AcuraRLBlue

The horizontal position could be adjusted all the way to the front, which provides a good resting position for my head and I don't have to tilt my head back.

In case of a rear collision, the headrest may move and not provide the expected support to prevent whiplash.

Anyone has an opinion on this?

I have been thinking about a means of fixing the headrest at the position I want. One possible solution is to insert something between the two movable halves of the headrest.

dseag2

My only opinion is that these are the most comfortable headrests I've ever had in a car because you can actually adjust them to an angle that fits your neck if you tilt your head back.

phile

From what I understand, headrests are required to provide protectation against whiplash. I know that in Mercedes cars, the adjustable headrests will stiffen up when the car "senses" an accident milliseconds before the occupant's head bounces back into the headrest.

phile

They sure look comfortable

larryka

I agree. They are much better than the VW/Audi headrests I have used. In fact they were one of the first features my girlfriend and co-workers commented on when they sat in the RL.

AcuraRLBlue

They are very comfortable for me when the front half is moved all the way out, but I am concern the it would also collapse during a rear end collison easily and not provide the need support to the head.

ccheung

Well, you should worry too much. According to NHTSA, it is rated 5 stars on both front and side collisions. You may want to check their website for the crash test result.

www.nhtsa.com

AcuraRLBlue

I did. Neck injury is not evaluated in any of the tests. Headrest are only evaluated according to its geometry and is not parted of the "star" evaluation. There are much details of a test that are not used for the "star" scale.

SPUDMTN

I honestly would not worry about it. The headrestraints are designed, so that when an impact occurs, their "tilt" (or in this case, fold) feature will deploy by the force of the impact. In other words, upon impact, the headrestraint will un fold all of the way, and your head should come back in contact with it. I would hope that it would not return upon contact with your head...I know that the headrestraint definitely takes some force to fold and unfold.

SPUDMTN, who is surprised the rear headrestraints offer no tilt function...

AcuraRLBlue

I don't think it works this way in the RL. The headrests are not active like the ones in the Infiniti. The closer the headrest is to the head during collison, the less the neck is going to move, and therefore the less chance of whiplash injury. It doesn't take much force to fold the RL's headrest. The folding/unfolding of the RL's headrest is therefore a comfort design but not a safety designd, I believe.

See these links:
http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle...aints/head.htm
http://www.highwaysafety.org/safety_...k_injury.htm#7

But then, the RL still has one of the most comfortable headrests.

SPUDMTN

Well, I didn't mean active headrestraint (I'm very familiar with those)...I just mean that impacts can really move the suckers. After looking at www.highwaysafety.org you can see that all of the headrestraints that have a "tilt" feature move into that position upon impact. Even the previous generation RL's headrestraints did this--and they're kind of a bugger to move into tilt.

Then again, I'm no expert on the new RL (but hope to be soon )

Rob L

I also was wondering about this design when I got the car. Seems if your head was pushing against it enough that it'd fold back without problem.

What I do know is that I love how they adjust outward rather than tilt like in Lexus cars I have owned/used. Wish the headrests were power height adjustable though. Power headrests rule.

AcuraRLBlue

Basicly, I wish the headrest could stay in the most forward position rigidly upon impact (rear collison), so that my head will not snap back when the headrest folds back. Unlike other impact protection devices, such as a helmet or a roll bar cover which deforms and takes up the force, a good headrest's function is to prevent relative backware movement of the head compared to the neck.

phile

I don't think you have to worry about it, honestly. Honda has a testing facility the size of a major league football stadium dedicated to internal safety testing; they test the safety of passengers inside the car as well as pedestrians who should be unlucky enough to get hit by a Honda...I doubt they would overlook the area of whiplash.

AcuraRLBlue

I wish I could be as trusting of Honda's design and testing in this area. Please see this link below. The 2001-2004 RL's head restraint got "Poor" rating. To be fair, many manufacturers didn't do well neither.

Even if a car gets a Good geometry rating, its dynamic and overall ratings could still be Poor, such as the TSX. That is the reason I worry about the 2005 RL's headrest design.

http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle...head_acura.htm

DownUnder

Volvo is the only car manufacture that has gotten a "Good" rating on every car that IIHS has tested for whiplash protection, mainly due to those oversized fixed headrests Volvo uses. The Saab is also not to far behind in this area of safety, but most of the other car manufactures lag in rear crash protection.