jrmckinley

I'm watching "MindHunter" on Netflix and admiring some of the late 70's cars the FBI agents are driving (mostly Mercury or Ford). I find some of those cars incredibly classic in their design.

For those of us who didn't drive in the 70's, I can't help but notice how short the back of the front seats were. It looks like the top of the seats come to just below the bottom of the shoulder on an average height male. Then they add this tiny headrest that doesn't even reach their shoulder blades. What was the point? I'm just under 6'2" so can't imagine how this would work. I googled some pics of cars from that era and see it's consistent with what's shown in the series.

I do remember those seats being incredibly comfortable BTW. I have vivid memories of riding shotgun with a high school buddy who had an "old" 1980 Continental (where you could roll 3 people deep up front). I'm just not sure how safe our necks were if we were to be in an accident - so why the headrests??!

mmarshall

Headrests on American-market vehicles were first required for anything built on or after January 1, 1969....although that allowed some early-production 1969s to be grandfathered in without them. Basically, there were two types of headrests....the high-back type (which was probably cheaper to produce) like what we saw on the 1970-74 Barracuda/Challenger, and the height-adjustable ones that, much like the ones today, slide up or down by pushing a release-button, like we see on this 1973 Chrysler. I chose the Chrysler sample because, while this design met the literal letter of the law, with the headrests in the full-down position, it obviously would not adequately protect a taller person from whiplash, and, even fully-raised, was only marginally able to do so. I remember Consumer Reports, when they reviewed and tested a 1973 Chrysler Newport, mentioning this in their report, and how the safety-regulations, in their opinion, needed to be revised to prevent designs like this (eventually, they were). It also needs to be noted that drivers and passengers were much less-able to compensate for poorly-designed headrests in those days, since the seats themselves were much less adjustable. Even luxury cars of American design didn't even have rake-adjustable setbacks....the whole seat, cushion and back, rocked forward or back at once., and you could not change the angle of your spine in relation to your legs.

LexBob2

As part of their safety focus, Volvo used to refer to them as head restraints vs. headrests indicating that is their purpose. I wouldn't be surprised if they still do..

SW17LS

The industry in general refers to them as "head restraints" now, if you look through any owners manual you'll find them referred to as such.

mmarshall

Although it doesn't go back as far as the 1970s, some years ago, Volvo and Saab (Volvo, of course, always being safety-conscious) used an interesting system where the head restraint was attached to a lever-like rod and counterweight inside the seat itself. When the vehicle was hit from behind and suddenly moved forward, the weight attached to the rod would resist the forward motion, and the resulting lever-action would force the head-restraint forward against the occupant's neck or back of the head, preventing the classic whiplash. That way, the headrests could provide the needed protection without having to tilt forward uncomfortably all the time like some of them do today.

Of course, the cheapest and simplest way of building in protection is to use high-back bucket seats, like the ones I posted above in the old Barracudas and Challengers. But many shorter drivers complained that they blocked rear-vision, particularly in pony cars like that with relatively small windows.....no back-up cameras in those days.