Headrest issues?

[Randy]

Looking forward to getting my black on black FFH (501A leather seats). Ordered on 9-30-09. Got the VIN a week later. No ETA but DORA says Priority 01 which apparently isn't as good as it sounds. Maybe I'll get it by Thanksgiving.

 

Anyway, in all the glowing reports about this car there's one drawback mentioned by a few owners: the headrest. Some owners claim the rigid headrest has given them back problems.

 

It felt a little odd during the test drive, but I didn't find the headrest particularly bothersome. Of course, I only drove the car for 15-20 minutes.

 

Any FFH owners have issues with the headrests?

[DaveM]

I have none even though coming from GM vehicles that leave about 6" from back of head to the headrest. My FFH leaves maybe 1" but I never feel like it is a pain in the neck (pun intended) Seems like here or another forum someone else didn't like the position on the headrest. I would think if you didn't like it you could take it to a shop that covers seats and have them take it a part and maybe they can bend the steel shaft a little so it sits farther away or even thin out the padding so it sits farther away from your head and put the padding back on the backside so as not to make the headrest material look loose.

[lolder]

I find the rear seat headrests uncomfortable and too low. Can they be removed or raised higher than the present limited adjustment?

[DaveM]

I find the rear seat headrests uncomfortable and too low. Can they be removed or raised higher than the present limited adjustment?

any higher and would you be able to see out the back window? If they move up and down then they should be able to be removed. Lots of times there is a button you hold to get them out or a pin hole for a thin nail to push to get the rest out.

[WAFFH]

Anyway, in all the glowing reports about this car there's one drawback mentioned by a few owners: the headrest. Some owners claim the rigid headrest has given them back problems.

 

It felt a little odd during the test drive, but I didn't find the headrest particularly bothersome. Of course, I only drove the car for 15-20 minutes.

 

Any FFH owners have issues with the headrests?

 

Take a look at http://www.fordfusionforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2290

 

I had a problem with my FFH front headrests and this is what I did.

[DaveM]

any higher and would you be able to see out the back window? If they move up and down then they should be able to be removed. Lots of times there is a button you hold to get them out or a pin hole for a thin nail to push to get the rest out.

I went out and looked at my FFH's rear headrests. There is a button so you can adjust them up/down a little bit and if you look closely to the other bracket that don't have the button for adjustment the bracket has a little tiny hole that a small nail could be inserted and my guess released so the headrest will come out.

[lolder]

For the rear headrests, there is a hole in the base on one side of one socket and a release button on the other side of the other socket. The leads of a voltmeter fit nicely in the hole. Press them both in at the same time and wiggle the headrest up and down and lift the headrest off. I put about ten wraps of electrical tape around the rods to elevate the headrest about three inches and prevent it from sliding back down. This is a test measure that is more comfortable and I will check in the daylight for any obstruction to rear vision. It should be no worse than someone's head. It probably doesn't have the same protection raised this far. There are still about two inches of rod in the sockets. For adults, the standard height headrests are very uncomfortable. I suspect you could grind some appropriate notches in the rods for the new height. A piece of proper sized rubber tubing over the rods might also suffice.

[Oman]

I don't know if the new regulations apply to the rear headrests as well as the front, but there was considerable worry that the new anti-whiplash rules would make for very uncomfortable headrests - and they do. The way I set the seat angle makes it so they don't bother me much but they certainly could be more comfortable if their primary purpose was as a headrest rather than a safety system. Essentially the new regs specify the maximum distance to the head, the height, the angle, size, etc. They are tilted forward at the top to cause the energy in a bounce-back event to be passed down into the neck instead of up. This is supposed to reduce neck injuries.

 

Jon

 

 

For the rear headrests, there is a hole in the base on one side of one socket and a release button on the other side of the other socket. The leads of a voltmeter fit nicely in the hole. Press them both in at the same time and wiggle the headrest up and down and lift the headrest off. I put about ten wraps of electrical tape around the rods to elevate the headrest about three inches and prevent it from sliding back down. This is a test measure that is more comfortable and I will check in the daylight for any obstruction to rear vision. It should be no worse than someone's head. It probably doesn't have the same protection raised this far. There are still about two inches of rod in the sockets. For adults, the standard height headrests are very uncomfortable. I suspect you could grind some appropriate notches in the rods for the new height. A piece of proper sized rubber tubing over the rods might also suffice.

[Randy]

So this is a government issue rather than a Ford issue? If so, why haven't other car manufacturers had similar problems with their headrests?

 

It's strange to me that Ford seems to have gotten so many things right on this car only to have something simple as a head rest cause discomfort while driving.

[kens]

So this is a government issue rather than a Ford issue? If so, why haven't other car manufacturers had similar problems with their headrests?

 

It's strange to me that Ford seems to have gotten so many things right on this car only to have something simple as a head rest cause discomfort while driving.

 

I (6' guy) find the Toyota Camry headrests much less comfortable than our FFH's. And I've heard the same complaint from others about the Camry.

[Oman]

Yes it is a government mandate:

 

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/ruling...2FinalRule.html (Yes, that is a 123 page document describing headrests!)

 

If you do an internet search you will find quite a lot of discussion across many manufacturers about the 2010 models having uncomfortable headrests. It seems that scrap yards have had a run on headrests from older models (the only "fix" I have seen published is to go out and get the old version of the headrest as often the track is the same). Toyota seems to be getting hit particularly hard.

 

How much the new design bothers you will be at least partially based off of how you fit in the seat. The new design mandates how the top of the headrest is supposed to touch first towards the top of the head. This is no longer a headrest, it is a whiplash prevention device. Actually it was first designed as a whiplash prevention device and came to serve two purposes.

 

A sample article:

 

http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/golf...fe-but-painful/

 

 

 

 

Jon

 

 

 

So this is a government issue rather than a Ford issue? If so, why haven't other car manufacturers had similar problems with their headrests?

 

It's strange to me that Ford seems to have gotten so many things right on this car only to have something simple as a head rest cause discomfort while driving.

[tonifan]

Reply to Randy:

 

Some people, believe it or not, think that the head restraints are head rests, and that the driver is supposed to have their head touching or resting against the head restraint while driving. Not so. They are set up to help prevent the whiplash that happens to the driver of a car struck from behind in a rear-end collision. They should be adjusted to a height that will prevent your head from snapping back (and possibly breaking your neck) in a rear-end collision. When you're struck from behind, your head first snaps to the front, and then back. In older cars without the head restraints, your head would snap all the way back to almost a 90 degree angle, snapping your vertebrae into little bitty pieces, or at least cracking them. So, again, they're not there for a comfortable spot to rest your weary head -- they're there for your neck's protection in a rear-end collision.

 

I was struck from behind (in a Lincoln LS -- HARD), and the head restraints saved me from serious neck injury by preventing my head and neck from snapping backwards.

 

So, adjust them to a height with those facts in mind.