edyu

This is my first time posting DIY so please excuse any incompleteness. I'm not handy by any means (as I normally have someone else do the oil changes).
This is for an E60 LCI that has active headrest. My particular car is of MY 2010 550i and I have 20 way sports seats in the car but I believe most LCI (2008-2010) E60s have the same. I needed to remove the headrest to install my new seat covers.

1. Lean the seat back so you have space to pull out the headrest after removing the restraints later.
2. Disconnect battery. Make sure you leave doors open
   1. The battery is in the trunk so open the trunk and remove the 2 plastic screws on the right (where the small cargo net is) by turning quarter turns on each and then pull out.
   2. You only need to disconnect the negative by unscrewing the screw holding the negative using 10mm torx.
   3. Check youtube for videos on removing E60 batteries for more info. You don't need to remove the whole battery nor do you need to remove the positive.
3. Pop out the top portion of the rear seat back. You only need to remove the top portion. The portion is held by 2 clips on the top. I found I just kinda forced them out and they pop out. The bottom slides out when you pull up after you pop the 2 clips.
4. You will notice that the headrest poles are held in to the white plastic piece with the screw in the middle. The poles are held to the plastic piece by 2 small clips, Just push on one end and the clips will pop out. Be careful as these are small and can slip from your fingers.
5. Afterwards, you will notice that the left pole (on both driver's and passenger side) have an electric wire connected. Just pop out the plastic casing on the left side and pull out the wire from the connection.
6. Now you can just pull up the headrest (along with the disconnected wire on the left pole) from the seat.
7. Just reverse the steps for reinstalling the headrests. Note that some steps such as the small clips in step 4 are a little more difficult to install but take your time and it will fit back properly.

JayArras

Thanks for posting! We appreciate you taking the time to document this.