Headrests cause neck/back pain; alternatives?

[bulwnkl]

Hi. I'm having quite a bit of trouble with our 5's headrests. They push my head forward too far, and that causes me to have neck and mid-back pain after a trip of any significant length. Adjusting it up or down does not help, and in fact doesn't address the problem. FWIW, I have/had the same trouble with the headrests in the first series of SAAB's 9-3 and 9-5 (haven't even sat in the newer revisions), and the Chevy Malibus I've driven recently. Also, I have a pretty large head (all of us terribly intelligent people do ).

I think I'm just going to bend the support bars to get a better angle, but thought I'd ask here first. Ideas?

 

[Zoom5Zoom]

Mazda 5 headrests are designed in a fashion to reduce whip lash. Now for your big head, you will need to change the pitch of the back rest more rearward to over come the headrest issue.

If that doesn't help take the headrest off you all ready said it was too big anyways...lol

Hope that helps but really don't know what more to say just relax in the seat maybe all will be better.

 

[Wuster]

You could try the turning the headrest around to see how that fits.

I flipped the ones in the back seat around to make sure the car seats fit, so it should work for the front too.

Now if you do that, I have no idea if will offer any whiplash protection...probably not.

My two cents...

 

[jandree22]

On this note, I'm glad to hear the 5's headrests are forward enough to offer acceptable whiplash protection. My wife's Solara has nice headrests that I just have to lean my head back about an inch to make contact. My Sunfire on the other hand, I have to literally lay back in the seat to make contact.... ugh, that car's such a death trap for several reasons. (pow)

 

[bulwnkl]

I asked my wife about turning them around a while ago, and for some reason we didn't think that would work. I thought the notches were different on the left and right stanchions. We'll try again.

Wuster, was it the 2nd or 3rd row's headrests you turned around?

The whiplash protection is nice, but as with many things, the more target-specific you make something the less well it works for everyone who isn't the mythical 'average.' Laying the seat back farther sort of masks the problem to an extent, but in the end it's a question of the relationship of the angles between the backrest and headrest. So long as I don't actually use the seat backrest, then the headrest is fine. However, I get very fatigued sitting that way for a longer drive.

I appreciate the feedback and ideas, fellows. Thanks!

P.S. Just so no one thinks I'm the elephant man or something, I wear a 7 5/8 or 7 3/4 for most name-brand hats. That's an XL, but nothing amazing.

 

[jandree22]

The whiplash protection is nice, but as with many things, the more target-specific you make something the less well it works for everyone who isn't the mythical 'average.'

Whiplash protection is nice... just like seatbelts and airbags are nice

And the mythical average thing is usually taken care of by height adjustability. You're the first one I've ever heard with a serious problem of the headrest being too far forward... it's a pretty unique situation IMO. I hope something works out for you, but try your best not to compromise safety for comfort in whatever solution you find.

 

[Wuster]

Wuster, was it the 2nd or 3rd row's headrests you turned around?

Bulwnkl,

Right now, it's the 2nd row headrests that are spun around. It works on the 3rd row too. I put one of the car seats back in the 3rd row when the in-laws were in town visiting. They rode their motorcycle cross country from eastern WA to Northern, VA.

 

[X10James]

i've also turned the ones around in the 2nd row to make room for the car seats. I originally just took them out, but then I had to find a place to stash them so that I could put them back if I moved one of the seats to the 3rd row to accommodate more people and it was just a pain. So turning them around allowed the car seats to fit.

Turning them around will make them unable to be adjusted with the clicks, but they do fit that way. They will just want to be all the way down unless you do something else (like duct tape ) to hold them up at a certain point. I'd advise against just removing them, it's more than whiplash, in a little bit harder rear end collision they are protecting you from a broken spine.

I would imagine that you could order a spare one from your dealer, then you could experiment with it like bending the bars back or taking the cover off and messing with the foam or something. You'd have to take it apart, but it might even be possible to swap the bars so that you could use the foam backwards and yet keep the height adjustability.

But any experiments like that I'd do on a spare one, rather than the only one you've got.

Make sure you've experimented with the rest of the seat adjustment options first though. When I first got into the car it was setup in such a way from the factory that I couldn't lean my head back either, but after messing with it for a few days I've got the angles and seat setup properly now. It's very comfortable.

 

[martman]

In some cars that I have owned or ridden in, some headrests are adjustable. The Camry comes to mind for instance. I wonder if Mazda might not add this as a feature on future 5's or for that matter, their whole line up?

 

[bulwnkl]

Whiplash protection is nice... just like seatbelts and airbags are nice

Yes, airbags are nice unless you're one of the smaller or lighter people sitting a little closer to them that get killed by them. I'll not purposely dodge the safety aspect during my adjustments, though having said that I must admit that I did remove the headrest completely for our 4-hr. drive yesterday.

I've been thinking about bending the bars and I'll bet I cannot do that without heating them. Thinking about the forces involved that the headrests must deal with in a collision, I'll bet I can't conveniently bend those bars in my vise without damaging them. And, if I heat them, that'll not only discolor them (and likely burn the foam or the cover or both), it'll likely alter the properties of what I assume are heat-treated bars. So, maybe I'm just SOL, but I'm going to fiddle around with them more. There were 2 major factors in my not buying the SAAB 9-5 a couple years ago, and the effects the headrests had on my back and neck were one of them.

I also would love to see fore-aft adjustability of the headrests.

 

[BlackM5]

Hi, Bulwnkl
I have the same problem with my 5's headrest, it makes me having neck and mid-back pain. I am also trying to find a solution to that problem.

 

[mazdaFIVEmike]

Hi. I'm having quite a bit of trouble with our 5's headrests. They push my head forward too far, and that causes me to have neck and mid-back pain after a trip of any significant length. Adjusting it up or down does not help, and in fact doesn't address the problem. FWIW, I have/had the same trouble with the headrests in the first series of SAAB's 9-3 and 9-5 (haven't even sat in the newer revisions), and the Chevy Malibus I've driven recently. Also, I have a pretty large head (all of us terribly intelligent people do ).

I think I'm just going to bend the support bars to get a better angle, but thought I'd ask here first. Ideas?

Are you actually resting your head on the thing while you drive? Headrests are not really head "rests" and are for whiplash as everyone has mentioned. When I drive my head does not touch the head"rest". So I'm not sure how its a problem.

 

[bulwnkl]

Mike,

The issue is that the headrests are angled to be so far forward that they push my head forward and perhaps slightly down, which causes the issue with my back/neck. Think of standing (or sitting) up straight, and then moving your head forward and maybe tilting it down a little for the whole day. The alternative for me is to sit forward of the backrest such that it's like not having a seatback at all, but still having my head touch the headrest. That's also awkward for a long drive.

BTW, there's no problem with resting your head on the headrest. If people actually did that, they wouldn't have had a need to design headrests like these to prevent whiplash.

 

[mazdaFIVEmike]

Mike,

The issue is that the headrests are angled to be so far forward that they push my head forward and perhaps slightly down, which causes the issue with my back/neck. Think of standing (or sitting) up straight, and then moving your head forward and maybe tilting it down a little for the whole day. The alternative for me is to sit forward of the backrest such that it's like not having a seatback at all, but still having my head touch the headrest. That's also awkward for a long drive.

BTW, there's no problem with resting your head on the headrest. If people actually did that, they wouldn't have had a need to design headrests like these to prevent whiplash.

I do find it odd that they do not rotate even a little - my Jetta's headrests could change the angle. I'm just wondering why your's seem to be angled more than they should. I can totally understand why its annoying. When I sit the headrest is about 1"-2" from my head - perhaps its something you should talk over with your service manager. They may have a solution for you.

 

[jmcglynn]

Perhaps the head restraint is set too low? When we first got our 5 the restraint was set too low and it was hitting my head in an odd way. I raised it up and now it's not a problem. Just an idea. We also tend to keep our seat backs pretty straight, so, not knowing what angle you like to sit at you might want to adjust that too. Seems to me there's a lot of folks out there who like to drive laying down... I don't see how they do it...

 

[07MZ5SA]

I had the front headrest angle adjusted right after purchase.

5's headrests are so called "disposable" type. Foam was injected straight into the cover instead of molded.

I had upholstery shop unbutton the cover first. They will not remove the bracket (liability) so I had to do it myself. Then they reduced angle to 15 degrees and re-install everything.

Now I can drive comfortably with headrest barely touching my hair. It's actually safer this way (easier to turn head). At least I don't have to worry about leaving hair gel everywhere.

 

[bulwnkl]

I'm not sure I understand what you had them do. You took the car to an upholstery shop to change things? Then they simply put new foam in the cover at a different angle?

 

[07MZ5SA]

Here's step-by-step on headrest mod (in plain English):

1. Remove both front headrests
2. Turn them upside down
3. Open the seam between two supports. Shop did it for me.
4. Do not attempt to remove cover from the foam. They are glued together.
5. Use a knife with thin, narrow (< 1') and long (5") blade cut between two supports. Shop won't do this for legal responsibility
6. The supports are part of "U" bracket enbeded in the foam
7. Try to make a clean cut every time so there's no loose/wasted foam. Advance 1/2" at a time
8. When you reach horizontal part of the bracket, stop.
9. Peel foam off of the bracket. Space is limited so you may have to borrow someone with small hands.
10. Upholstery shop bent the bracket a few degrees short of (initial) desired angle for trial-and-error.
11. Place bracket back in the foam and do a test drive
12. Bend more if necessary. Avoid bending forward which will weaken metal strength
13. Re-install bracket and apply glue to the gap (shopwork). Mine took 12 hrs to settle so I had the headrests compressed and drove home without.
14. Enjoy the new headrest angle and congratulate yourself for not having to buy a new replacement vehicle.

Note:
1. Bottom of the headrest is exposed looking from front of the vehicle due to new angle.
2. You should have minimum gap between the back of your head and headrest (normal driving position) for best collision protection.

 

[HotRodSaint]

This topic is strange. My head doesn't even come near the headrest.

 

[AIMWO4]

Could you provide pictures? My huge head doesn't come close to my headrest.