It's because the head restraint is not there for comfort but it helps reduce neck injury or whip lash in a rear end collision. The closer the head restraint is to your head, the more effective it becomes to stop or reduce neck injury. I understand that comfort is important but making sure my neck or your neck doesn't snap in any type rear end collision outweighs comfortability. Try getting a head restraint pillow or adjust the seat and head restraint.

 

 

What you can probably try to do is instead of sitting completely straight up, lean your seat back a little. As your seat leans back, your head naturally leans forward to stay upright. Lean the seat back far enough so that your head, at it's natural position, will be touching or nearly touching the headrest.

 

I agree that the newer camry seats are horribly uncomfortable, poor back support even with the lumbar support and neck positioning is very unnatural to proper neck and back posture. I test drove a 2021 camry for 15 minutes and have low back pain even 3 hours later that I have never had in my life. I would have bought or leased the car if not for that huge drawback. I have drove camrys for the last 25 years and they have gotten more uncomfortable each time I bought a new one.

 

I don't recommend this but the head rests can come out and turn around.

 

My last Camry did not have this problem. Why does the headrest tilt so far forward? My neck, back, hips, and legs hurt in my 2018 Toyota Corolla. Please, please, please make more comfortables seats with adjustable headrests! At least give us an option to upgrade the headrest and seat.

Yep. Terrible design. Got one as a loaner, drove it 40 miles, and now my neck HURTS!!! I turned the headrest around, backwards.
I strongly disagree with the person who said that it is about safety, not comfort. It really is about the basic shape of a human body. Another idiot thinks they are is-smart, and changed what works into junk. Maybe a crane has the kind of neck that would fit it the seat... or maybe a stork. Until THEY start driving, may I recommend making a car seat (novel idea, coming... hold on tight!) THAT PEOPLE FIT IN! Sorry to be so blunt... but did ANY testers actually SIT it the car?
... and are their chins naturally attached to their chest? How does such a stOopid design get past the testers?

 

Often times I do rest my head on the headrest or I try to keep an inch or 2 away depending on how I drive and I agree, the headrest of the new generation Camry is way too forward/aggressive. Wish time travel existed so that I had the chance to snag the previous gen which is as comfortable as my 2014 Camry SE. Although the exterior looks nice, the interior definitely needs to be thought out better at the consumer level.

 

Get one of those neck pillows that go around the base of the head rest, it’ll give you a little room to bend your head back and plus it’s comfortable


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Where is the data to support this post? The headrest are horrible. For that reason, we have chosen to go with a different car! My wife and I can't drive a car when your head is bent forward. Adjusting the seat will not help because it fatigues your neck and back. Come on Toyota, think about this decision a little better!

 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Head Restraints

This document responds to petitions for reconsideration of the agency's May 2007 final rule amending our head restraint standard, and to related petitions for rulemaking. This document also makes technical corrections. The May 2007 final rule was issued in response to petitions for...

www.federalregister.gov

It's not a headrest, it's a head restraint. It's not so you can rest your head on it. It's there to protect your head/neck. If your head is hitting the head restraint then you need to move the seat position. Your head should be 2-3inches away from the head restraint and should not be touching it while driving. That's all all seats are made now in america. Consider buying a neck pillow for your car.

Here's are seats from a 2010 mustang. Tilted forward.

 

I might be the minority here, I like slightly forward-positioned headrests, I first experienced them on BMWs (who have one of the best seats in the industry) and it's the idea of using the entire seat frame to coccoon your driving position from thigh to the lower head (sort of alluded to here:

) If you glance at how most people drive, their mid to upper back is not touching the seat, let alone the headrest. This is incorrect ergonomics and is dangerous in collisions due to whiplash, and its the product of decades of poorly designed car seats. A properly designed seat should progressively increase angle at the mid to upper back, with the headrest positioned slightly forward to encourage a neutral to slight down angle of the head. If you find this uncomfortable, it's very possible that you're used to a seat design that is too flat, you may need to try new seating positions and seating adjustments to get this to work for you. Once you're used to this design though, as I am, I can't go back to a flatter design, meaning I like the newer Camry/Avalon seats and headrests, they are now closer to BMW’s design and more comfortable to me than older Toyota designs.

 

I might be the minority here, I like forward angle headrests, I first experienced them on BMWs and it's the idea of using the entire seat frame to coccoon your driving position from thigh to the lower head (sort of alluded to here:

) If you glance at how most people drive, their mid to upper back is not even touching the seat, let alone the headrest. This is incorrect ergonomics and is dangerous in collisions due to whiplash, and its the product of decades of poorly designed car seats. A properly designed seat should progressively increase angle at the mid to upper back, with the headrest angling forward to encourage a neutral to slight down angle of the head. If you find this uncomfortable, it's very possible that you're used to a seat design that is too flat, you may need to try new seating positions and seating adjustments to get this to work for you. Once you're used to this design though, as I am, I can't go back to a flatter design, including ones that have headrests that don't angle forward.

With how I sit, I'd say the upper half of my back to my head doesn't really touch the seat unless I am stretching or just waiting somewhere. I generally find it a bit hard to drive if my entire back is "strapped down" like a race car. It's the same when I sit on my office chair, I may try to use the head rest but as of right now my head is not touching it.

 

Actually they are not head rests but head restraints for "whiplash". My wife took hers out and turned it around and it doesn't touch her head. But it does not perform as designed though.

 

Try a BMW 3 series with adjustable thigh support and sport seats, adjust the seat so that it coccoons your entire body and rest your head on the headrests, and tell me if you still think a headrest is only for restraint. Notice the headrest below is not necessarily angled forward, rather it is positioned slightly forward - this is an important detail and allows it to be used while driving, as it should:

 

The 2021 Acura TLX made its debut today, and this is how not to do a seat design and why Honda seats are uncomfortable for me, notice below how the headrest actually gaps back slightly from the main seat by about a 1/4 inch. BMW (and now Toyota) seats do the opposite, the headrest is positioned slightly forward so it can actually be used while driving:

 

If your back is against the backrest, the above is the correct design.

 

As others have said it’s a head restraint not a headrest. With that said my 16 Ford F-150’s are positioned forward but are vertical. But they are 4 way so they can be tilted forward in a few positions or back to vertical. They are some very comfortable seats. Wayyyy better than my 16 Camry

 

I agree that the Camry head restraint is a poor design no matter what the reason is for such a design. If government regulations say it needs to be tilted way forward, the regulation needs to change. I will never buy a car with such a poorly designed head restraint unless I can find a good aftermarket head restraint that is properly designed. I'm a registered professional mechanical engineer, and I believe whoever made such a poor decision to require such a design ought to lose their job. For those that sit properly in their car seat, this will create severe pain in the neck. I just rented a 2020 Camry for a week and the head restraint caused pain in my neck within only a few hours. My neck still hurts several days after returning the rental car. Anyone defending this design ought to be forced to drive in the car for 10 hours (short breaks allowable) while sitting properly in the seat (seat tilted slightly back). Then they can report on how their neck feels.

 

For those that sit properly in their car seat, this will create severe pain in the neck.

Rubbish.
I've driven the car for almost 12hrs in a single day this summer and no pain whatsoever.
I'm coming from a BMW 3 series and the headrest design is very similar.
Probably you have been positioning your seat incorrectly for years.

http://www.allocca.com/papers/Headrest.pdf

 

My Outback headrest is adjustable. I found it odd the Camry's isn't. Just had to move top part of seat back. Problem solved. It was more my line of sight wasn't right than a comfort issue. I've made 3 hour trips before, no problem.

 

The best head restraint is also a headrest. In fact, on the parts.toyota dot com website they are called headrests. Early this week I just bought my first car since 2006-7, a 2013 Camry LE. So, being out of the game for so long, I don't have much experience pertaining to the latest models. However, a few years ago while car shopping with my wife (she didn't buy anything), I noticed some of the cars I tried had headrests that pushed my head forward to the point that it was very uncomfortable and would have been a deal breaker. Maybe there was another way to adjust the seat/headrest to make it work better for me, but we didn't get into that.
Apparently because of people having different postures, preferences, etc., not everyone is put off by these aggressive headrests. I don't know if things have changed recently, but it has been my opinion for years that the Japanese did not build seats/headrests as comfortable as the Europeans. Back in the nineties I was in the passenger seat of a friend's early model Mercedes 190E. I remember how the headrest "cradled" my neck and head. It was noticeably more comfortable than anything I'd ever experienced. This is how you design and build a headrest. As long as the protection is there.
Ironically, these aggressively tilted headrests are actually causing an unsafe condition for some drivers. A driver who is uncomfortable and ends up stiff and in pain after a relatively short ride is going to get worn out quicker and will not be the safest, most alert driver. You want to be relaxed and fresh. But as MZ5 said, there are some drivers who may be leaning forward. I think these drivers would benefit from the tilt forward headrests.
Over the years, I think my driving posture has changed. When I first started driving, I was less confident and tended to lean forward more, almost apprehensively. As time went on I became more relaxed, more confident and began using the whole seat, leaning back right up through the shoulders. I became aware of how uncomfortable most headrests were. Because of this, some of the more aggressively tilted headrests would not work for me. As others have mentioned, I think the obvious solution is to design headrests that are adjustable on multiple axis'. These far forward tilted headrests are enough of a problem that the makers should try something different. Try to accommodate everyone.

 

I just reclined the front seat until it was acceptable.

 

I'm trying out one of those neck pillows to see how much it helps. During install, I found out the 2013 Camry has only 2 headrest positions? All the way down and one click up and that's all? I'm surprised!

 

Yes, they are much more tilted forward than the old ones. And it doesn't seem to help anything by putting the head restraint in any of the 3 detent positions. All you can do is try to compensate with seat tilt-back. And no, you can't put an old seat in, they won't fit right. Already tried.

 

I fixed mine. I removed it. LOL Couldn't get it adjusted so that the hair clamp was not pressing into my head so I solved it by just removing it.

 

I bought a couple neck pillows and found them to be a real benefit. This one from Amazon and another one from Walmart. They add support to the upper back and neck, providing a little more space between the head and headrest in a comfortable way. It will remain a permanent fixture in my car, along with the armrest cover which added extra padding.

 

For what it's worth, I experienced a serious rear end collision in a 2018 Camry with these tilted forward headrests. I came away from that collision with zero neck pain, and I credit this to the aggressive tilted forward headrests. I'm glad that Toyota did this now and I personally don't find them uncomfortable.

 

I set the seat distance and back angle in my 2020 Camry pretty much the same as I did in my Mini and Corolla. After three months in the car, I've had no problem with the seat or headrest; until I read this thread, I hadn't noticed the head restraint angle.

 

I came from a BMW X1, and Mini is from BMW, it makes sense we are not having a hard time adjusting since Toyota seat design is following BMW's, which is a good thing. For those finding newer Toyota seats uncomfortable, it could be just a matter of repositioning, moving the butt 1/2 inch or so forward or backward on the bottom seat completely changes the back and neck angles, and getting used to a position and angle that actually uses the headrest (most people don't use the headrest, meaning bad seating position/posture).

 

There is an easy fix. For the 2021 Highlander at least, you can substitute either a 2016 era Ford Fusion headrest (What we did) or a 2016 GMC Sierra 2500 Headrest.....which also worked well. I just fixed the HORRIBLE headrests in my 2021 Highlander (seriously causing me INSANE back and neck pain), buy spending about 120 bucks on Ebay for Fusion Headrests. We own a Fusion and a GMC so I just tried thoose ones, found the fit and then used each one for a few weeks to find the one I liked best. You can order direct from GMC for about 125 a headrest, but Ford is on backorder on headrests for like 9-12 months (WTH?!?!?!), so we got them off Ebay for about 1/6 the price Ford wanted.

If you have access to other vehicles try their headrests and see if you can find one that fits and works for you. Ford's actually adjust front to back so that is really cool.

As a response to the people saying deal with it it's for safety. My PT looked at it and said the position of the Toyota Headrest could in many cases including mine actually injure me worse because of how far it was pushing my head forward.

 

So for example, since IDK if the headrests in the Highlander (or the Ford Fusion) fit in the 2018 Camry, I need to try to find some other vehicle that has adjustable headrests with the same post dimensions and spread?

I could just as an experiment go to a pick it yourself junkyard and check out the Ford Fusions and compare them to the Camry headrests to see if they're the same posts, before I order new ones. Either that or measure the ones in a HIghlander to see if they're the same posts at least. I'd hate to order Fusion headrests or any other kind only to find out they don't fit a Camry. Or are the posts in headrests of different cars all the same?

 

We shouldn't have to spend an extra $15K (Lexus money) just to get a comfortable headrest. If I was willing to invest 25-30K in a new Camry, what's another $500-$1000 to upgrade the seat and headrest.

 

Buy from home depot a half inch black pipe. Wrap the headrest with a towel for protection, then firmly secure the headrest under something heavy (couch with people sitting on top), insert the pipe through headrest metal piece, then push the pipe down (or up, depending on the orientation headrest was placed in), and that will bend the metal in the headrest.

Now my headrest is much more tolerable (see difference between driver vs passenger headrest tilt). In fact after I took this photo, I bent it a bit more forward because it was too far backward tilted.

Primitive but it works, and your neck will thank you.

 

Perfect. There is always a way.

 

i have a question. if you get a neck injury in an accident, and the car insurance or health insurance found that you made modifications to the head restraint, which caused you to sustain significant injury to your neck, would they still pay the hospital bill? or whatever bill. of course they will have to prove that the modifications did cause that much more injury than if it wasn’t modified.

 

Fungabriel, while I agree with you that having a safely positioned headrest is important for whiplash prevention, I disagree with your view that ANY modifications, even the slightest, to Camry's headrest is inevitably going to result in significant neck injury. Without a doubt Camry's headrest is significantly anteriorly positioned, even when compared to other Toyota vehicles, to the extent that it is causing a lot of discomfort in more than few people as posted in earlier discussions, but it's headrest is also different vs. other Toyotas in one other way, which I will describe more below.

Being in the medical field as a prescriber, one must weigh both a medication's benefits vs. adverse effects - What good is the benefit derived from a medication when a patient is unable to tolerate its adverse effects??? No physician with any common sense will continue to prescribe a medication that causes intolerable side effects, even if the medication, say, will significantly reduce the chances of having a heart attack in the future.

Similarly, headrests ought to be positioned such that (1) must be positioned to provide reasonable amount of comfort and minimize discomfort, and (2) be safe, which nearly all car headrests are nowadays.

But for the Camry, I think there was also a THIRD reason that Toyota went very hard to fulfill that led to Camry's headrest/seat design, which I will also mention below, that has led to many people finding it too uncomfortable.

First see the photos below and judge for yourself the clear difference in Camry vs non-Camry Toyotas' headrest/seat.

** The biggest difference in Camry vs non-Camrys in my view is the in the CONTOUR LINE along the headrest and the upper seat

• • Camry's headrest is SIGNIFICANTLY PROTRUDING FORWARD vs the upper seat, creating a jagged contour line
  • in the non-Camry Toyota's, the headrest is slightly anteriorly tilted BUT the headrest & upper seat contour line is much more uniform AND it just appears much more natural (it just looks much more comfortable vs. Camry, don't you think?)

'22 Camry - notice the jagged contour line in headrest & upper seat, and much more anteriorly tilted

21 ES (F-Sport) - smooth & natural contour line in headrest & upper seat, less anteriorly tilted

'22 Corolla Hatchback - smooth & natural contour line in headrest & upper seat, less anteriorly tilted

'22 RX - smooth + natural contour line of headrest & upper seat, somewhat similarly anteriorly tilted like Camry BUT not protruding forward as much

'22 Prius - smooth + natural contour line in headrest & upper seat, less anteriorly tilted

'21 Rav4 - smooth + natural contour line in headrest & upper seat, less anteriorly tilted

With the non-Camry Toyotas having a more natural contour line of headrest/seat, this results in an even & more equal distribution of support in-between the upper thoracic vertebrae and the head, while in the Camry, the contour line of headrest & seat appears jagged and not continuous and thus very unnatural, with the headrest jutting far too forward vs upper seat, and as a result the head is far too anteriorly positioned (too much support) relative to the upper thoracic spine, and this together with a more acute angle created by the stronger anterior tilt is what I believe makes it so uncomfortable for some owners.

Why do some owners find Camry's headrest/seat configuration very comfortable while others find it intolerable? Simple - every person's spines are different. Just as some people tolerate medicine A and not medicine B while the reverse may be true for others, the same applies to Camry's headrest. I am merely pointing out that there is a clear difference in the way Toyota designed Camry's headrest/seat vs. many of their other vehicles, and as such, I don't believe that this was intentionally done to make Camry's occupants "more safe" and less prone to whiplash - if safety was their sole intention, why don't ALL their models share the same design?

My speculation as to this drastic difference in Camry vs other Toyota models' headrest/seat design difference is that Camry's designers wanted to make Camry appear more 'sportier' and 'sleeker' in appearance, pure and simple. "No more boring cars!", as Akio Toyoda said, and Camry's designers have been working the hardest IMO to make the Camry look less boring in order to appeal to more younger buyers, as evident in the dramatic overhaul in the Camry's overall design - more so than any other Toyota models. I mean, when did a Camry ever have a black roof on white exterior and red seats??? Which does look great IMHO which is what I have =)


But going back to the topic of the headrest, just look at how much smoother and more natural appearing (or less acutely angled) the headrest/seat contour line is in the ES, Corolla and RX's vs. Camry's jagged and forward protruding headrest which is also significantly more anteriorly tilted (more acutely angled), resulting in a non-uniform headrest/seat contour line.

Now, going back to your statement mentioning that in a theoretical accident <"modifications to the head restraint [caused] you to sustain significant injury to your neck">
- your statement is merely speculative prediction, but you seem to state it as a proven fact when there is lack of any evidence that Camry's design is much safer vs. their other models. How can you say that modifying the Camry's headrest to make the headrest/seat contour line more natural-appearing & similar to non-Camry Toyotas will inevitably result in greater whiplash injury in an accident?

If what you are saying is a fact, then supposedly those millions of non-Camry Toyota owners who are driving Corollas, ES, RX, Prius, Rav4s are now at a significantly greater risk of whiplash injury since their headrests are not protruding forward nor are they as anteriorly tilted as the Camrys - do you truly believe that this is what Toyota's engineers also concluded in all their wisdom and years of studies and testing? I highly doubt it. Like I said earlier, I strongly believe the headrest/seat design was likely a result of Camry's designers (not engineers) going overboard in trying to make it look more sportier & sleeker in order to appeal more to younger buyers.

And with regards to you mentioning about insurance company investigating these modifications, I also doubt that providing only a minor posterior tilt of both front seat headrests only to make them appear more natural and more in line with non-Camry Toyota's is going to raise any huge red flags.

I am not here to bash Camrys, far from it - I love my car and it has been one of the best cars I've driven in years. BUT the longer I drove the vehicle, the more I became aware of how uncomfortable my neck felt afterwards, which was not so evident on a short test drive, as I've never had such problems before in previous cars I've driven, and I only later realized that its headrest protruding forward vs upper seat PLUS the significant anterior tilt was just not working for me, which is why I decided to make a slight change to the tilt. Now it is so much more comfortable for me and my neck doesn't scream of discomfort afterwards, and I had merely decided to post my earlier response since some other people had similar experiences.

I also certainly do not recommend moving the headrest far too backwards, as that will very likely lead to greater neck problems in an accident - that's not what I was saying. Just a small enough posterior tilt to make it more tolerable and natural, closer to many non-Camry Toyotas - that seems to be the best approach in my view.

 

In my Corolla, the headrest was so far back that it wasn't even realistic or at all comfortable to rest my head back on longer highway drives. I find that a plus on the Camry; my head doesn't naturally lay against the headrest, but its right there if I want to relax and lean my head back just a little.

Hopefully Toyota gets some direct feedback, the solution seems pretty straightforward - add some basic adjustability