Is it common for the passanger headrest to rattle? I get a lot of tapping and rattling unless someone is riding shotgun. It seems like the headrest posts are tapping the inside of the seat, and adjusting it up or down doesnt quite it down. I'm almost considering taking the back of the seat off (if thats possible) and adding some padding to shut it up....its driving me INSANE (as is the other 5 rattles I have)

 

Mine doesn't

 

Mine doesn't but you can wrap-up with mask tape 1-2 inches around the headrest stand and push it back down.It will be totally fit to the hole of the seat.

 

I just went back out and looked at it closer. I can't confirm it, but I suspect the headrest posts fit into hard sleeves inside the seat. When I have the headrest out almost all the way i can tell there is more inside that moving around. I was going to try tape, but its not the metal posts on the headrest hitting, its the female end inside the seat that is making the noise. The drivers side is just as flimbsy, but doesnt make noise since my body dampens it.

Instead of taking the seat apart, I might experiment with trying to pull the female end of the posts out, but I dont want to mess anything up.

 

Have you taken it to the dealer for them to look and fix? My car has no rattles and might as well have the dealer look at it while the car is under warrenty.

 

Does anyone want to do me a big favor and tell me what happens when you lightly punch or nudge an empty from seat on your car? It makes the noise and physically moves when I tap on the back of the seat.


I had them look at it during my slave cylinder recall, but they did nothing to fix it. I guess it was low on the priority list after they did the slave cylinder. i think they just adjusted the headrest and hoped that would work.

I guess i'll have to nag them again, but I think it will fall low on their priority list since i also want them to look at :

3rd and 5th gear synchros scraping
A/C compressor grinding
remote key recall
cruise control reprogram

They're gonna love me

 

I suspect that my passenger headrest rattles as well. It's just as you have described, when there is a passenger I don't hear it rattle, but when there isnt a passenger, it is very noticeable. I brought it up to my dealer and they said they adjusted the headrest anchors. Not sure exactly what they were referring to but it didn't do anything to fix the rattle! I'm not 100% certain it is the headrest though, because I have held the headrest with one hand while driving and the noise didn't go away. It might be something in the seat itself.

 

Mine rattles too, only on the passenger side. My wife likes to have the back rest reclined, so when I forget to put it back straight up, I can hear it rattle. That became my solution. When I drive by myself, I put the passenger seat back in the up right position (sounds like we are landing an airplane).

Until it becomes a problem in all positions, I am not going to worry about it.

 

My passenger headrest doesn't rattle, but if the passenger seat back is at the perfect angle, the whole seat back rattles a bit.
I just change the angle a bit and it's resolved.

Of course, it never rattles if a passenger is on board.

 

I've had a few rattles but I've managed to locate all of them and figure out how to make them stop. In my experience doing that, I've learned that my initial assessment of where the rattle is coming from is often wrong. I've had rattles that I thought were in the head liner actually caused by the seat belt mechanism, something in the cup holder or center console, or even the eye-glasses case. So make sure you do a survey of the interior and not focus on one spot. You may be surprised.