Sitting in my driveway with car in park & felt something hit the back of my head & heard a pop sound, my head jerked forward. I then looked at the headrest & saw that it had come apart

- Leander, TX, USA

I am filing a complaint about the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee headrest. On Saturday, 09/21/2019, my driver's side headrest deployed while my car was in park. My 17 year old son was in the driver's seat when this happened. The headrest hit him in the back of the head, throwing him forward, almost face planting him into the steering wheel. Needless to say, we did not drive my Jeep the rest of the weekend. I googled this issue and I am shocked at all of the online complaints about this type of headrest and yet, it fails to be a recall. If my son would have been driving, he could have wrecked, potentially killing himself, my daughter and me. All of the people posting their complaints online said Jeep is not covering this issue, and customers are having to pay anywhere from $600-$1025 for the repair. This is a fact. I took my Jeep to the dealership and they were going to charge me $1,017 to fix. This is not an appropriate way to treat loyal Jeep customers. This is the sixth Jeep I have owned. I filed a complaint with the fca and followed-up with a phone call several days later. Fortunately, the fca agreed to replace both of my headrest at no cost to me. The dealership has ordered the parts and I plan to get the new ones installed next week. I am filing this complaint because I feel this should be a recall and the manufacturers of the headrest need to make this right. The result could have been worse. I truly do not want this to happen to anyone else.

- Brownsburg, IN, USA

Active head restraint (in front headrest) has very weak plastic parts that spontaneously break and cause this safety mechanism to deploy the headrest. This has a very high probability of causing an accident should this spontaneous deployment happen on the drivers side. This could occur without the automobile being in an accident. Fiat Chrysler refuses to acknowledge the weakness of this safety mechanism even though this is an extremely common occurrence.

- Rapid City, SD, USA

The headrest on the driver seat deployed while the car was stopped in park and not in an accident/collision. When attempting to rest the headrest it was clear that the plastic part that keeps the headrest from deploying was broken.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

Passenger headrest deployed (violently and loudly sprung forward from its backing) during slow speed neighborhood driving for no reason. This could have caused significant harm to a passenger's head/neck had someone been sitting in the seat. The deployment itself was so loud that it scared and distracted the driver and could have caused an accident.

- Houston, TX, USA

While driving, the drivers side head rest was activated causing the active head restrain to be deployed.

- Brick, NJ, USA

On 8-11-2019 I was driving straight on a paved road with my wife in the passengers seat at 35 mph. I heard a very loud pop and my wife laid forward on her lap in severe pain. The noise sounded like a gun shot. We both thought that my wife was shot by a gun. She yelled in pain. She asked me to check her head and neck for any signs of blood. I pulled over and checked her out. I noticed at that point the passenger side active headrest had deployed and struck her in the head. We were not in a accident or impacting anything. She had headaches, neck pain, vomiting and loss of sleep for two weeks. I have called and E-mailed Chrysler and they opened up a case. Chrysler sent out a inspector to inspect our Jeep at the Jeep dealership. This active headrest deploying is very dangerous. This has caused serious injuries. No more people need to get hurt because of these defective deploying active headrests. We need a mandatory factory recall issued. No more drivers or passengers need to go thru the pain that my wife experienced. Consumer stated vehicle is fixed.

- Winter Haven, FL, USA

My passenger side active headrest deployed while I was driving my vehicle down a local street in lincroft, NJ. The vehicle had approximately 75K miles at the time. The vehicle was not in an accident and upon visual inspection the plastic part that latches into the fixture snapped off leaving the headrest permanently damaged.

- Lincroft, NJ, USA

Drivers headrest deployed for no reason. Car was parked. Plastic clip broken and cannot reset. Required to buy new headrest unit. Seen numerous complaints already filed.

- Washburm, WI, USA

The headrest on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee deployed. The vehicle was sitting in my garage. I tried to reset it but noticed the plastic brackets were broken and it cannot be repaired but needs to be replaced. I am very thankful that my child or myself was not driving at the time, not only does this have the potential to cause serious head or neck injury but also safety issue should this deploy while operating the vehicle.

- Middletown, IN, USA

Previously the clips on my passenger seat headrest came apart. I did file a report on that and Jeep did pay to fix it. Now the clips on the same seat backrest have popped apart. These clips are obviously faulty as many other Jeep Grand Cherokee owners have had the same problem. I believe the ntsb needs to look into this and issue a recall. I'm sure there are many Jeep gc owners who have paid the over $700 bill to fix this and it is through no fault of their own but a defect that the manufacturer should be fixing. I rarely have passengers in my car and it is very well cared for. There has been no undue stress put on this seat whatsoever to cause this.

- Shelton, WA, USA

The driver's side headrest deployed when not in an accident. The vehicle had been parked and when I was getting in and barely touched the headrest it popped open.

- Bedford, TX, USA

Pulled into parking space. Switched off engine and before removing seat belts to exit the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the passenger head rest just exploded striking my wife on the back of the head. If this incident occurred while driving in traffic it would have caused me to take my eyes off the road, abruptly stopping to see what the noise was and check on her. If the driver's head rest did the same, it would surely have caused an accident. My Jeep Grand Cherokee has not been involved in an accident therefore I believe this incident to be the result of faulty design dangerous to the occupants.

- Biloxi, MS, USA

The active headrest in my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo deployed while driving on the highway without warning. The vehicle has never been in an accident and the headrest has no prior damage before this incident.

- Grand Blanc, MI, USA

I was driving my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee on the highway when suddenly something smacked me in the back of the head. I had no idea what happened so I pulled over and got out to see. It was then that I noticed the headrest had deployed and was separated and sticking forward. Luckily I did not receive any injuries from the smack to my head & also was still able to maintain my lane of the highway even though it scared me to death. I then took it into my local Jeep dealership where I was greeted with a $679 bill for a new headrest and informed that since there is no recall I would be responsible for it. I'm appalled that this is acceptable and deemed safe. In what way is a sporadic smack to the head while driving safe? let alone paying $679 for that smack to the head. There have been multiple accounts of this happening yet nothing has been done. Chrysler vehicles contain a critical safety defect involving the materials used in its active head restraint (ahr) system. The ahr systems are intended to quickly move forward in the event of a rear end collision, restraining and protecting the passenger's head to prevent whiplash. The ahr headrests are prone to deploy abruptly, even while the vehicle is being operated under normal driving conditions. When this deployment occurs, the headrest springs forward, striking the driver/passenger in the back of the head unexpectedly. Not only does this have the potential to cause serious head injuries to the driver/passenger of the vehicle, the defective headrest poses a significant public safety risk if it occurs while operating the vehicle on a highway or busy street. Inspections of the defective headrests show that inferior plastic that is prone to cracking was used for a critical bracket in the ahr system. There is no way to determine when and if the bracket will fail, causing the headrest to deploy and spring forward without warning.

- Topeka, KS, USA

The drivers side active headrest deployed without a collision. I was driving in a parking lot and heard a lot sound and was hit in the back of head by an unknown object at the time. After stopping and composing myself and checking myself out as I thought I may have been shot. I realized the headrest had deployed. Contactes two dealerships in my area and both said they had never heard of this happening and it was not a recall and not covered under warranty

- Cordova, TN, USA

While vehicle was stationary, parked in driveway, passenger seat active headrest failed into an open position. As stated by others, and verified by dealer, plastic retaining clips failed and caused an unnecessary release. This is a severe safety issue that needs to be addressed. The drivers side head rest could fail at any moment, potentially causing an accident that results in serious injury or death.

- Mount Airy, MD, USA

I would like to address this issue to Jeep about my passenger headrest deploying without any cause while my car was in park for more than 6 hours... after reading more than several threads and concerns from other Jeep owners and it also happening to them and the outrageous cost to repair a single headrest including labor is beyond me. I feel cheated out. This repair is almost a $800 repair... why has Jeep not made this very repetitive issue a recall? I feel Jeep should be responsible for the diag and also the repair for my Jeep. I know I am not the only one that has had this issue and has felt the same. I am asking for someone to handle this in a fair manner. Being a single parent and not being able to fork money like I am a bank has made this tremendously frustrating.

- Albuquerque, NM, USA

The active headrest deployed while pulling out of a parking garage for no reason.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

While sitting at a stop light, I hear a pop noise from the passenger seat, I hear my mother in law yell ooow, the headrest popped out and hit her in the back of the head.

- Yuma, AZ, USA