[BimmerHJ]

Originally Posted by bcoz

I just checked my E90 (3 years old with Sport seats) and there are NO traces of rust under the front seats or on the hinges.

Until E90 chassis, all BMW seat frames had 'rust prevention coating', so all the previous BMW cars will not have any rust forever.

It is F30 (& F20) only, because when the seat supplier (I guess it's Lear) for BMW has changed the metal parts for new F30 chassis last year, they skipped the 'rust prevention coating' process (don't know why, but maybe cost reduction purpose?).

And then, when BMW noticed that there are many rusty seats, I guess that BMW has instructed the seat supplier to apply the 'rust prevention coating' again, since Nov.1, 2012 production.

So, BMW NA may offer to replace all the "un-protected' seats with new "protected" seats, as BMW Korea did.

[andresnunezf]

Mine has rust under the seats too! 335i German build 04/12. I live in Colombia, South America
This is an outbreak !!!
Going to the dealer to see what they have to say...

[F30AM]

Originally Posted by andresnunezf

Mine has rust under the seats too! 335i German build 04/12. I live in Colombia, South America
This is an outbreak !!!
Going to the dealer to see what they have to say...

German rust is much bettter made than South African rust.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by claykin

I wonder what the bottom of the rear seat looks like?

Foam. There is no steel seat pan under rear seats since they're not structural. Just a bunch of heavy wire and foam.

[BimmerHJ]

Originally Posted by F30AM

German rust is much bettter made than South African rust.

+1 I agree!

[rich1068]

I've read terrible things about the South African rust. I heard the German rust is much flakier and contributes to total structural failure a lot quicker. A better quality rust all round really. BMW shouldn't open these overseas plants unless they can absolutely guarantee OEM quality.

[shivaswrath]

i think best solution is email BMWNA as someone noted above.
They've contacted me back, I gave them VIN and other info - let's see what they do. I think they're noting it and it'll be taken care of.
So annoyed...underimpressed with QC on these new cars.

[hans007]

i talked to BMW NA customer care on the phone today and they made a note for my vin number. i told them its basically on every car and im sure they'll be hearing from more people but the guy said they didn't have a notice and he hadnt heard of it yet over there.

[lewishamilton]

BMW Canada called me back today after discussing it with the dealer I brought it to. They asked me to setup another appointment with the dealer where they can take pictures of the rust and send it off to HQ. It's better than doing nothing and pretending everything's normal. Let's see what their response is.

[BimmerHJ]

Originally Posted by lewishamilton

BMW Canada called me back today after discussing it with the dealer I brought it to. They asked me to setup another appointment with the dealer where they can take pictures of the rust and send it off to HQ. It's better than doing nothing and pretending everything's normal. Let's see what their response is.

Exactly same here!

[DerekS]

Originally Posted by RMB

Here are a couple pics of the underside of the seats. Might not be anything but I wanted to throw this out there. Any thoughts?

Throughout this thread, I think we might be looking at two types of chemical residues. I'll refer to them as Type A
and Type B.

Type A : the yellowish residue shown in your E90-M3 photos (Post #85, page 3) is almost identical to what I found on the underside of my car's seats (F30-335i mid-October production). I believe this may well be a chemical residue left over from the galvanic production process, when the seat frames were supported by trays on the assembly line. You will note the mostly linear shape to the residue areas shown in your photos.

My dealer's service manager examined my seats today, and he agreed with my thoughts. He mentioned that he had already observed about 10 F30s with genuine signs of brownish-orange rust, both on the underside of the seat frames and on some of the seat hinges (see Type B below). My car's seat hinges are painted black; apparently, hinges in the early production cars were not painted. The cars with rust referred to by my service manager were from earlier production.

Type B : presented by the OP, Steve_Jr, (Post #1), where large, amorphous and random areas of brownish-orange oxidation, being typical of surface rust, were evident in the photos. If my seats presented Type B oxidation, I would most certainly request a replacement seat frame under warranty.

But I would caution anyone with the Type A residue to requesting a seat dis-assembly and frame replacement, if in fact BMW would even authorize such a claim. The potential cure may be worse than the apparently harmless cosmetic change to the underside of the seat frame. If a seat is dis-assembled, it will not likely be re-assembled in exactly the same way as it was originally at the factory. There are bound to be minor variations in the padding after re-assembly, in addition to potential rattles and squeaks that were not previously present.

[hans007]

i had this thought. car and driver and automobile magazine both have long term F30 328i review cars...

if we really wanted to raise a stink, we could get them to take pictures of their seats.....

[lewishamilton]

Originally Posted by hans007

i had this thought. car and driver and automobile magazine both have long term F30 328i review cars...

if we really wanted to raise a stink, we could get them to take pictures of their seats.....

That would be great! We would definitely get our cars fixed! I don't know what I'm more disappointed in, the fact there is rust or BMW's reaction to the rust.

[atomicS]

Just checked, mine has rusty seats too

[rich1068]

Just taken this shot of the underside of the drivers seat.



Passenger side is clean as a whistle.

This is on an F31 320d Sport. Build date 18th September. Less than 200 miles on the clock.

[claykin]

Has anyone tried taking car cleaner/wax or a light cut cleaner to the under seat frame and see if this discoloration comes off?

[rich1068]

It's on the outer hinges of both seats too.

Originally Posted by claykin

Has anyone tried taking car cleaner/wax or a light cut cleaner to the under seat frame and see if this discoloration comes off?

I'm sure it would. I just had a brief go with a cloth and it's fairly obvious that with the right product the rust could probably be removed. But sod that for a game of soldiers.

[BimmerHJ]

Originally Posted by rich1068

Just taken this shot of the underside of the drivers seat.



Passenger side is clean as a whistle.

This is on an F31 320d Sport. Build date 18th September. Less than 200 miles on the clock.

Wow, rustier than mine. You definitely need new seat frames with proper rust prevention e-coating.
You, or dealer, can clean up the rusts for now, but eventually the rust will come out again because the current metal frames didn't have rust prevention coatings.
Visible hinges will get worse too.

[DerekS]

rich1068,

Your seats and seat hinges certainly appear to have what I described (in Post #231 above) as "Type B" residue or rust. The affected components should to be replaced under warranty.

Good luck !!

[rich1068]

The car is actually on loan from BMW UK until my new one arrives in February. I'm loathe to start getting warranty work carried out on a car that isn't mine. However, I will be notifying the dealer. Once I'm done with it the car will probably end up on the AUC site. Pointing out the rust is the least I can do for the next keeper.

[shivaswrath]

It seems like it's the seat rails AND the hinges that hold the bottom to the back rest. I have a bad feeling this will be a massive recall...i'm still waiting on their response (BMWNA).

[live4wknds]

I scheduled a visit to my dealer next week to have them take a look at my 2 rusty seat frames. I also emailed BMWNA Customer Care to see how they'd respond. They just told me to go to the dealer. Not too encouraging.

FWIW, I also checked the warranty related to rust. If the seats are considered part of the 'body', coverage is 12 years. That's some consolation, anyway.