Cloth seats are different? Hmm. Perhaps that is where my problem arose. My car originally had cloth upholstery but the dealer had it changed to leather by a local shop before I bought it. I'll have to do some checking at the dealership. Thanks for the tip.

 

Reading this thread made me realize that my head never touches the headrest. Huh.

 

No problem with them here, they are thicker than the 04 MC I had but don't have a problem with them at all, my wife doesn't mind them either.

 

I hate the '09 headrests and turned them around. My neck hurts from them pushing on the back of my head and gives me a headache regardless of how I recline the seat. I'm 6'8" so that might be part of the issue. I hate driving and feeling the headrest brushing and bumping constantly against the back of my head.

I'm going to find some '08 or earlier headrests in a junkyard or through the dealership.

 

Bugged me too. I flipped them around. Looks a little strange but feels much better.

 

I checked into this a little:

1) Looked at an '07 and a '09 at the dealer. Headrest stick forward on the '09 about another 1" at least.

2) Price for '08 headrests are $129/ea from dealer

3) Local upholstery shop quoted me $250 to get both reduced and recovered.

Any folks out there with an '07 or an '08 with black leatherette want some totally badass brand new '09 ultra-safety headrests to swap with your old neck-breaker headrests? I mean who doesn't want the peace of mind knowing you are extra safe right?

 

For all of the women in this thread, I've had the same problem with my headrests and hair clips. I'm constantly having to adjust the headrest because of my ponytail. I just bought those hair combs that have the stretchy cords in between. I can't remember what they're called but I bought them at Target and so far they've been great. Oh, and because the '09 headrests are thicker, you need to make sure that you mention the model year if you order seat covers from Wet Okole. A woman in the DFW area had to ship her headrest covers back because they wouldn't fit.

 

I agree, I am 5'2 and I like to sit straight up, so I took my headrest from the back and put them on the front. I am not fond of the look but I like the comfort.
I want something different as well. I wonder what the rationale was for making them this way?

 

So thats why my neck was sore for the first week after I got the car. How dumb.

 

I bought an 09 MCS in July, and I'll agree that the headrests surely need some work. With the seat in the upright position, you can't help but hit your head off the headrest. Worse yet, I wear glasses and I have to purposely lean my head forward and back, because if my head rests on the headrest, it wants to push my downward, and I find myself looking over the top of my glasses.

It doesn't seem like a difficult fix to rachet the headrest so the occupant can move it forward or back to their liking.

Understandably, the way they are probably has to do with some funky government requirement.

I've turned the front headrests around backwards, which helps a lot, but there is the problem of not being able to lock them in place, and it does look a bit strange.

I'll be inquiring about '08 headrests with the dealer tomorrow.

 

The headrests remind me of the seats at AMC movie theartres. Im from the greater toronto area, and if you are and been to an amc movie theartre, you'll agree with me haha.

 

I'm 5'11'' and have been driving an '09 MCS for a year. I have no problem or complaint with the driver's headrest (haven't tried passenger side).

 

I am short and the head rest drove me crazy. So I used a wire lumbar support to arch my back more . However is is not very convenient. We stopped at another dealership and the rep showed me to turn it the other way. This works for me, but for someone taller it might be a problem. I agree the of those headrests deserve a special award. GL

 

I'm 5'7". Fine for me.

 

I am 6 feet, no problem at all, in fact I would say it's about perfect for me.

 

The headrest has aggravated me since I first sat in the car. I went to the local MINI dealer on Thursday and worked with the service staff to identify the differences between 2008 and 2009 seat/headrest assemblies. I turned my headrests around when I bought the car, but the lack of a functioning lock in that orientation concerned me. I didn't want the headrest coming out in a crash. We worked with two cars and put the seats and headrests in various configurations. Here is what we found:

1. The seat back is more concave in the 2009 car. Where the back of the 2008 is relatively straight, the 2009 seat back is dished in and points forward at the top more than the 2008 seat.

2. The support rods for the 2008 headrest are centered, front to back. For the 2009 headrest, they are all the way at the back. This moves the headrest about 1.25 inches further forward.

3. The support rods are bent to a sharper angle in the 2009 car, which again puts the headrest further forward. The overall effect is that the 2009 headrest is almost two inches further forward.

The personal aspects of whether the headrest is uncomfortable are torso height (not total height) and the seat back angle. If you have a taller torso and/or like a more upright seating position, then the headrests are too far forward. The two solutions I plan to explore are:

1. Reconstructing the headrest so that the support rods are further back. This can likely be done by splitting the foam and moving some to the back so the same leather cover will fit. (I have custom leather installed by dealer.)

2. Grinding new stops on the other support rod. Only the outside support rod has the indentations to engage the headrest height lock. When you flip it around, you need to put the notches on the other support rod. Pick a height and grind a notch; it won't show if you do a bad job since the lock is in the seat back.

 

The seats of my 09 JCW are much better than my 06, at least the seatbacks
can truly recline. Luckily for me, the headrest works fine, but my sensitive
wife, it bothers her, so she has to ride around in a more reclined position.

 

The first thing my MA did when I picked up my car was flip the headrests around. So they fit in backwards. They still offer me the whiplash protection I need.

 

I happen to like this effect... Does anyone know if '09+ headrests can retrofit to an '05 MCS (with "Space/Panther" cloth sport seats)?