Front Seat Head Restraint problems of the 2008 Honda Civic

The headrests are designed too far forward, causing neck, back and shoulder strain to anyone sitting in the front seats for extended periods.

I have owned a brand-new '08 Honda Civic lx four-door sedan, mt for approximately 4-5 weeks. I drive my car 5 days a week, roundtrip each day 140 miles. About 3 weeks in, I suffered excruciating neck/shoulders/back pain. I adjusted the seat all kinds of different ways and moved the headrest up and down, to no avail. Finally, I ripped the headrest completely out and then I drove pain free for about a week. Now, the pain is back, even though the headrest is still facing backward. I have contacted my dealership but haven't heard back yet about a solution. I'm still in severe neck pain, and I currently have no whiplash protection, should I crash, because the head rest is tilted too far back. The forward-jutting headrests are supposed to be a whiplash safety feature, but what good is it if I remove it because I can't tolerate the pain I'm in every day? there is a ton of internet chatter out there about this problem. Thank you.

Purchased 4th Honda Civic this year. Love them! however I also (after I got home with the car) noticed how uncomfortable the head rest was. I also had some neck strain after I got to work because of the position it put my head and neck in. I was unable to drive it for long distances so my husband made a minor adjustment to the head rest. Now it is perfect. I hope they will correct this in future Hondas.

The contact owns a 2008 Honda Civic. The contact stated that the head rest is very uncomfortable and causes neck pain. She is only 5'1 and the head rest does not accommodate her height. The vehicle was test driven; however, she did not experience the full affect until after she brought the vehicle home. The head rest is tilted forward and cone shaped. Honda stated that there have only been three complaints for this feature. The dealer stated that the shape of the head rest was to prevent whiplash in the event of a crash. The dealer also stated that there was no way to upgrade or adjust the head rest for safety purposes due to liability. The contact stated that the dealer would not take the vehicle back or make any repairs whatsoever. The only deal that the dealer offered was to give her an upgrade of the Civic for $10,000 more of what her vehicle was worth. They then offered her a 2008 Honda accord that was $6,500 more due to the addendum. The dealer finally offered her a 2007 demo vehicle for $3,000 more. The contact felt that her intelligence was being insulted. The failure mileage was 5 and current mileage was 250. Updated 01-29-08.