Rear Seat Headrests

calgator73 · April 14, 2015

Possible that you're right. It's also plausible that the geometries of the other manufacturers require an actual head restraint. Here's what I mean. If your seats are thicker and push the occupant further away from the window then you have a higher possibility for whiplash without a restraint. This either reduces legroom or shortens the cargo compartment. I'm 6'9" and sat in the back of my truck at lunch just to see how I fit. Sitting normally my hair is brushing the back window. If you put a headrest there my head would be pushed forward rather unnaturally. If you make the rear seats thicker you lose leg room but you make room for a headrest.

I don't think the solution is cut and dry without compromise.

southern_sierra · April 15, 2015

Safety would be my first priority. Your very tall the avg person would be 5-6 to 5-8. GM built them that way and we will just have to take it as it is for now. Maybe they will change it on later models and add some rear seat air vents that you can adjust and not just blow on the floor.

calgator73 · April 15, 2015

Yeah my 17 y/o isn't a fan of the lack of vents or headrests in the rear. He's 6'2" and the window is exactly where you'd expect a headrest to be....my 14 y/o daughter 5'6" hits the rear headrest perfect. Average American male used to be 5'10" but I guess with all the illegals the average is getting screwed up. ;) Quite honestly...if the Dodge had the overall performance of the Chevrolet...I wouldn't be on this forum. Loved the interior hated the short 6'4" bed, low max tow performance, poor fuel economy and crappy low payload limits.

southern_sierra · April 15, 2015

I was the same way with the dodge but could not make myself do it.

wfred · April 15, 2015

How does one raise the rear headrests? Mine seem permanently stuck on the top of the rear seat.

Clocked92 · April 15, 2015

I was the same way with the dodge but could not make myself do it.

I was very close to buying a Ram Sport as well but after driving it, it felt huge to me and I didn't find the ride very comfortable at all. I'm 5'11" but rather skinny and the Ram seats felt way too big for me, I actually slid around and had to brace my leg against the console or door so I wouldn't slide around. My GMC fits nicely and I haven't had any complaints from people riding in the backseat yet other than no vents.

abprice · April 15, 2015

The headrests on the 3500 Silverado look to be taller. Anyone know if they will fit in the 1500? I plan on stopping by my dealership this weekend to see it they will pull one out of the 3500 and try it in the 1500. I would buy the headrests to provide better safety. If I cannot find a solution, I will trade off to a Ford or Dodge once I'm not going to loose my shirt (bought mine in February).

calgator73 · April 16, 2015

The headrests on the 3500 Silverado look to be taller. Anyone know if they will fit in the 1500? I plan on stopping by my dealership this weekend to see it they will pull one out of the 3500 and try it in the 1500. I would buy the headrests to provide better safety. If I cannot find a solution, I will trade off to a Ford or Dodge once I'm not going to loose my shirt (bought mine in February).

I could not tell the difference on GM's website.

TruckBuyer · June 13, 2015

How does one raise the rear headrests? Mine seem permanently stuck on the top of the rear seat.

I just test drove one and found the rear head rests would raise by hand but not stay in the elevated position. You can raise them about 2 or 3 inches, but as soon as someone leans a head or neck against one, it drops back down to the lower position on the top of he seat (less than 2 pounds of force will drop it, I bet).

Seems defective and unsafe for adults and older children.

May keep me from buying the truck, as any person tall enough to sit back there without a booster seat will be resting their neck against the "headrest" and their head against the window. Notwithstanding the idea that tempered glass will work to restrain head movement, I'm not convinced. A rock would restrain head movement, too, but I would not want the force of a collision hitting the back of my head with one.

JRaschke11 · June 13, 2015

Possible that you're right. It's also plausible that the geometries of the other manufacturers require an actual head restraint. Here's what I mean. If your seats are thicker and push the occupant further away from the window then you have a higher possibility for whiplash without a restraint. This either reduces legroom or shortens the cargo compartment. I'm 6'9" and sat in the back of my truck at lunch just to see how I fit. Sitting normally my hair is brushing the back window. If you put a headrest there my head would be pushed forward rather unnaturally. If you make the rear seats thicker you lose leg room but you make room for a headrest.

I don't think the solution is cut and dry without compromise.

Yeah my 17 y/o isn't a fan of the lack of vents or headrests in the rear. He's 6'2" and the window is exactly where you'd expect a headrest to be....my 14 y/o daughter 5'6" hits the rear headrest perfect. Average American male used to be 5'10" but I guess with all the illegals the average is getting screwed up. ;) Quite honestly...if the Dodge had the overall performance of the Chevrolet...I wouldn't be on this forum. Loved the interior hated the short 6'4" bed, low max tow performance, poor fuel economy and crappy low payload limits.

Your family is tall.

JRaschke11 · June 13, 2015

I'm not saying it would be the prettiest and I'm definitely not saying you should have to jerry rig a $50k truck. GM failed hard on this among other things.

But to keep the headrest raised, you could put a piece of dense foam block underneath it. Just get something the color of your seats or for just a few dollars you could have it wrapped in leather like your seats. Maybe even some velcro to hold the block in place so it doesn't slip out and it's easily removable.

calgator73 · June 14, 2015

Your family is tall.

Nah...high normal lol

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

jenblaz · January 13, 2016

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has come up with a good solution to this problem? I'm only 5'5" and the height of the rear headrests would be laughable if it wasn't a safety concern. I can't find anything aftermarket that seems like it would work, and the dealership was beyond useless - tried to tell me that everything has been safety tested so it must be safe. Ahhhh no.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jen

saminak · August 8, 2016

Here is a workable solution. Remove the existing headrests using a pin or paperclip in the holes. There are two notches in each post. The upper one is V shaped and the bottom one is 1/2 a V so the headrest won't pull out past the stop. Use a metal file with a flat edge to file additional notches further down the posts. Make any intermediate notches V shaped and the last notch at the bottom of the post 1/2 V. Don't forget to modify the existing bottom notch with the file to make it V shaped otherwise you won't be able to pull the headrest up to the new notches. Hold the file about 15 degrees from horizontal while filing. Takes about 5 minutes. This works for me and I am 6' 1" with a long torso. When in the new fully extended position the headrest has more motion then in the current fully extended position but this should not be an issue since it only goes back about 1" before it hits the glass. BTW the inside post is longer than the outside post so measure from the headrest down when locating where your new notches go rather than from the end of the posts up.