We’re the Highlander Bench seat plaid pattern misaligned from the factory?

[SoCoC10]

Were the Highlander plaid patterns on the truck bench seats misaligned from the factory? You can see how poorly aligned the driver’s side seat pattern is on this blue seat. In most pictures I’ve seen It’s hard to tell because in most pictures the seat is at an angle.

[yuccales]

Not sure about the alignment, but that seat this beautiful looking!

[Steeveedee]

One would like to think that the stripes would be aligned, but this doesn't surprise me.

[72c20customcamper]

I can see a slight misalignment but that is extreme.

[sick472]

I have no idea if the patterns could come offset like that from the factory. It would drive me nuts though. MAYBE if both sides had the same offset. The good thing is that you have to really look for it at an angle and that's how you would see it 99.9% of the time.

I'd challenge the suppler to straighten it out, if it were me.

[Grumpy old man]

I would say most if not all original patterened fabric are designed to be alligned when cut to be sewn , The material comes 57 inches wide ,Some 60 " so that even if it is to be used on bucket seats the pattern will match on both seats , Misaligned material on seats is usually upholster error or their just too lazy to make it match or it's just a cheap cover and quality control doesn't matter . Your new Chevy /Ford/ dodge cars and trucks that came with a leather interior ,The only real leather on the seat is the face that touches your body when your sitting in it ,the sides /back and bottom surrounds are all color/grain matched vinyl . it's all about saving every dollar for the manufactor . True 100% leather seats are very expensive

[mrtoni]

There was an old post about this and yes they were misaligned. Or i guess the fabric wasnt centered per seat. I think the thread was about how gmc used same plaid but turned 90 degrees on some 72s

[jumpsoffrock]

I'd like to apply some common sense to this and support mrtoni's comment above me.
In order for the seat and back's material to match, each and every seat would have not only had to been assembled together, most likely by the same person, but the covers raw materials would have had to been sewn together on the spot as a matched and measured set.

I believe this is what it means to be "tailored".

That is an insane amount of work and effort for a cheap old workhorse truck build by GM for pennies.

Would it be asking too much for a $7k Cadillac? Maybe not; but for a pickup truck....too much.
These so-called "luxury" options that made these trucks more snazzy were nothing more than added plastic and chrome aesthetics; not custom hand built trucks.

[jocko]

The vast majority from the factory were centered - or at least were pretty darn close. It wasn't rocket science or extra work as long as the centers of a vertical dark panels were centered in the vinyl opening for the seat back and the seat bottom (i.e. one didn't have to take all the extra care of aligning back and bottom, as long as centered in the opening, the rest would work out). Having said that, it's even less rocket science when it comes to the aftermarket seat covers - for the prices these things are these days, they should be centered, aligned, and come with a can of turtle wax. I would absolutely send them back, the driver's side seat bottom was clearly mis-stitched.

[dagnabbitt]

I am sure there was a quality control guy who - every once in a while - just wanted to go home.

[best view]

Yes

[mrtoni]

To me these seem not centered and original upholstery. Centering would create wasted material

[Steeveedee]

I don't know what GM does now, but in those days they tracked costs to the 1/10th of a cent. Seems like they'd get a production run of the proper width material for the plaid inserts, and only have to cut the length. Then again, I was a designer of a device that was so small on part that the only way to get it put together was to use Kevlar "tow"- unwoven string, like used for protective vests. Had to buy a whole spool. Needed about 20 feet (so as to have enough to hold onto and tie it up) but a spool has about 5 miles of thread on it.

[best view]

I thought that was common never seen them centered

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by SoCoC10

Were the Highlander plaid patterns on the truck bench seats misaligned from the factory? You can see how poorly aligned the driver’s side seat pattern is on this blue seat. In most pictures I’ve seen It’s hard to tell because in most pictures the seat is at an angle.

That’s just downright horrible. I don’t believe the factory plaids were ever this bad.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by jumpsoffrock

I'd like to apply some common sense to this and support mrtoni's comment above me.
In order for the seat and back's material to match, each and every seat would have not only had to been assembled together, most likely by the same person, but the covers raw materials would have had to been sewn together on the spot as a matched and measured set.

I believe this is what it means to be "tailored".

That is an insane amount of work and effort for a cheap old workhorse truck build by GM for pennies.

Would it be asking too much for a $7k Cadillac? Maybe not; but for a pickup truck....too much.
These so-called "luxury" options that made these trucks more snazzy were nothing more than added plastic and chrome aesthetics; not custom hand built trucks.

I don't see why the same process for cutting and sewing the fabric on Cadillacs couldn't be used on trucks. Obviously with the coming of these upscale appearance packages offered GM did not only see these all trucks as just work trucks.

The pattern wasn't centered but the top and bottom were aligned or at least very close. It is obvious the pattern is intended to line up. The seat cover this thread was started for is a reject.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by mrtoni

To me these seem not centered and original upholstery. Centering would create wasted material

It's not the centering of the fabric in relation to the vinyl seams . It's the fabric to fabric pttern seat back to seat bottom that should line up .

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

It's not the centering of the fabric in relation to the vinyl seams . It's the fabric to fabric pttern seat back to seat bottom that should line up .

Exactly! The patterns should line up, most definitely. I have seen some bad ones before, but this one is one of the worst! Lordy

[TKCR]

Granted, this isn’t plaid, but it’s still a pattern. Everything should straight, symmetrical and line up together, from top to bottom.

[1moretruck]

Here is an original, definitely not lined up!

[Already Gone]

Went through my pic collection and found some original tired Highlander seat pics and patterns are offset. The seat on the garage floor is the original from my Hghlander and u can see the pattern isnt aligned. Had my buckets done with SMS Upholsterya few years ago and tld the installer I wanted the pattern to match on both seats and he delivered. He took the liberty of stitching down the black seams saying it will kep the material from sliding around when your sitting on it.

[DeadheadNM]

For K5s the bucket seat upholstery was centered and reproducible from vehicle to vehicle with the back and bottom cushion patterns aligned but not the rear seat, which was random. I'd like to see more examples but I believe the pickup seats were random and not centered.

[HO455]

More examples than you can shake a stick at!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=635040

[67RS/SSx2]

My SMS seat covers are pretty close to being aligned, at least when sitting on the hood of my 69 Camaro. I did not even know this was a thing until I read this thread but I am happy with them.

[DeadheadNM]

OEM rear Blazer seats. Worse than the metal siding on my garage