Am I the only one who is bothered by the headrest in this car? It's touching the back of my head when I'm just sitting there. Maybe my head is mis-shapen and sticks out on the back side.

At first inspection (I just got the car a couple days ago) the headrests only seem to adjust up and down.

 

Actually, that bugged me too at first.
I angled the seatback back another notch and fiddled with the seat height/angle so that my head was off the rest while sitting normally. I probably spent 15 minutes getting everything just right, including the steering wheel and lumbar suppport, but it's super comfortable now. I hate it when I go for service and the mechanic moves the seat!

 

Your MINI's fine. Get a new head.

 

I have an 07 for 6months now. I had to turn he headrest around, as another Mini owner I found had done. I am still working on getting the right seat adjustment.

 

Could it be that this is a dealer or VDC-installed item, and it was done improperly?

 

I did the same thing. They really only fit one way if you want to keep the vertical adjustment. The vertical adj is not really something I needed and it is much more comfortable for me with them turned around backwards. I'm about 5'11" and 180 lbs for reference.

-JL

 

Interesting.....I've never heard of anyone having a problem with this, so either your head has a weird shape (as you suggest ) or some major seat adjustment is needed because it's seriously out-of-whack!! I sat down in my Cooper, dialed in the seat position in about 20 seconds and have been happily motoring since. I don't think there is a chronic design flaw at work here.

 

No issue here, but it is unfortunate that the angle of the headrest cannot be adjusted. I find that on most cars this is used much more (especially for comfort) than vertical adjustment.

Somewhat similar, I also find it very strange that the seatbelt height on the MINI is not adjustable. Again, I haven't found it to be an issue (yet) but it seems to be sort of an odd omission. Perhaps having to do with the frameless windows, huge doors and how far back the seatbelt is positioned?

 

The seat belt height was adjustable on previous Mini models. Not really sure why they dropped that feature.

 

I think it's stupid to have non-adjustable seat belts. People come in all sizes and heights, after all. I've had a continual problem with this issue, and changing seat position hasn't helped a bit. What else can I do? Having had 2 major accidents in the past few decades where seat belts were THE "I survived" factor, I'm pretty testy about poor attention to safety, such as this.

Bad design here, MINI. It's probably the only thing I don't like about the car.

 

People have complained about the seatbelts riding on their shoulders too hard. Whatever you do, DON'T buy one of those gizmos that are supposed to fix this and make them better. They're universally deemed as worthless. I've never heard the headrest complaint before though.

 

I'd just like to have a belt that crosses over where the safety engineers say it's supposed to--not on my neck!

 

I'm excited to try this. Thank you.

 

I too hated the headrest position and flipped it 24 hour after I got my car. My wife also found the original position uncomfortable and now both of mine are switched.

 

After owning an 87 Civic these headrests are nothing. In the Civic I felt like my head was being propelled forward. And they couldn't be flipped around. We actually test drove a Civic the very same day we drove a MINI. Both my wife and I commented on the headrests and that they hadn't changed in 20 years.

 

I actually like the standard positioning of the headrest but turn it around when wearing a helmet.

I was a little embarrassed when my wife came out into our garage asking, "What the hell are you doing with a helmet on, just sitting in the car?" I just looked at her, didn't say a word, she laughed and went back inside. I then continued my mental lap of Laguna Seca.

 

One thing that people don't seem to get is that the headrest is probably one of the most important safety features in your car... the most comon type of collision is rear-enders, and this is what will keep you from getting wiplash when hit from behind at even the lowest of speeds. It shouldn't be touching your head, but it should rest about an inch behind it, as high as it needs to so that if you get hit, your head will hit that thing straight on. Putting in some kind of tilt adjustment would completely compromise the ability of the headrest to absorb the impact of your head snapping into it. If you do get rear-ended, maybe make every effort to not draw attention to the fact that your headrest was flipped around the wrong way, because If I was the insurance company being asked to cover your medical expenses, you'd be toast!

 

Agreed.

 

When you have a big head you can't expect it to fit your headrest...

 

All three of these guys had to return their Mini's due to a lack of back support and the non adjustable headrest's.

 

My head does not contact my headrest during normal relaxed driving conditions. I think that is due to the lumbar support that heeps my spine semi erect. (BTY,I am 65yrs old 5'6", 175# and I dont have a big head ). I love my Mini.

 

Nope never had an issue either don't think mine has ever even hit the head rest. Maybe you have a weak neck, lol

 

OMG it's the real life Beavis!

 

Almost all new cars, airplanes, and office chairs are made to fit slouching, hump-backed midgets these days.

Even racing seats have the same shape- Seems like helmets would force your head even further forward!

 

I have been in insurance of 24 years and I don't ever recall any one questioning if one's headrest had been flipped.