Future Ford Vehicles May Automatically Adjust Headrests

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for automatically adjusting headrests that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on March 17^th, 2023, published on September 19^th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0308402.

The Ford Authority Take

In recent months, Ford has filed a number of patents that would be capable of adjusting a vehicle’s seats automatically, for a number of reasons. These patent filings center around ideas such as seats that could adjust themselves to improve ergonomics, perfect positioning based on scientific standards, or even make room for pets. Now, this newly published patent keeps that trend going, this time, with an idea for automatically adjusting headrests that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.

The concept here is similar to the ones noted in the previous patents, as in, Ford is working to find a way to have headrests automatically adjust themselves based on the size and position of the person sitting in the seat. Typically, many vehicle occupants don’t move the headrests around when adjusting the seats, which isn’t ideal for comfort, let alone safety, in the event that they’re involved in an accident. This system could help with that process by using sensors to detect when a person is sitting in a vehicle seat, and then capturing biometric information about that person by using a number of sensors that measure distance and other factors.

From there, the system would use that information to adjust the headrest to fit the person in the seat perfectly, if it determines that adjustment is needed, that is. It’s yet another convenience feature that makes sense given the aforementioned patents for automatically adjusting seats, which – if they wind up coming to fruition – could very well also incorporate a separate yet similar system for adjusting the headrests, too.