Any headrest that points forward and can’t be adjusted is a deal breaker for me. I have a broken bone in my neck and any pressure from the back would quickly cause me grief.
It’s a head rest. when I sit back in the seat I want my head supported. All it has to to in a crash is keep one’s head from going backwards over the top of the seat.
I’ve never experienced this in any car I’ve driven or ridden in. I wonder if some of you folks have the seat back… um … straight up and down?
I agree, I can’t stand the angle of new car seat headrest but my husband seems ok with it. I hate the position of headrest every time get into the cars. However, I was told not to reverse the direction of the head rest.
Question authority.
Thus probably defeating the safety effect that the headrests were designed for.
I have a broken neck. Or more precisely, a broken bone floating in my neck. It’s not a little uncomfortable it’s a major problem if a headrest pushes my head forward. I’ve chosen cars based on the headrest situation. It looks like I’ll have to do what was mentioned above and reverse a newer model or have it bent to a comfortable position.
As to the bureaucratic jackasses who came up with the new regulations they can rot in hell. I’ve been in a whiplash accident. If anybody would have problems with a normal headrest it would be me. I walked away with a sore neck that lasted a day.
If your head never touches a newer model headrest it’s because you have
your seat tilted so far back you have to arch your head forward to see.
If you have the seat tilted back then you’re asking for back problems because of the slouching it creates. It should be relatively straight. The headrest should not project into the line formed by the seat.
This is absolutely incorrect. You aren’t sitting at the dinner table with a static 1 g down load. The supposed “slouch” permits the seat to more fully support the back as well as providing some degree of bolstering (in bucket seats, at least) against the lateral motion which is the largest contributor to stress on the back, especially the lower back. A properly designed seat (e.g. Recaro seats) are designed specifically to a degree of recline.
As others have already noted, the notion that the adjustable upper part of the seat is designed as a “head rest” is incorrect; it is properly speaking a head restraint and is intended to only contact the head in the case of impact. As such, it should be positioned to contact at or above the basilal occipital (starting at the “bump” at the back of the skull just above where the trapezius attaches to the skull. This prevents reward hyperflexion of the neck and the strain associated with subsequent rapid forward advserse movement of the head. (While it is commonly thought that the rearward travel causes the damage, it is actually the movement of the head forward and down while the sternohyoid muscles are in high tension that causes the resulting strain or dislocation in the ligaments of the atlantoaxial and atlantoocciptial joints as well as the anterior longitudinal ligament.) The head should be 2-3" inches away from the restraint.
Stranger
take it up with the physical therapist who fixed my back by simply examining how I sit in various chairs. Once I changed the way I sat in the car my back problems went away. YMMV.
And as others have already noted it causes pain. If it’s pressing against your head while you sit it’s going to cause problems. This isn’t up for debate.
I’ve been in 65 mph crashes and a standard headrest aligned with the rest of the seat did just fine.
Reversing the headrest is the first thing I do when either buying or renting a car. Otherwise, the forward-tilted headrest puts way too much strain and tension on my neck and upper spine (my upper spine is straight instead of slightly S-curved).
I then place a neck roll for comfort. The back of my head still touches the headrest, but it’s not pushing my head forward anymore and therefore is now very comfortable.
The seat position is at a ca. 100 degree angle, which gives me great back support.
(I also use a special memory foam pillow with neck support to sleep, so I’m used to that added support.)
Forget messing with the headrest. The back of the seats are also too curved. Move your back and head away, leaving a safe headrest that will still protect you. My solution to the torture of having your head pushed forward, or sitting bolt upright with no support at all is very simple: get a back support. For your regular car, buy a good one that is not too thick. I have a very good Obus Ultra Forme that I bought in 2007. It’s still great. I’ve never had back problems, but this support is fine. I have great posture, no pain, unless I sit in a car or in a new airplane coach seat for anytime without something supporting my back. For rental cars, plane trips etc - I bring a very thin pillow, small piece of egg crate foam, or in a pinch, fold up a jacket or sweather.
I didn’t read the whole thread, but after reading about the adjustment, I pushed back on the headrest on the company 2013 ford escape (was holding my head to far forward) and nothing happened). So out of curiosity I pushed it forward and when I let go it sprung all the way back even with the top of the seat.
The ones in my back seat fold down for better visibility and I always forget to tell passengers to fold them back up. My friends probably think the head rests in my car suck ass, lol.
This is exactly right. I just bought a new car and if I move the seat so that I can see out the front window (short torso, 5’5" height), then my head is a bare half inch from the head restraint. It bumps it constantly as I drive. I’ve been whiplashed before, I distinctly remember the feeling as my head was flung so hard into the honda civic restraint that I felt the back of the seat and the cushion around my ears. The 2001 saturn I bought after that accident was purchased because the lack of pointy restraint meant it DID NOT interfere with my neck or push my head forward. The totalled civic had pointy restraint that did nothing, probably was too soft.
I have immediately noted that my new car seat is Waaaaaaay too soft, I sink. The design, between head and soft seat FORCES me to slouch. Its painful on my back and back of my head. I’m going to start by trying some quality lumbar support to get me out of the deep couch of my drivers seat (Mazda3 2015), that should move my back a bit forward so hopefully my head won’t hit the head restraint every time I drive over a pebble.
I read that a properly adjust head restraint should be no more that four fingers from your head. I guess that depends on you fingers. I’m averaging that at 3 inches. Putting the head restraint higher doesn’t help much and yep, hits my hairclip, though according to what I read is still safe.
So, I would start by finding appropriate back support
One theory I’ve seen advanced as to this design move, is that it originates from how crash test dummies do not sit like humans, so that in many seats, a properly strapped in dummy would be maintaining pefect posture and sitting with its head AND shoulders away from the upper seatback. This results that in the crash test, the dummy travels a whole lot farther before hitting the head restraint. PDF document about it (this also complicated by how many drivers never bother to adjust the head restraint). Also, that many seats are not adjustable enough to begin with and many people want to be more reclined than is the really optimal driving posture. Take it for what it’s worth, I would have imagined the design engineers would have taken into consideration that real people may want to sit back!
I do know that recent rentals have been something of a pain in the neck.
I have no idea how you guys even get near the head rests. My seat is completely upright and I can’t even get anywhere near it without leaning back. I don’t know how anybody could drive like that.
My current car has much worse visibility out the rear window than my previous car. No wonder there is a trend toward having rear-cams in cars now. My previous car needed no such thing.
The right rear headrest complete blocks my view exactly where I need it the most, when backing out of a parking space. So I removed it. I never have rear seat passengers anyway (and rarely even a front seat passenger).
I wonder how much the driver’s headrest is going to protect me anyway. When I sit in the seat in my most comfortable posture, my head is rather forward away from the headrest. If I keep my torso in that position but lean my head back to touch the headrest, it bends my neck uncomfortably far backward. If that should happen very abruptly and forcefully in a head-on collision, I’m not sure how that would protect me from getting a nasty whiplash.
I’ve been trying to figure that out since this thread was started. For the hell of it, I tried leaning my head back enough to touch the headrest, and there’s no way I could drive like that.
Low. ri. der. drives a little slower
And has been for about 2-1/2 years now.