400A vs 401A Leather Seats

[OldGuy2018GT]

Thank you Andrew
Very informative.
Mr. Clean will not remove the discoloration.
All 3 of the professional upholstery companies tried mineral spirits to no avail.
We attempted to get it warrantied 3 times and each time I spoke to a Ford person
they all said the same thing..............the pictures I sent were digitized and analyzed.
Then judgement was rendered. One of the ladies actually accused me of taking our
car to a friend so they would agree with the other two companies.
There is someone within Ford that would take care of this issue but I can't find that person.

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[HoosierDaddy]

Also, and I'm surprised others haven't mentioned this yet..... but, the "leather" in the 400A packages (not just Mustangs, but other Ford products as well), is not actually real leather(well, a vast majority of the seating surfaces is not for sure)...it is a very high quality PU (polyurethane) leather imitation.

Yep. When I had Roush new take off factory leathers installed in my base 2011. I was not impressed when I unboxed them. And the shop that did the install jokingly commented that Ford maybe only needed one cow for the whole model year. They said the 2011 factory leather was to a cow hide what particle board is to real wood. Yeah, there was a little real cow in it but just tiny particles mixed with other stuff.

 

[Kevin08]

The 400A seats are more likely a cheaper quality bonded leather (or just vinyl and not leather at all) and it's only the seating surfaces that have it, the rest is vinyl. 401A is probably a slightly better type of bonded leather. The back seats are the same material as 400A, just with extra stitching to match the fronts.


I'm almost 100% certain the rear seats are vinyl, as no leather conditioner will soak into them - it just sits on top and makes them look like shiny trash bags. I'd only use vinyl cleaner on the backs, whether or not you have 400 or 401.

Most of the difference is in the trim pieces, there's less fake stitching and more real stitched trimmings, and the door inserts/center console arm rest, and pieces of the dash are leather wrapped.

 

[pozi240]

The 400A seats are more likely a cheaper quality bonded leather (or just vinyl and not leather at all) and it's only the seating surfaces that have it, the rest is vinyl. 401A is probably a slightly better type of bonded leather. The back seats are the same material as 400A, just with extra stitching to match the fronts.


I'm almost 100% certain the rear seats are vinyl, as no leather condition will soak into them - it just sits on top and makes them look like shiny trash bags. I'd only use vinyl cleaner on the backs, whether or not you have 400 or 401.

Most of the difference is in the trim pieces, there's less fake stitching and more real stitched trimmings, and the door inserts/center console arm rest, and pieces of the dash are leather wrapped.

Shhhh!! I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but don't say "vinyl", Ford (and others) have spend "big money" developing this PU leatherlike material.... LOL

 

[torqued]

It is safe to say, that, unless you paid for a "full grain leather" or premium package upgrade for your leather interior, at least a very good portion of your "leather" interior is not real leather. And as I stated, that is not really a bad thing at all.

Good news if the 400A seats are more durable and less maintenance. I liked the pattern in the 401A, but tan was only offered in 400A, and I didn't want the digital dash.

What's confusing is I'm looking at the Build & Price tool, and it says Leather and Premier Leather, respectively. Can they say they're selling you leather if it's not? Under Seat Type it says they're leather-trimmed front bucket seats (and that the rears are vinyl-trimmed). So there must be some actual leather on the front seats, somewhere on them.

 

[Spork3245]

Good news if the 400A seats are more durable and less maintenance. I liked the pattern in the 401A, but tan was only offered in 400A, and I didn't want the digital dash.

What's confusing is I'm looking at the Build & Price tool, and it says Leather and Premier Leather, respectively. Can they say they're selling you leather if it's not? Under Seat Type it says they're leather-trimmed front bucket seats (and that the rears are vinyl-trimmed). So there must be some actual leather on the front seats, somewhere on them.

400a is half-grain leather, which is still technically leather. 401a is full-grain.

 

[Five Red Lights]

I love my Recaros. I get why some folks prefer power, heat, and cooling, but the Recaros fit me like a glove. The regular leather seats felt too slippery and not supportive enough even for mild back road fun.

Not sure why Ford doesn't see fit to provide heat and power in Recaros in the Mustang when they do in the Focus ST. Or rather, did.

We get powered Recaros in Australia curiously, no heated/cooled function though.
2019 GT

 

[RIBS]

The 2015's had multiple options, I think different from current. My 401aGT Premium, has an additional interior upgrade called "PREMIER". This added the softer leather, the silver stitching in several spots,(dash, Shifter, console pad, door inserts?) including the Dash pads.I have real cloth stitching up on the dash pads when most have fake molded black stitches. I also have padded Upper door panels...the part that goes up to the glass, mine is soft touch, other 15's had hard molded pieces. I also have lumbar and 6 way power seats on both sides, not sure if thats part of the Premier upgrade.

 

[nrc]

We get powered Recaros in Australia curiously, no heated/cooled function though.
2019 GT

Argh. Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. So they've got them right there on the line and it's like, "Nope, hand cranked for you. Please tell me they cost more than the $1600US we pay.

 

[Brazos609]

We get powered Recaros in Australia curiously, no heated/cooled function though.
2019 GT

How about sharing the part numbers off the bottom of your seats?

 

[A7X]

The 2015's had multiple options, I think different from current. My 401aGT Premium, has an additional interior upgrade called "PREMIER". This added the softer leather, the silver stitching in several spots,(dash, Shifter, console pad, door inserts?) including the Dash pads.I have real cloth stitching up on the dash pads when most have fake molded black stitches. I also have padded Upper door panels...the part that goes up to the glass, mine is soft touch, other 15's had hard molded pieces. I also have lumbar and 6 way power seats on both sides, not sure if thats part of the Premier upgrade.

That sounds nice, wish I had it.

WTF didn't my sales guy tell me to get this. For the extra $ I would have done it.

 

[Dr. Norts]

Are the 401a seats a direct swap out with 2015-17 cars? I always thought the leather on those seats felt and looked better than the premium trim level ones on my 15.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

That sounds nice, wish I had it.

WTF didn't my sales guy tell me to get this. For the extra $ I would have done it.

One of the (many) reasons I ordered instead of buying off the lot. If you ordered yours, your sales guy screwed up. If you bought it off the lot most sale people would NOT bring up options they don't have to sell. And a LOT of sales people don't know about options that aren't on a lot of the cars in the inventory. Too much turnover off sales people and too many different models they have to sell.

 

[88lx50]

If it is indeed "dye transfer" from clothing or something else, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will take it off (works almost every time to clean leather), (mineral spirits on a MF towel works as well, but is harsh on the leather), if the Magic Eraser does nothing, it is not dye transfer (or dirt), it is as the others suggested, the leather wearing down internally and is failing, which should be a warranty concern. (but, as you said, you are most likely SOL on that now, which is unacceptable in my opinion).

Also, and I'm surprised others haven't mentioned this yet..... but, the "leather" in the 400A packages (not just Mustangs, but other Ford products as well), is not actually real leather(well, a vast majority of the seating surfaces is not for sure)...it is a very high quality PU (polyurethane) leather imitation. Think Audi or Mercedes Benze Artico (old MB TEX) (Artificial Cowskin), which is very common on most Mercedes sedans/ SUVs... in fact, you have to pay a premium to get real leather (they call it "Full leather premium upgrade" or their Avante Guard package, etc, etc.), well guess what, Ford (and Chev, VW, Toyota, FCA) do the exact same thing..... vast majority of cars on the lots (unless they have the top line premium package) are using a variation of PU leather on thier interiors. It is not the old vinyl (burn your ass off in the summer) interiors from the 70's and 80's, and is a very high quality immitation leather (some may even include some real leather in a few key spots, but not usually). That is the reason most "feel" the difference when sitting in a Premium package upgrade car... you're actually sitting on real full cowskin seats.... it reacts differently and you can't imitate that. Its also why so many people talk about how thier premium package seats mark or stain easier or leave indentations in the seats for a long time.. ... real leather does that and requires care and maintenance (much like an expesive leather jacket). PU leather does not, and is virtually maintenance free and easy to clean. It most cases, PU (imitation) leather interiors are much better choices for daily / family driven cars for obvious reasons. If you search online, it just gets more confusing, as thier is lots of contradictory info and some models will even state they use "vinly coated leather" in some applications, which is misleading (or in the fine print, it will say some surfaces use man made or "enhanced" materials for wear resistance, etc,). It is safe to say, that, unless you paid for a "full grain leather" or premium package upgrade for your leather interior, at least a very good portion of your "leather" interior is not real leather. And as I stated, that is not really a bad thing at all.

The middle portion is some sort of low grade leather. The bolsters, seat backs and headrest are all imitation leather That's why they refer to it as leather seating surfaces.

 

[A7X]

One of the (many) reasons I ordered instead of buying off the lot. If you ordered yours, your sales guy screwed up. If you bought it off the lot most sale people would NOT bring up options they don't have to sell. And a LOT of sales people don't know about options that aren't on a lot of the cars in the inventory. Too much turnover off sales people and too many different models they have to sell.

Ordered mine. Had zero help from the sales guy. For the little extra for the better leather I would have thought he would have advised me.

The online info wasn't very good I thought. Oh well, I love the car but nicer leather would have been a nice plus

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