Am I being too paranoid?

[Frankie]

I was rear ended and severely/permanently injured in my F-150, which was totaled and which I eventually replaced with my Bronco, and I just started sort of thinking "what if this happens again" and went out and looked at the headrest posts on my Bronco and they're awfully similar to the ones that snapped in half in my F-150. To be fair I am 6'5" and probably would be accurately described as having a big head.

Chances are obviously small that something similar would ever happen again so am I just being paranoid? Kind of just wanted to see what other people's take on this was. Like maybe I should try and find a vehicle (or replacement seats?) that are sort of "one piece" so that there's no headrest posts to snap off? Does anyone know how those type of seats are generally constructed? I actually know that Tesla model 3s have seats like that but they still have headrest posts, they're just internal to the seat and aren't adjustable, so not sure if that would actually be any better. Are there aftermarket seats that might be better that would just "bolt in"?

Thanks for any input.

Bronco:

F-150:

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[Jazer]

I have no suggestions for you - just came to say you are not being paranoid. That is a VERY reasonable concern to have, given your experience. Was that caused by whiplash?

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Sorry to hear what you went thru! I tried to look for rear crash tests but couldn't find exactly that but you can compare your Bronco against the competition in the rest of the categories.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings

I will say the F-150 and Bronco look like they have the same ratings which are surprisingly higher than I thought. Also a few of the accident pictures I've seen, a Bronco fares pretty well, it's a big 5k pound cage basically so you could look at Copart and see specifically wrecked Bronco's and look for rear end collisions to see how the seats held up.

Good luck out there!

 

[Bruno]

I was rear ended and severely/permanently injured in my F-150
F-150:

Good lord you must have been hit by a semi-truck I cant imagine what happened to you if the steel was broken like a twig.... I hope physical therapy will get you back on track - good luck!

These seats delete the in-seat airbag, but maybe worth looking at :
https://scheel-mann.com/products/vario-f-xxl?variant=44101722997043

 

[Oldhippie]

That does look like a “freak” failure…sorry you were the victim…without going to an actual race seat I don’t think you will find anything significantly stronger/safer…good luck!

 

[Frankie]

Good lord you must have been hit by a semi-truck I cant imagine what happened to you if the steel was broken like a twig.... I hope physical therapy will get you back on track - good luck!

These seats delete the in-seat airbag, but maybe worth looking at :
https://scheel-mann.com/products/vario-f-xxl?variant=44101722997043

Good point about the seat airbag, I hadn't even thought about that yet.

Not too far off on the semi, it was a one ton pulling a huge horse trailer (no horses in it at the time, luckily for both them and me).

I have no suggestions for you - just came to say you are not being paranoid. That is a VERY reasonable concern to have, given your experience. Was that caused by whiplash?

Yeah, just my neck snapping back.

I would guess part of it could also be attributed to it being a body on frame vehicle? Hard to have crumple zones that are as effective with a big frame underneath them, I would guess, but I'm no forensic crashologist.

 

[Figmo]

I try to be “glass is half full” as much as I can. Maybe this broken headrest saved your life?

Obviously, the impact broke the headrest. But what if the headrest didn’t break? What if you had some sort of rigid reinforcement to kept that from breaking?

You might be dead.

Possible the the breaking headrest acted as a “crumple zone” of sorts. Giving you whiplash, true. But also slowing the sudden impact and preventing your brain from slamming against the back of your skull. Which could have killed you or left you in a coma.

Obviously nobody can say. But I have found that many times in life what we see as “bad luck” can sometimes be viewed as “good luck” if we can only step back from it and look again.

Food for thought.

 

[Dialtone]

I was rear ended and severely/permanently injured in my F-150, which was totaled and which I eventually replaced with my Bronco, and I just started sort of thinking "what if this happens again" and went out and looked at the headrest posts on my Bronco and they're awfully similar to the ones that snapped in half in my F-150. To be fair I am 6'5" and probably would be accurately described as having a big head.

Chances are obviously small that something similar would ever happen again so am I just being paranoid? Kind of just wanted to see what other people's take on this was. Like maybe I should try and find a vehicle (or replacement seats?) that are sort of "one piece" so that there's no headrest posts to snap off? Does anyone know how those type of seats are generally constructed? I actually know that Tesla model 3s have seats like that but they still have headrest posts, they're just internal to the seat and aren't adjustable, so not sure if that would actually be any better. Are there aftermarket seats that might be better that would just "bolt in"?

Thanks for any input.

Bronco:

F-150:

My wife and 2 year old daughter were rear ended by an idiot. I wasn't even there and I've been paranoid since. That was almost 30 years ago. My wife who once loved driving has never really recovered. A long route to say; no you're not paranoid. Recaro and some others make seat adaptors that fit just about anything.

 

[KABQ]

This isn't really advice, and it's the Internet so I feel like it would be bad if it was, but I think it will go one of two ways: either you drive it and drive it and nothing happens so you gain confidence in the system, or you drive it and drive it and every time you get in you think, "this could be the time it happens again." There's really no way to know which way you'll react without actually trying.

 

[SaraB]

That headrest damage is crazy! I was rear-ended while stopped at a stoplight in my 2023 Bronco by an F-550 DRW service truck with all the locking boxes type setup. He never even tried to stop and was going about 50-55mph when he hit me. My Bronco was totaled but luckily it took it better than I could have ever imagined. My husband and I were pretty shaken up and had minor injuries, but I was so impressed with the hit my Bronco took and how well we fared that I turned around and ordered another one. I was told that every crumple zone in the frame was compressed and the Bronco did it's job protecting us. My husband is also getting ready to order his own Bronco now after our experience.

 

[AndGerry]

Truly do not believe that you are paranoid… it is a concern and a valid one considering what you went through. Still, I wish you well and hope you get to enjoy driving your Bronco.

 

[Frankie]

I try to be “glass is half full” as much as I can. Maybe this broken headrest saved your life?

Obviously, the impact broke the headrest. But what if the headrest didn’t break? What if you had some sort of rigid reinforcement to kept that from breaking?

You might be dead.

Possible the the breaking headrest acted as a “crumple zone” of sorts. Giving you whiplash, true. But also slowing the sudden impact and preventing your brain from slamming against the back of your skull. Which could have killed you or left you in a coma.

Obviously nobody can say. But I have found that many times in life what we see as “bad luck” can sometimes be viewed as “good luck” if we can only step back from it and look again.

Food for thought.

i had considered this and it’s certainly a possibility but I think the bending acted as a crumple zone, the snapping off and complete removal of support not so much. At some point as you crank up the force and increase the neck support you absolutely would eventually cause a skull fracture but not convinced that was really very likely here.

and not to be pedantic but I think whiplash generally refers to soft tissue injuries, what I have are comminuted fractures of the cervical spine.

 

[Big Pony]

That’s classic PTSD brother. Not paranoia. The headrest saved your life even though it snapped. Had it been nonexistent, the whiplash could’ve killed you. As many others have said, short of switching to a Recaro type seat, I don’t believe you’ll find much else out there.

I would try to find a custom auto upholstery shop and see if they can fabricate a one piece back/head rest within the existing Bronco seat and make it look good padded and covered. I’m sure it can be done. The Texas Metal guys from Ekstensive Metal Works in Houston come to mind. There’s other reputable and famous shops in LA/Irvine too. Probably closer to you. And it might not be prohibitively expensive at all. Good luck!

 

[Onestepmore]

I was rear ended and severely/permanently injured in my F-150, which was totaled and which I eventually replaced with my Bronco, and I just started sort of thinking "what if this happens again" and went out and looked at the headrest posts on my Bronco and they're awfully similar to the ones that snapped in half in my F-150. To be fair I am 6'5" and probably would be accurately described as having a big head.

Chances are obviously small that something similar would ever happen again so am I just being paranoid? Kind of just wanted to see what other people's take on this was. Like maybe I should try and find a vehicle (or replacement seats?) that are sort of "one piece" so that there's no headrest posts to snap off? Does anyone know how those type of seats are generally constructed? I actually know that Tesla model 3s have seats like that but they still have headrest posts, they're just internal to the seat and aren't adjustable, so not sure if that would actually be any better. Are there aftermarket seats that might be better that would just "bolt in"?

Thanks for any input.

Bronco:

F-150:

Holy Crap!!! If your head snapped that off I can't believe you didn't break your neck!!! I think God has a better plan for you...with that said you are NOT be paranoid...you should send those pictures to Ford...they need to be aware of this...If they were steel they would have bent...the way those snapped it looks like a cheap alloyed metal and not to be used in such a critical location. I hope you are ok...that looks frightening!!!

 

[wjtinfwb]

Two steel posts snapped cleanly in half. It looks like the break was pretty far down the post, implying that the headrest was fully extended and the leverage exerted on the headrest by your recoiling noggin created sufficent force to break the two metal posts. Not sure what kind of metal thos posts are made of but obviously not as strong as you'd think they'd be. You may want to pull the headrests out of your Bronco seats and take them to a custom upholstery shop or a fabricator and inquire about having the posts replaced with two identical dimension posts constructed out of Carbon steel, Amazon offers these;
https://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Unpol...5bb-9095-41ce9c6c3625&pd_rd_i=B000H9JW5I&th=1

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