Rear -Seat Headrests in OB

[LuvmyBS]

I traded my ‘21 BB for a ‘23 OB last March. I was surprised to find out the rear seat headrests don’t flip down to aide with folding the seats down. Am I missing something? Can they be tilted or did they really take that out? Seems strange to remove that option in a higher level model. Now I have to move the front seat forward every time I want to put the back seats down. Just extra steps and more time.

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[Quashish]

Yeah I didn't know either. But it's not a trim thing I think in 22 they stopped folding. Just ford being cheap. If I would have known ahead of time I would have swapped them at the dealership.

 

[Bill G]

Recall a thread from back in ‘22 with instructions on making the non-folding head rests fold. At that time, at least, the folding mechanism was in the head rests, just no button to activate them.

 

[RushMan]

I was fortunate that around the time that ordered my '24 Badlands, I found on eBay folding headrests from a '21 rollover. The cloth ones seem to be harder to find than the ActiveX (faux leather) tan ones. I keep an eye out for my neighbor who has a '23 BB. In a year of watching, haven't found another set of cloth folding headrests.

 

[SandDawg]

I traded my ‘21 BB for a ‘23 OB last March. I was surprised to find out the rear seat headrests don’t flip down to aide with folding the seats down. Am I missing something? Can they be tilted or did they really take that out? Seems strange to remove that option in a higher level model. Now I have to move the front seat forward every time I want to put the back seats down. Just extra steps and more time.

Just another money saver by Ford. It was announced. Look under your armrest. They took out the clip to hold a pencil. You can buy it for $9 on ford parts.

 

[Quashish]

Just another money saver by Ford. It was announced. Look under your armrest. They took out the clip to hold a pencil. You can buy it for $9 on ford parts.

Wow didn't notice that one either.

 

[sajohnson]

I traded my ‘21 BB for a ‘23 OB last March. I was surprised to find out the rear seat headrests don’t flip down to aide with folding the seats down. Am I missing something? Can they be tilted or did they really take that out? Seems strange to remove that option in a higher level model. Now I have to move the front seat forward every time I want to put the back seats down. Just extra steps and more time.

We went through that with our 2022 BS BL. I was able to convince the GM of the dealership where we bought it to give us the folding headrests.

I wrote about it here at the time. IIRC, I made a few points, including:

1) The marketing photos from Ford clearly showed the '22 with folding headrests. I can't recall which other trims were shown with them, but I don't think they were limited to the BL.

2) My wife's previous vehicle is a '97 RAV4. It does not have folding headrests, they are fixed, but they are easy to remove, and when the rear seats are folded forward/stowed, there are 2 holes on each seat to insert the headrests into -- so they don't have to be tossed on the floor.

I pointed out to the GM, that if Ford had intended for the headrests to be fixed, they would have provided somewhere to stow them.

I thought it was another supply chain issue -- that the headrests were supposed to be folding but they ran out of them. That said, it sounds like Ford actually did "decontent" them. If that's the case it is a large oversight to not provide a way to store them.

To be honest, while we do occasionally fold the headrests, we could get by without them. They are useful, but another factor was the we had paid full MSRP (- $1,000 credit for ordering) and we wanted to get what we paid for.

There's probably a bit more detail in my original thread.

Good luck!

 

[RushMan]

I traded my ‘21 BB for a ‘23 OB last March. I was surprised to find out the rear seat headrests don’t flip down to aide with folding the seats down. Am I missing something? Can they be tilted or did they really take that out? Seems strange to remove that option in a higher level model. Now I have to move the front seat forward every time I want to put the back seats down. Just extra steps and more time.

In my notes, I found a Part Number for the folding headrests in tan material.
M1PZ-78611A08-EB
M1PZ-78611A09-EA
Here a couple of places to try. I'm not recommending them, just giving you a start on your search. Each link is for one side only. You need to search the other part number for the other side headrest.
https://www.fordpartsgiant.com/parts/ford-headrest-cover-and-pad_m1pz-78611a08-eb.html
https://www.oemfordpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/ford-headrest-outer-m1pz78611a08eb

In the schematic on these parts page, they do show the button on the outer headrest.
I'd call one of these Ford parts distributors to verify that they are folding and the color and material.
Some of parts places have outrageous shipping prices, so check on that also.

Good luck!

P.S. I paid a little more for my cloth folding headrests from a salvage yard reseller. But they included the center headrest also, which I didn't need.

 

[LuvmyBS]

Thank you! Very helpful!!

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