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Thread Number: 44753
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Head rest in older cars (60s to 90s) |
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| Post# 464944 7/30/2023 at 15:12 (283 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
In the older automobiles, at least American ones in the late 60s when headrests were first mandated on sedans and coupes, through the early to mid 90s, or even early 00s on some, the headrests are just short bar shaped things.
They look like they’d be too short to do any help in a crash, much less to lean your head on. They appear to come up to just the neck or shoulders in their lowered position. Decades ago, did people tend to adjust their head rests when driving like many do these days? And how far up would the headrest be if it was pulled all the way up? Would it at least come to the top of the ear level or top of head? I’m guessing until more recently people didn’t consider whiplash as much as the European or Scandinavian or maybe Japanese brands. Even in the 70s and 80s, cars like Mercedes, Saab and Volvo seemed to be putting taller headrests in their cars and even ones on the back seats. | ||
Post# 464951 , Reply# 1 7/30/2023 at 18:06 (283 days old) by JustJunque  (Western MA) |
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In our '70s and '80s cars, with the headrests that you're talking about, I don't think any of us in my family ever kept them in a raised position.
These were mostly GM cars. The headrest had a single, flat steel piece that was long enough to bring the rest up behind your head. Of course, none of us are/were super tall. But, like you said, it seems like most people didn't think much about the possibility of whiplash. Barry | ||
| Post# 464953 , Reply# 2 7/30/2023 at 21:31 (283 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
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Thank you Barry for that info. I wasn’t around back in the 70s or 80s but it seemed from what I’ve seen the headrests were usually down.
I saw a website yesterday with a collection of cars from the 70s and saw most had both of the headrests pulled up, so it piqued my curiosity. When I see cars on the Barrett Jackson auctions, the headrests always seem to be down. It’d be interesting to read an owners manual from those eras and see what they had to say about adjusting the headrest and if there was any safety aspect mentioned. | ||
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Post# 464962 , Reply# 3 7/31/2023 at 07:01 (283 days old) by JustJunque (Western MA) |
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Actually, I bet I stil have a couple of my old owner's manuals, since I never throw anything away.
If I stumble across one of them, I'll take a look. I know I have the manual for my '86 Pontiac, which is sitting in the garage. My car has bucket seats. But, I'm sure the manual covers the models that had the standard interior too. I'll check it out later! | ||
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Post# 464967 , Reply# 5 7/31/2023 at 10:46 (282 days old) by JustJunque (Western MA) |
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| Post# 464970 , Reply# 6 7/31/2023 at 15:18 (282 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
Headrests first came out when I was in about the first grade. For the most part, people just left them all the way down. I recall reading the owner's manual on my 1977 Buick Skylark (Nova clone) that I had in the '80s, and it suggested the headrest should be raised so that the top of it came roughly even with the tops of one's ears. I remember trying it, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I put it back down.
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Post# 464982 , Reply# 7 7/31/2023 at 17:21 (282 days old) by JustJunque (Western MA) |
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| Post# 464995 , Reply# 8 8/1/2023 at 10:08 (281 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Indeed. Thankfully, I never found out, either. The next car I owned, a 1986 Olds Cutlass Calais, did get rear-ended, but its bucket seats came up high enough that the headrest was in the right place for me without adjusting it. I had a minor neck ache for a short time afterward, but no permanent damage.
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