored Leather
Last, you have to keep in mind that the color of leather tends to fade over time when exposed to direct sunlight.
If the car seat is left sitting in the same position, that part of the leather seat will be exposed to less sunlight than the rest of the car. The end result is that your seats will be different colors.
How To Protect Leather Seats From Car Seat
If you want to avoid damage to your car, you need to learn how to protect your leather seats from a car seat. There are quite a few different things that you can do to make sure that your car stays in mint condition.
Use Towels To Prevent Indentions
Most car seats are not perfectly flat on the bottom. In fact, none of them are. Because of that, certain parts of the car seat will dig into your leather seats. You can put towels or a blanket underneath the car seat to make sure that the car seat isn’t digging into your leather seat.
When using this method, do not roll the towel up. You don’t want it to lift the car seat up too high. Changing the position of the car seat in the car can make it unsafe for your baby. Instead, use a thin towel.
Keep in mind that this can provide some protection, but, because you have to use a thin towel, it’s not the best option there is. But there are towel-type car set options available like this.
- Custom made for athletes-workouts, swimming, running, boxing, yoga, biking, etc.
- Very soft towel with Anti-slip backing,waterproof and machine washable.
- The car seat cover fits all vehicles, for both front seats and rear seats
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Leather Car Seat Protectors
Car seat protectors are the best option for protecting leather seats. They come in a variety of sizes and colors to guarantee that you can find something to suit both your car and your style.
Most of these seat protectors provide additional padding to prevent sharp edges of car seats from digging into the leather. They are secured in place, so there is little chance of them moving, or moving the position of the car seat in the car.
You should still take extra precautions, but leather seat protectors like this one will do a lot of the work for you in protecting your leather seats from a car seat.
- Durable thicken epe cushion to prevent indents / Slits design to fit all kids’ car seats.-Fit all size of baby infant car seat, harnessed booster car seat. This slits design leaves latch system access to accommodate anchor + seat belts. The cushion is durable and efficient to prevent indents, imprints and scratches from toys and pets’ paws on leather and cloth surface.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Take The Car Seat Out Of The Car When Not In Use
This is an exceptional way to prevent uneven fading. You can also prevent future damage to leather seats because there will not be consistent pressure in the same spot on the leather.
Instead, your seats will get a break when you take the car seat out of the car. Every time you go in the house, make sure that you take the car seat inside with you.
Avoid Using The Same Spot In The Car
When you place the car seat in the car, use different seats. Put it on one side of the car one day. Use the middle of the bench seat the next day. Then, switch it back.
This helps prevent permanent intentions that will slowly turn into ripped or cracked leather because the car seat is not putting continuous pressure on the same part of the leather seat.
How To Treat Existing Indentions On Leather Seats From Car Seats
If you don’t have a car seat protector, you’re bound to see an indention after you and your baby were in the car all day. Even if you were just running errands, this can happen.
It’s important that you take the time to treat those intentions. Although they appear small, they can turn into cracks in the leather if they are left untreated.
Treat Existing Marks As Soon As They Appear
By cleaning and properly conditioning your leather seats, you can help prevent small intentions from becoming a permanent problem. This is a simple process that only takes a few minutes.
You simply wipe the leather conditioner into the seat, focusing on the area that has an indention. This will help to soften the leather to smooth out the indention.
After doing this, you’ll want to make sure that you let the leather rest before putting the car seat back in.
Use Heat To Smooth Out Seats
If the leather conditioner doesn’t work, the heat method will. This is a great way to smooth out leather seats, especially if you have more than one indention or they were not treated as soon as you saw them.
Check out this video to learn more about how to use this method.
In Conclusion
Car seats can damage leather seats, which is why it’s important to learn how to protect leather seats from car seats.
These tips and tricks will help you keep your car in great condition, even with a kid on your hip. Keep in mind that a leather car seat protector is your best bet at preventing damage.
