2021 Tacoma Head Rest Poles - Too Big?

Howdy everyone.

I tried to install one of the paracord grab handles that attaches to the poles of the head rest but the hole in the grab handles was too small even though it was listed to work for 2021 Tacoma. I thought it was just due to it being a 3rd party vendor mistake. I then went to put my back seats down for storage, remove the back seat headrests and put in the little storage holes in, and both the driver side and passenger side's headrest poles were too big to go into the storage holes. The middle seat did fit, so i can tell that there is a difference in the one that did fit, and all other head rests. Its an interesting problem. Has anyone else had this issue or found this to be happen to you?

I am driving a 2021 Tacoma TRD Off-Road w/ Leather Seats.

I am interested to know if I am maybe doing it wrong or if there is random variation.

 

Try turning the head rests around 180 degrees

 

This

 

I tried this, but no matter which way you turn them they do not fit. The metal poles are physically too big to fit into the seat storage holes. I was able to take a few pictures and will try and post them soon. Great idea though, I went back and triple checked incase I didn't do this the first time.

 

I can confirm your frustration. It took effort but I was able to get them to fit (2021 sr5). I still haven’t figured out to get them to stay in the storage holes effectively.

 

@503MIKE and everyone else. I spent some more time working on it, I can confirm the poles are bigger than the back middle bench head rest which just slides right in. But, i was able to push pretty hard, and the plastic would bend a bit to let the poles go in. You may want to just kind of hammer it in a bit with your fist. It did not seem to cause any damage or stess the plastic too much, so I think just some blunt force is needed to get those to go in for the first few times. But they did go eventually. Good luck Mike!

 

Try lubricating the posts if you haven’t already tried that.

 

I just purchased a 2021 OR and had same challenge first time I dropped the rear seats. The rests do fit eventually it just takes a bit more force than you would like. Once I got them in the first couple of times it seems to go better but to the previous posters point I often catch the lip pulling the backs up and the head rest pops out and onto the floor which is annoying.

 

My 2021 posts were slathered in oil, unlike my 2020 which fit and had no oil.

Unbeknownst to me maneuvering the seats for a box, the oil on the posts got on my hands and then subsequently all over my interior bits back there. It didn’t fit at all either.

When I saw the greasy spots, I called Toyota immediately. I still haven’t heard back. The dealer set up an appointment, and I am covered by an independent dealer interior protection program (spilling coffee etc) that was free, but this is an oversight factory to dealer I believe.

 

So you are saying that the holes got smaller or the posts got bigger after you took the head rest out?

NM, you're not op.

 

Curious if they will pay for that “dealer finance “ special protection. Mine also had a ton of grease on them. Not sure what you want Toyota to do about it …