400A vs 401A Leather Seats

[sdiver68]

Considering aftermarket options, the only thing I wish I had from 401a is heated steering wheel. The stitched/padded center console is cheap to buy and install from used sources if you are so inclined. Better leather seats? Marginal. If Im inclined to switch they will be custom.

Like others, the 400a I found was too good of a combination otherwise to skip.

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[gmuffley]

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.

I really like the Recaro cloth seats. I was skeptical at first, but I'm a fan now.

 

[Dave TBG]

I went with 201A (identical to 401A, but EB) just for the Showstopper Red. The leather is nice enough, but I'm not sure it's what I'd call "Premium,"

 

[ihc95]

401A is worth it for the digital dash alone. Everything else is just icing on the cake imo.

 

[OldGuy2018GT]

Is there a difference in the leather seats on a 400A car vs a 401A car? I can see the 401A has the extra stitching to look better, but I've read others say the 401A is noticeably softer, thicker, and better bolstered.

From the pictures I've seen, the cushions also seem to have a different pattern on them, so maybe they are different? Ford doesn't really say, they only mention the extra stitching.

I ask because I am torn between two cars, both are 401A, but one has Recaros and other has leather plus B&O audio, can't deicide. The leather seats in my 2016 ecoboost premium I didn't like much, but if the 401A ones are actually better, I'd consider them to save some money over Recaros.

We have the 401A leather and love it........We found an 18 with Show Stopper Red Interior and Shadow Black exterior. Only issue we have is the drivers seat is discolored now and no one can figure out how to clean it.

 

[Andy13186]

I tried a 401a car after using my 400a and I thought the digital dash was a bit slow and I think I actually prefer the analogue guages. Maybe it would just take time to get used to the digital dash but it seemed less intuitive than the normal guages and also not as immediate in terms of response to inputs. One other thing I noticed is that the touch screen on the 401A car was wayyy slower than the 400a car, its like the digital dash is using up some computers ram and it cant handle doing both. The 400a leather seems fine to me, but I would prefer to have the memory seat function. The only thing I would really want on my 400a car that I dont have is the active exhaust, magneride, memory seats , maybe heated steering wheel, automatic wipers (I dont think wipers are even an option). I think the blind spot monitoring could be useful at times as well but that comes on all 2019+'s I think. And if I was in the market for a manual car I would want the rev match feature. The B&O soundsystem with subwoofer did not impress me but I didnt spend much time working with it or listen too loudly but I was not impressed for my first impression of it, and the 400a sound system is good enough.

Overall I think the most worthwhile options are pp1, magneride, active exhaust and heated/cooled seats. You can add stuff like premium leather, upgraded soundsystem, digital dash, but that all adds about 4-5k on the price of the car which you could spend on a supercharger. Then again yo;u could just get all of those things and then also add a SC but your car will end up costing about 60k. If I could go back and order a car to my liking I would definitely add active exhaust and magneride though. I have electric cutouts in place of the active exhaust which is good, and I have upgraded wheels and tires in place of the magneride.

 

[OldGuy2018GT]

We have an 2018 GT Premium with the 401 option with Show Stopper Red Seats and trim which was awesome until they started to discolor on us and Ford will not warranty it. I have 3 high line upholstery shops that all say the same thing that the discoloration is coming from inside the seats. But all the people that have an opinion that matters to Ford say it is caused by a dye transfer from our clothing/belts.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

The fact that its blackest in the indentation between sections makes it seem less likely its some transfer from your clothing and also less likely its the red being being worn off exposing the underlying black. So with nothing else to go by the from within explanation sounds more plausible although I can't imagine what could be inside and "leaking" thru.

When (miles/age) did you first notice anything and how regular and fast has it got worse?

Do you drive it when sweating or with wet cloths? I guess moisture might cause something off clothing to flow into the indentation.

 

[Andy13186]

We have the 401A leather and love it........We found an 18 with Show Stopper Red Interior and Shadow Black exterior. Only issue we have is the drivers seat is discolored now and no one can figure out how to clean it.

Some pro detailers use a dye to change the color of seats.



If cleaning doesnt work on that (id try car guys super cleaner) then maybe the color on the red leather is dyed on and somehow rubbed off? Not sure really but if it isnt color transferred off of a belt or something then its probably color removed from the seat its self I would guess.

 

[OldGuy2018GT]

The fact that its blackest in the indentation between sections makes it seem less likely its some transfer from your clothing and also less likely its the red being being worn off exposing the underlying black. So with nothing else to go by the from within explanation sounds more plausible although I can't imagine what could be inside and "leaking" thru.

When (miles/age) did you first notice anything and how regular and fast has it got worse?

Do you drive it when sweating or with wet cloths? I guess moisture might cause something off clothing to flow into the indentation.

 

[OldGuy2018GT]

We purchased the GT in July of 2018 and first noticed the discoloration the end of September 2018. It has slowly grown to the area in the posted photo. As of today we have 8961 miles on it.
Sweating and or wet clothing is not an issue. After the third warranty turn down from FoMoCo I have no recourse with them. And the selling dealership (Plantation Ford) has no interest in pursuing my claim.

 

[rocky5517]

A lot easier to convince the wife how good the new "investment" is with soft/heated/cooled/power seats vs Recaro's

 

[OldGuy2018GT]

A lot easier to convince the wife how good the new "investment" is with soft/heated/cooled/power seats vs Recaro's

Exactly how my wife was finally convinced she needed over 450 hp to commute to her job 8 miles away.

 

[ElCid08]

I’m in a weird position to add my 2 cents. I’m on my 3rd S550. First 2018 was a 400A, second was an 18’ with 401A leather, and current is a 19’ 400A. I may be in the minority, but I’m happier with the 400A seats. I think they will hold up better and show less wear. The 401A seats tend to show the imprint of where you sit on the bottom of the seat in the leather

 

[pozi240]

We purchased the GT in July of 2018 and first noticed the discoloration the end of September 2018. It has slowly grown to the area in the posted photo. As of today we have 8961 miles on it.
Sweating and or wet clothing is not an issue. After the third warranty turn down from FoMoCo I have no recourse with them. And the selling dealership (Plantation Ford) has no interest in pursuing my claim.

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.

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