Active Headrests – What are they and how to install DVD’s

by QMV-Lorenzo · Published December 11, 2015 · Updated March 27, 2018

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What are Active Headrests?

Active headrests are normally found on newer vehicles as a part of the cars safety equipment. These headrests are referred to as active because in an event of an accident the headrests actively move forward to cradle the head and prevent whiplash. A quick look into your vehicles interior can help identify whether your car is equipped with an active headrest restrain system. Vehicles with active headrests commonly have what looks like a rectangular shaped plastic enclosure on the back of an otherwise cloth or leather headrest (See picture below).

You can have DVD players in vehicles that are equipped with Active headrests

Can I still have DVD in the headrest with active headrests?

Removing the active headrests from a vehicle would not only cause the airbag light on the dash to turn on but may also void the vehicles warranty. Aftermarket headrest DVD manufacturers usually get around this problem by designing DVD headrests specifically made for vehicles with active headrests that simply attach to your existing posts, without the need of removing the headrest. Universal active DVD headrest monitors will only come with a plastic enclosure in a black, gray, or tan color. However companies such as Vizualogic and Rosen specialize in designing headrest buns that are enclosed with the exact material, color and stitching as the one found in your current interior.

How to install active DVD Headrests

The completed installation of the Rosen AV7700 Active Headrest DVD System

We recently installed some active headrest monitors on a BMW X5 made by Rosen, one of the companies dedicated to matching your cars interior and delivering high end monitors.

This particular installation called for a bit of a custom job as the customer was looking for built in speakers when these Rosen units don’t carry any. What we did was attach a computer speaker to these monitors and attach a seperate volume control.

Here are the headrests prior to installing the Rosen AV7700 DVD Headrsts

Here is a quick view of the X5′ s active headrest monitors before installing Rosen’s active headrest monitors.

The seat back is removed prior to installing the DVD active headrests.

The back of the seat must be removed in order to run and hide all of the wiring needed to complete the installation.

rosen av7700 dvd headrest attached to the seat

Here we have attached the Rosen AV7700 DVD Headrest and run the wiring through the seats

Removing the back of the seat and running the wires that will ultimately run to a control box that will house all of the systems connections is often the hardest part of installing these headrest monitors Rosen AV7500 Installation Manual.

Here we have tied off all the cabling for the new headrests

Once all of the wires have been ran to the bottom of the seat where the control box is located you are ready to close the back of the seat.

We have installed the central control box underneath the drivers seat. Both DVD headrests connect to this control box

All the connections on a Rosen headrest system ultimately must connect to a control box which the installer will place on the bottom of the driver or passengers seat. This control box controls the power source and houses the headrest monitors RCA connections.

This customer wanted to have speakers attached to each headrest so that headphone would not be required. Here you can see our custom work

On vehicles with active headrests you cannot remove the headrest without voiding the vehicles warranty or causing the check airbag light to turn on so active headrest monitor simply attach to the back of the headrest as seen above.