Seat Covers for '09 Beige Interior?

Joseph Fihn · 06-24-2009

I just purchased my first '09 Civic EX that is White with Beige cloth interior. The color is quite light & susceptible to staining.

One of my other vehicles is an '03 Dodge/Cummins 3500 pick-up with cloth interior. I installed poly/cotton (chino) seatcovers that almost look like a colored denim. These covers are comfortable & easy to remove & throw into the washer.

When I purchased the Civic, the service dept. said not to use seat covers because of the side airbags in the seats. There are seatcovers that have a flap with velcro holding the flap in place until the airbag deploys. However, the service dept. said that during an accident, you lean forward into the steering wheel & a space is created between the seat back & your own back. The airbag can fill that space & potentially break your back. Has anyone ever heard of this happening or is this just a "service dept. story"?

Has anyone ever had their cloth interior "scotchguarded"? Did you use the product in the spray cans or have it done commercially? I've heard of furniture stores scotchguarding their furniture after sale. Has anyone ever approached a furniture store to see if they would do a car interior? Is this a good idea, or not?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, this is a great car. I'm really enjoying driving it. Feels comfortable & is a lot of fun to drive. Sure handles better than my two diesel pick-ups!!! Better mileage, also!!!

Thanks.

Joe F.

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quietride · 06-25-2009

Yeah, that's partly why I went with the silver exterior on my new '09. Not just that I happen to like silver (easy to keep looking good) but it has dark grey seats, even darker than the grey seats in my silver '03 Tacoma.

My wife's Forester has light beige seats too and she's what I'd call ultra-paranoid about getting them dirty. She sometimes gets mad at me for trading in her Element, which also had dark grey seats and a fairly indestructable interior (for a vehicle). I tell her to just use it, the seats can be cleaned and if worse comes to worst, can always be reupolstered. But she won't listen and keeps a towel over the drivers seat that looks like hell.

Others may have something else to say but I wouldn't recommend 'professional' fabric protection since they'll likely just buy a can or two of Scotchguard and spray over them, which you can do yourself for a lot less.

gearbox · 06-25-2009

go to 8thcivic.com and find someone local willing to trade you different color seats. some people may want tan instead of their black or whatever. as for airbag going behind your back, ive never heard of that.

DeX · 06-25-2009

Airbag filling a flimsy cloth seat cover? I've been in 2 head on collisions and I can tell you when that airbag comes out, no fabric in the world is going to stop it from going straight out. It would break your face if you hit it hard enough. I don't know which direction side airbags like to travel in since they weren't in either vehicle I wrote off but they won't change direction for anything short of a steel plate.

If I were you I would just disable the airbags, they're more of a pain in the ass than anything else. I keep my seat far enough back that I avoid the airbag at all costs. That thing is a death trap. The first one caught my shirt on fire, the second one lightly grazed my nose and hurt for the rest of the day.

***The above can and will cause any medical insurance claims to be rejected should your insurer find out***

gearbox · 06-26-2009

yeah airbags are pretty scary. most of the time seatbelt is enough to hold you in. and side airbags are supposed to deploy out to the sides where the doors are during a side impact collision.

gearbox · 06-26-2009

yeah airbags are pretty scary. most of the time seatbelt is enough to hold you in. and side airbags are supposed to deploy out to the sides where the doors are during a side impact collision.