minotaar

The forward tilt of my headrest is really starting to get to me, and I was wondering if it bothered anyone else here. I tried a neck pillow off amazon, but it wasn't much better. Does anyone here use one, and if so, which would you recommend?

LexFinally

The first thing I thought of was to try to find a headrest from another car that's fore-aft adjustable and has the same distance between the posts as the ES, but in a cursory search I can't find one. The next suggestion, and I apologize that it's a half-baked solution, is to raise it higher than your head if your stature permits, so at least the most protruding part of it misses above your head. But yeah, I miss the fore-aft adjustment my old Acura had too, so I feel your pain.

ESh

Let’s get an answer from the owners of 7ES from other continents (Europe, Asia) if they have the adjustable headrest. If yes then purchase one.

LexFinally

I did run a quick check for that and didn't find it, but this is an ideal place to make a more formal attempt. Owners?

E46CT

I think the issue is people want to be coddled and lean back during their commutes.

There are precise measurements in terms of contact time and tension/compression/force which greatly are dependent on the headrest and seatback angle combo. Any deviation in this due to modifications can significantly increase your risk of injury.

Picture your head being gently "caught" in head rest as soon as movement begins gradually loading up vs. your head slamming into the headrest that's farther away and rebounding off it. Lets set aside the neck for a bit... that's also your brain bouncing around too.

Keep these things stock, folks. Teams and teams of people with supercomputers designed it like that for a reason. Same with any stock seat of any car.

BBQapple

Maybe I sit weird but my head doesn’t touch the headrest in any normal sitting or driving position at all. I’m 5’11”. 2023 ES300h Premium.

grp52

There are some versions of ESs sold with horizontally adjustable head restraints. There's a "Horizontal adjustment (if equipped)" section in all 7th generation ES Owner's Manuals. (The page number varies across manual versions but is always located in the "3-3. Adjusting the seats" subchapter.)

I seem to recall horizontally adjustable head restraints are a feature of F Sport model seating. I've never tried F Sport seats so I don't know the head restraint's possible range of horizontal adjustment.

To see if a horizontally adjustable head restraint is a viable solution for minotaar's issue, suggest he visit a Lexus dealer with a F Sport model with a horizontally adjustable head restraint on hand to see whether or not the range of horizontal adjustment provides a solution. And if so, check to see if the seat back installation holes' sizing and spacing are compatible with his non-sport seat back head restraint installation holes.

BBQapple

Wife’s F Sport IS350 has the horizontal adjustment and seats look the same as F seats for the ES

UltraLux22

This was going to be my suggestion as well.

If the above parameters apply from grp52's post, you could attempt a quick swap of your two headrests as a tester and report back since they are straightforward to remove—just a thought.

BBQapple

The f sport headrests are about $500 each FYI

minotaar

This is brilliant. Thank you all. I'll go investigate.

It's true they're pricy, but a decision cannot be made until I can find out if they even fit.

bullnobull

Sorry if this is off topic using a 6th gen. example. At the time I was desperate!
I have a 2022 ES300h UL . The headrest is OK, However I also have a 2018 ES300h premium for the wife.
The 2018 headrests were too far forward. Out of desperation I pulled out headrest, put it in my wood vice up side down and took the cover off, a real pain.
Then unscrewed the plastic frame (screws are under the foam, use fingers to find screws) to get to the mechanism. What I found was an old style three-click headrest (remember? pull forward and it moved into different positions going back). It was in the forward position. I put my screwdriver in the ratchet area, played with it. It released and moved to the back position. I was shocked but happy.
Putting it back together was hard because the buttons on the cover were so tight. I ended up using double-sided tape and pushed the headrest down so nothing was visible.
I am no pro, but this allowed me to keep car and be comfortable.
Hope this work-around helps, Good Luck!

minotaar

does your 2018 headrest fit the 2022? Would be a useful datapoint. I checked out the f sport headrests and they don’t have anything that matches my color (macadamia), but perhaps the 18 headrests can do the job

BBQapple

I’m in my 50s and never once had a problem with a head restraint that had an uncomfortable angle, nor have I heard this from friends or my wife or my grown children. I’m just struggling to understand how this happens? How are you guys sitting in the car? I can only imagine you guys are putting the seat back in a fully upright position maybe?

But I don’t “rest” my head on the thing while driving or riding as a passenger.

minotaar

I think it has a lot to do with relative body proportions. The headrest does not contact my head when I sit in it either. However, if it does, like when I shift positions or lean back slightly, it touches near the top of my head. Over the course of a long drive (and I have a 90 min commute) this is exhausting because I need to put in extra effort to keep my head upright. The net effect is that it feels like it's pushing my head forward when I bump against it.

You can reproduce this feeling at home. Sit in any high back chair, like a recliner, and position a floppy pillow high enough that it only touches the back of your head above the ears. Then lead back into it a number of times. Each time you lean into it, it pushes your head forward relative to your body, and it's not a good feeling when repeated many times.

I've since managed to resolve this issue slightly with a cheap 15 dollar pillow from amazon, linked below. It sits right under the headrest and fills that small gap behind my neck and in front of the seat, making it so that I contact the pillow first. This reduces the forward pressing sensation because my head doesnt move as far back. It's a bit overstuffed when I first got it, so I had to pull out a bunch of fluff, but I managed to get it exactly to the right depth.