Glad to hear some of you have had this issue resolved.

We need pics please as no one has posted any of this issue.

 

With respect: I believe that you are confusing the result (failure of the adhesive to hold the leather) with the cause (shrinkage of the leather). Evidence presented so far suggests that cars not exposed to consistent high heat and sun do not suffer from the problem of "pulled leather" on the dash.
When leather dries out (that is, when it is not regularly conditioned) it dries and shrinks. When it dries and shrinks it pulls against whatever form of attachment it has (this can be sewn piping, sewn seams, or in this case the adhesive on the frame). If a greater margin of leather were provided, there would be less of a tendency perhaps to pull away from the frame, but it would eventually happen. The adhesive fails because the leather shrinks; the leather shrinks because it is not properly cared for. If this were NOT the case, then we would have an even distribution of dash leather failure across all climate zones, and among cars both consistently garaged and those left in the sun.
Regardless of the cause, the effect is unfortunate.
My qualifications for my observations regarding leather: I have restored many Jaguars and these restoration always involve leather work; I am a JCNA concours Chief Judge; I have closely examined hundreds and hundreds of Jaguars of all models and ages over the years and am very well acquainted with the effects of heat, sun and lack of maintenance on Jaguar leather and wood. We can perhaps assign blame to Jaguar for their build procedure (these days they do trim their leather very closely; their is far less excess, almost none, compared to cars of the 80's), but properly maintained, the dash leather does not seem to shrink and pull away from the dash frame.
My advice: regularly condition ALL the leather in your Jaguar (and use a conditioner that does not contain silicones)!

 

sov211,
I don't disagree that keeping the leather pliable will help take some of the pressure off of the adhesive, but, in areas of high heat, the lack of overlap and the small amount of adhesive bonding it and possibly the choice of adhesive cause the breakdown of the adhesive. It's a which came first, the chicken or the egg. In the olden days, staples would have been used to insure that the leather or vinyl didn't recede. Nowadays where robots are doing the work, adhesives are used.

I respect your experience in the restoration of Jags and it's application to this issue. My experience comes from having worked in the textile and upholstery industries for 50+ years. Whether it's the shrinkage that occurs first or the breakdown of the adhesive combined with virtually no overlap of the leather, the fact is that it happens far too frequently and too early in cars costing $100,000, and Jaguar (very aware of the problem) should be making some effort to work with owners who are experiencing the issue.

 

I had this issue when I bought the car but I never took any pictures, unfortunately. They replaced the dash under warranty and I haven't had any issues since.

It basically looked like decent sized air bubbles trapped under the leather.

 

fyi, theyre stapled now. And funny how we never had this issue on older jaguars. Never

 

Thank you Gray Xk for the description, and to all who have reported its very helpful to all of us and just another reason to keep the leather conditioned.

Quite a few of us have been waiting for pictures so we can identify the location, and what to look for visually...

Pictures have been harder to locate then the Yeti.

 

Max:

Yes, you are correct.

When making a post here on the forums, it is always nice to add photos or links to websites that will assist other forum members. Many times the posts here provide information or discuss problems, but without a visualization (photo(s)) or data point to refer to, just doesn't help resolve the issues.

A few photos of the leather dash problems might be nice to see.

 

lol I don't know about the Yeti but yeah, I haven't seen any pictures either.

It's not something you'll miss though. The worst part of my dash was in the center on either side of the nav screen where the dash has that gentle slope. Both sides kind of released from the foam (or whatever is under the leather). There was also some bubbles around the center speaker as well.

They swapped it out pretty quick though. I think the service guy said the part was around $3,000 not including labor..eeek

 

That's what I've be told as well. They are stapled now in order to fix the earlier problem of pulling away.

 

Does anyone know when the "stapling" of the leather dash began, what MY?

 

I will take some pictures tomorrow afternoon, but I doubt the air bubbles will show up as unless you're sitting in the driver's seat staring at them, they are not that obvious. However, from outside the windshield looking in, it is very apparent where the miniscule edge of leather that was wrapped around the edge has lost its adhesion to the frame to which it was originally attached. In my case, you can see about 6" of the leather's edge that is just loose and pointed toward the windshield. In my thoughts about how I intend to address this issue (since I know that I can't live with it), I am thinking that if I have the windshield removed I can stretch and reglue the edges and possibly clamp the leather and glue to the frame for a few hours to dry with some pressure. Obviously stapling would be better but there is insufficient clearance to point a staple gun under the lip. Since I've had the experience of having Safelight replace the windshield on my XKR convertible for a couple of hundred dollars including the glass, I can't imagine it being more expensive to just remove the glass and then replace it. This should be about $4000 less than a dealer dash replacement. The only problem is that it doesn't address the issue of there being virtually no overlap, and so, it may happen again.

I am going to be studying the alternatives over the next couple of weeks as the car goes in for its cosmetic upgrades. I'll post how I think it can be accomplished with the best results for the least expense.

And anyway, I will post photos tomorrow afternoon.

 

(Ahem, check page 1 of this very thread... Many. High res. Very embarrassing time had by all.)

 

Hasn't happened to either of my '08 in Florida but here are some others for reference:

 

Wow..that last one is terrible

 

The dash leather surface problem appears to be a common problem. I agree with a member who says he is a chemical engineer. This problem should be owned by Jaguar for design defect. No one should ever need to replace their dash because the adhesive failed. I'm sure there are at least 10 members who have experienced this design defect. This forum is a good voice for owners and the owners who have experienced this defect need to connect Jaguar Customer Service armed with information from this forum. Members on this forum love their Jaguars, promote the products proudly through this forum and are repeat customers of these fine cars. Many members own multiple Jaguars and Land Rovers.


I remember when Loth was going through his chirp noise problem after paying full price for a new XKR-S. I was looking at buying my second Jaguar, a new F-type or XKR, pending the outcome of his problem. Jaguar fixed Loth's problem and I bought my second XKR. If Jaguar never fixed Loth's problem to his satisfaction I would not be writing this post. As owners we are very powerful in numbers though this forum. IMO I think Jaguar needs to step up and own this design defect. I can't imagine my dash looking like any of the pictures posted in this thread. I also think the leather dash adds a lot to the refinement of the car.

 

We are "nothing" to Jaguar NA.

We are "something" to the other members here on this forum. I am sure the members here have learned more for each other than our Jaguar dealerships. The knowledge here is awesome from the forum members.

We have learned well from each members experiences and input to help each other.

I doubt that we have any pull with Jaguar to fix anything unless the owners car is under warranty. We are just consumers.

 

Holy hell! I did not know it could get that bad.

 

And that is one I found on cars.com. It is even more amazing how much they are asking for it!

 

I would think a smart company today would be very interested in what communications are taking place on social media concerning their products. The cost of customer acquisition and loyalty is valuable and directly translates to the top line. Guest frequent this forum to check out the brand and customer satisfaction. If several members on this forum with leather dash problems were to propose a customer service agreement with Jaguar I'm sure Jaguar will take notice and future Jaguar owners or non-owners will too.

 

The last photo is horrifying. I got home very late so I was not able to take photos out in the light. I will do it early in the morning before I leave. These will be taken from outside the windshield, and it will be very evident why the shrinkage happens, how little overlap there is of the leather (a whisker's worth), and why Jaguar is now stapling the leather rather than relying on cheap adhesives. Buyers of $100,000 automobiles who buy them because of options such as a full leather dash, do so because they believe they are getting something better, more luxurious than mere "mortal" vinyl ones. Jaguar (as other manufacturers) has chosen to skimp in order to save a few precious dollars. Because of this skimping, literally on the amount of leather, many Jaguar owners are subjected to these dash problems. Jaguar owes all owners of cars with these problems, a solution, a free solution. It's just shameful that there isn't an open invitation to owners to see their local dealers for a complimentary remedy.

This problem is far too common for Jaguar to ignore.
More with photos in the morning.