Terrible headrests...solutions?

My wife is 5'3", and the factory seat and headrest combination can not be adjusted to suit her at all. The headrest juts forward (?) so damn far that it jams her head forward, and adjusting it upward just makes it worse.

I figure we have two options. One, we need a seat pad that will go in the upper back area, giving her shoulders support and moving her forward in the seat so the headrest position relative to her body is more comfortable.

Two, we could have an upholstery shop modify some factory headrests to fit better. Basically, they would need to be modified to angle back (closer to in-line with the seat back) and probably have at least a section of the headrest made of a somewhat softer foam.

I'm over 6' tall and my shoulders are higher than the seatback tops, so the headrest position is not a problem for me. Whatever we do, whether it is a seat pad or a remade headrest, we would want it to be swappable between seats without too much trouble.

Has anyone else here found a solution that works?

 

Can you just take the head rest off on the passenger side? For a long time I didn't think I could, but I found that squished down in the top of the seat there is a button that releases the head rest.

 

Yes, but then you have absolutely no mechanical control of head movement in an accident. You have a far, far higher chance of injuries that way.

 

That's why I'm looking for a solution, of course. It's not a one or the other issue. Plenty of vehicles have seat back and headrest combinations that don't hurt my wife's neck, I just need to find or make a cushion or modified headrest that will work on my Tacoma.

 

I'm gonna catch hell for this..


Get yourself a taller wife?

 

Wife is perfect size, thank you.

 

I would just get another set of headrest on ebay and modify them like you said so, taking it off and putting the other takes just a minute.

 

Sorry, couldnt stop myself. Would it work if you placed the bars behind the seat , still not as safe as with them in the seat though.
Or, could you get a car model that fits, some have a tilt i think, sort of the head rest mod.

 

I like short chicks too

 

I just swap the front headrest with the rear passenger headrest and problem is solved.
You can also reverse the front headrest but it looks goofy..comfortable but goofy.

 

Whether it's been done before or not, this is a fixable problem. I'm just hoping to run into people who have had, and fixed, the problem already.

Always do your background research first!

 

I see you have a double cab (I have an access cab). I haven't taken a good look at the double cab rear headrests yet.

 

I'm not short (5' 8") and the front head rest doesn't work for me.... makes me hunch over all the time. I turned my head rest backwards and works great. Like some one said looks goofy, but it's better for me.

Good luck finding a solution.

 

Unfortunately, if you're short you're screwed when it comes to the new active head restraints they're are putting on new cars nowadays.

I worked out a deal for my mom on an '09 Subaru Impreza Hatchback. At first she had a tough time getting comfortable. There were a couple of options. We messed around with seat adjustment. Another thing we did was raise the headrest so that where her head hit it was lower on the headrest since it tilts forward. Another option was to order headrests from the previous year. And finally if all else failed I offered to put a slight bend in the headrest posts for her if she couldn't get comfortable.

The one thing you don't want to do is remove the headrest. At least have something there even if you have to turn them around. My mom is 5' and shrinking and luckily we were able to make something work.

Personally, it hasn't been an issue for me in either my Accord or Tacoma but alot of vertically challenged Accord owners complained about the same thing.

 

Phone book?

 

You could get a gel pad and raise her up a bit...

 

I'm 5'11", the seat seems a little sunken to me, i have a bench btw.

 

X2. Seats definately are sunken. For a sport seat, it is not very sporty. And that crappy thing they call lumbar? I mean, I know that the Tacoma is not a car. But if ful sizes have these nice seats and cars costing 30K have nice seats.. What's up with the Taco's? We don't like to be comfy?

 

^Did you test drive your truck before you bought it?

 

My bensch isnt that bad , since i can drive 4 hours in it non stop hehe, but a little bit of adjustability woulda been nice... and btw I wonder if the center rest fits the outer rests, it smaller