sorry to hear about that man but yes good to hear you guys are ok.

 

Glad you and your son are safe.

Would like to add that seeing that BMW has all these extra safety features, I know what I'll be thinking off next time I buy a BMW. I was leaning more on the new Camaro or the Challenger on my next car.

Safety measures are changing my mind on my next car, and the American Economy :thumbsdown: . Gd Luck GM

 

Your ER bill will be about $7500 with the CT, so I would expect the insurance company will settle with you for about $10k-15k for your pain and for the ER bill (if it's not covered by your health insurance, which is should NOT be as this counts toward your lifetime limits).

I had no idea these headrests were like that. It looks like it would cause injury instead of prevent it. I drive with my seat back straight up (race car driving style) so I can push myself into the seat and maneuver the car better at higher speeds (I'm a speed freak). The headrest is literally an inch behind my head, and often I rest my head on the headrest. I'm not one of those drivers that drives with the seat back tilted back 30 degrees to look cool. So if that headrest restraint system deployed with the way I sit, I could see it causing injury instead of preventing it.

 

I doubt BMW would engineer a complex anti-whiplash system without thoroughly testing it and verifying that it does not cause injury. I'm sure the headrests only deploy under specific circumstances and at the precise time.

 

Glad to see that you are relatively OK. I'd follow up with the doctor though, as a concussion should never be taken lightly. I am sure that the headrest feature is only available on certain optioned vehicles. I tried looking at mine to see if they were the same and everything looks pretty sewed up. Wish you a speedy recovery.

 

I appreciate everyone's well wishes. You guys are alright.

I can drive the car until the body shop gets my parts in and can knock her out, but it's a little awkward driving with the head rests now almost 50% thicker than they were before deployment. I need to get the head rests addressed right away. I'll likely take it to the dealer tomorrow morning and then be ready to play hard ball with the insurance folks if they stall on that bill.

 

Probably looks a little funny too. Maybe you should have a little compensation for embarrassment also.....

 

From what I can tell, the head rests are spring loaded with a trigger to release in an accident. They extend about 3 or maybe 4 inches and lock once extended. There's some degree of play in the entire seat back under extreme forces not to mention the compression of foam. Since the head easily tilts forward but not so much backwards, I would think the benefit of the headrest design far outweighs the risk. Sorta like someone hitting pause right before impact to place some extra support behind your head, then hitting play.

 

Exactly. When you drive a BMW, people are silently envious until something goes wrong. Then they turn on you like a pack of hyenas. The check out lady at the ER said to keeptrack of all the time I spend on this, including any expenses, and even mileage for submission to the insurance comany. Maybe I can turn posting on e60.com into a full time paid job?

 

Thanks. I can say for sure that this particular head rest comes with the "comfort seat" optioned car. Not sure what other options might also trigger this being included. Maybe "premium package" or "sport package"?