Not A Single GM Vehicle Currently In Production Offers Tilting Headrests
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One curious development in the recent history of General Motors is the complete abandonment of tilting headrests from every one of the automaker’s vehicles. As researched by GM Authority, GM last made these available in the 2020 Buick Envision crossover and 2020 Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan, but the Envision has since been replaced by an all-new second-generation model for the 2021 model year while the CT6 has been discontinued in North America.
To clarify, we are not talking about rear-seat headrests which can be folded down, either for better visibility or to allow the seatbacks to be folded down. Those are still available. What we’re talking about is the ability of the seat’s headrest to adjust fore and aft (forward and back) to better accommodate the seating position of the driver or front passenger.
These kinds of headrests are a thing of the past on every GM model from the 2021 Chevy Spark – currently the lowest-priced car in the United States in base LS trim level and manual transmission, a combination that starts at $14,595 including destination – to the 2021 Cadillac Escalade full-size luxury SUV, which is priced to start at $77,890 but regularly sells for over $100,000.
Once a model has a tilting headrest, there is no obvious reason why the functionality should be removed, except perhaps as a cost-saving exercise. It’s worth noting that removing tilting headrests is not a trend within the auto industry, as other manufacturers – notably GM’s more than century-old rival, Ford – still offer tilting headrests even on their most affordable vehicles. In this respect, GM is an outlier.
Although this may seem to be a minor matter, tilting headrests can contribute to comfort and, less directly, to safety and vehicle control. In the era of the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, the most significant comfort feature in any car was that it could be driven while sitting down. Today, it is unthinkable that a track-oriented vehicle, to use one example, could be compromised by removing anything which prevents the driver from having the maximum possible control over it.
Of course, tilting headrests are not generally required on competition cars because they are not driven in a way that requires them, but the principle of making things as easy as possible for the occupants applies to all types of vehicles. Yet another type are luxury vehicles, particularly ones that aim for maximum comfort for its occupants. To that end, we see no reason that the Escalade (or any Cadillac, for that matter) should not include tilting headrests.
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One of the reasons I prefer the seats in my ATS to my XT6. I can’t get as comfortable driving the XT6.
My Spark headrest was undrivable. I turned it around.
Totally agree. Each time my wife gets into our Buick Enclave Avenir, she complains about the lack of this seemingly small feature.
The “comfort” of a tilting or non tilting head rest is a figment of your imagination. It was thought the closer the headrest to your head lessens whiplash. As long as the head rest stops excessive back travel of your head it is within tolerance of injury.
If the headrest is shoving your head forward while you’re sitting down, that’s no figment of your imagination though.
I’ve had a 2013 Chevy Equinox LTZ, and now drive a GMC Acadia Denali. Most uncomfortable seating position for a 5’8″ person. My back has no contact to the seat from the shoulder blades up. The headrest pushes my head forward. It creates poor posture. When we take trips over two hours, we take our 2019 GMC Sierra Denali. The headrests don’t tilt, but at least those engineers weren’t dumb enough to create a 30°tilt in the headrest itself!
I could’ve bought a Buick Regal GS with the turbo but the headrests killed it, my wife couldn’t get comfortable with the headrest…
Mazda are like that.
Their headrests till too far forward, pushing your head down, and causing neck and shoulder pain.
Lot of people flip the headrests around.
I rented a first gen Enclave once and it was the same thing.
Hate those forward tilted headrests with no adjustment.
Personally i dont like the tilting headrest.
doesnt add any comfort for me (but it does add cost, complexity and weight)
maybe GM did some research and determined that it has little value for the majority.
Seems like a tiny thing to be “ranting” on.
I’ve had a 2013 Chevy Equinox LTZ, and now drive a GMC Acadia Denali. Most uncomfortable seating position for a 5’8″ person. My back has no contact to the seat from the shoulder blades up. The headrest pushes my head forward. It creates poor posture. When we take trips over two hours, we take our 2019 GMC Sierra Denali. The headrests don’t tilt, but at least those engineers weren’t dumb enough to create a 30°tilt in the headrest itself!
The current headrest requirements, FMVSS 202a, started in the 2010 model year. The adjustable headrests will still have to meet the FMVSS requirements in all positions. The adjustment range may well help some customers. I have not yet purchased a car newer than 2009 in large part because of the headrest requirements. I do admit to flipping headrests around in rental cars.
Y’all ran out of material to cover again? What a unimportant and boring post. There’s always a negative tone directed at GM on this site. Sound like a bunch of crybabies. Some of Ford’s headrest still move. Big deal. None of GM’s front headrest are powered for the 2021 model year. 1 point Ford. 0 points GM. Anything else?
Now ask yourselves how many more Navigators with 30-way power adjustable front “perfect position seats” did Lincoln sale compared to the Cadillac Escalade with no power headrest? How did all those adjustments hep Lincoln outsell the Cadillac? Lol. In other words the feature isn’t missed as much as you’d think.
Articles like this are blowing smoke. Things like this aren’t deal breakers. Ask any new GM owner if their seats are uncomfortable without the power headrest adjustability. It’s rare. Smh.
There is another way of looking at this though. Sure, it may not be a feature that matters to you, and of course they can still sell cars without it.
But, how many more cars would they sell, and how many more satisfied customers would they have if they didn’t leave out features that some people really want?
It’s a bit like people complaining that they can’t buy a regular cab, standard bed Silverado. Maybe that doesn’t matter to you, but Ford and Ram will still sell them one.
Exactly….
Without adding to the controversy, I like that GMAuthority discusses these issues. I plan on test driving some GM vehicles as soon as I can and it will be one more point on my bucketlist I will analyze.
Cheap ass gm trying to save a buck.
One of the worst things about GM cars. Had to turn Spark headrest around. Have to tilt seat in comfortably on Bolt to compensate. GM cars are not for the cranially endowed.
A bigger gripe for me is that almost all GM vehicles lack a center headrest in the rear seats.
GM is starting to fall into another decline, one that may be the final plunge. I worked for Gm for 34 years and the company seemed to be losing customer confidence every year. Roger Smith tried his best to destroy the company. Maybe Mary can finish the job!
To be honest I have owned only one car that had a tilting head rest. Even then never used it.
As for those who complain that they hate their head rest? The question is just how well did you shop for the car? Did you not sit in it and really drive the car?
The truth is few people use the head rest in a car unless the recline much and even then if in an accident you will slide under the belts and break something. I had one family member do that.
The deal is GM can only satisfy the majority. Even if they did it all some would complain about the cost or something else.
Building and pricing a car is not difficult in the average range. There is always going to be some give and take. Often the things taken from you in some cars is under the skin and you pay for it later on.
for me it’s not something you notice on short trips around town but on a cross country trip I want to light the car on fire and take a rental home.
completely pointless problem to have in a car.
Right on cue.
When I said that my Spark was undrivable, I mean that I sat in it and the head rest was tilted forward to the point that I had to tip my head down to the point that I was uncomfortable and my view of things was impaired. I am about 5-10, 180 lbs, and do not think of myself as unusual, though I could be in some unknown sense.
One person said I should have test driven it before I got it. I did test drive it. I don’t know if the dealer had done anything to the head rest, probably not. But there was a lot going on during the test, talk to wife in back seat, talk to sales person, get guidance on where to turn, make observations on car, ask questions, link phone to car, and the drive was not long. I guess I am guilty. I would take the head rest off before I would drive it the way it was.
This story is the exact reason I now drive a Lincoln. I could not get comfortable in the Cadillac seat and the primary reason was the rigid headrest.
literally the most annoying thing ever. highway trips are brutal. enough to make me question if I get another gm
This likens to the disappearing height adjustable seat belts. No one pays any attention to either of these features unless upon getting into the vehicle the headrest position or seat belt height aren’t right for them. If both are good, you don’t notice. Otherwise you do. And when you go to adjust one or the other to suit your needs, and find that the manufacturer cheaped out with a one-size-fits-all mentality and removed the feature, what do you do?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting out of the vehicle, leaving the dealership, and looking at what the competition has to offer. I’m not spending 10’s of thousands dollars on something that isn’t comfortable for me. But having said this, if both the wife and I test drove a vehicle, were completely comfortable, and never noticed the head rest didn’t tilt or the seat belt height didn’t adjust, I literally would not care the features were missing. However, one-size-fits-all is dumb. It only works for those customers that fit. Those that don’t, you lost a customer for being to cheap to make things adjustable.
GMs starting to reach 90s lows of cheapness. Every single car brand has that feature or something above that such as power 4 way headrest. My parents were going to buy the XT4 but it had a lack multiple features that are pretty much expected in a luxury 40k+ vehicle and they decided to buy the Corsair which I tried to get them out of buying but honestly I’m kind of glad that they bought the Corsair instead. It has a lot of power, massaging and ventilated seats, a really good sound system, FANTASTIC ambient lighting, and it also has multi way head rest🙄. If GM continues their cost cutting they’re going to continue to loose loyal customers such as my parents which have been loyal since their first cars and believe me, they were really hellbent on their decision.