NHTSA Complaint #11602682 — 2013 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY

I was enjoying holiday driving with family in my 2013 Chrysler Town & Country Limited when suddenly a very loud pop was heard, with a forceful strike to the back of my head being felt. Alarmed & dazed for a moment, it was observed that my driver’s side active headrest had just exploded forward striking me on the back of my head. Once off the highway and stopped, I discovered that the active headrest had actually come apart. From the damage inside the exposed headrest, this catastrophic failure seemed to be mechanical in nature with root cause thought to be STRESS FATIGUE for the plastic casement. In other words, this active headrest did not just randomly “go off” from an errant SRS command or an electronically manipulated trigger short. I observed the headrest’s metal latch pin to still be in the locked or reset position. Instead, the plastic assembly holding two (2) heavy coil springs ruptured unprovoked. When this happened, the front part of the headrest assembly rapidly propelled forward. Though the 2010-2016 Chrysler Town & Country active headrests are an integral part of the air bag or Supplemental Restraint System, THIS particular failure was NOT due to a SRS Control nor electrical malfunction. Rather, the plastic retainer struts surrounding the metal latch pin failed. Being that my head and neck were static in position with a small amount of clearance from the front face of the headrest, the propulsion of the headrest forward caused quite a sharp smack to the back of my head. This led to some residual neck strain for the balance of the day. I have not experienced any repercussions since that day of the incident, but I do believe this to be a SAFETY ISSUE for others who may be more age OR physically compromised. I’ve found through MOPAR tech forum and dealership research that the 2010 - 2016 active headrest FAILURE is NOT rare, but more and more COMMON to the Chrysler make. Please advise. Thank you so much.