So I am getting a new seat under warranty (see:http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=125908 .) I had to send in a 5" square of fabric (along with a 5" piece of webbing and the scraped-off model/DOM label) in lieu of the whole seat (much easier!) So I decided to cut it out of the headrest because I can save the rest of the cover that way to have a spare in case I ever want it (my husband hates this car seat pack rat thing...) Also, I was curious. So, I have some pictures.
First off, here's kind of a side view. You can see the EPP foam behind the head and all the way around the air cushion things in the headwings.
Then, here's a pic showing the top view of the air cushion, and how wide it is-- 2 inches at widest. It is made out of what seems to be very high-density foam, in a plastic casing.
Here it is squished down; it took significant pressure to compress it to about 1/2 inch (and this was a hard picture to take, sorry it's so cruddy.) I could not with my whole weight on it compress it down to less than 1/2 inch thick (1/4 of the total width.) Of note also, it tended to compress only where I was applying direct pressure, and spring back up as soon as my position changed, kind of like memory foam but much faster.
Here you can see the little X-shaped slits in the plastic. There are 4, two on each part of the plastic (the side toward the child's head, and the rim that goes around the width), both toward the outside of the cushion. All are the exact same size, and I assume the size and placement is calculated to allow the air in the cushion to escape at a regulated rate to control energy dispersion (is that a word?) and all that stuff. (Also, all 4 are located directly under the meshy part of the headrest cover. So under pressure, they'd have access to air exchange.)
And here is a top view of the layers that comprise this part of the headrest. You can see, inside to outside, air cushion, plastic shell, foam under rim (presumably to cushion the big plastic bolt-type part that's on the outside of the cover and keep it from potentially mushing into the plastic shell), then the cover. On the other side of the cover is the plastic plaque type bolt functiony thingy (don't you love my technical terms?)
And lastly, couldn't get a good shot, but just trying to show how there's a square of sticky adhesive stuff painted on the plastic, holding the air cushion in place. It's sticky enough that even after pulling it off for this picture, it stuck right back on. I don't know why exactly I cared but hey, experimenting for the greater knowledge, right?
So that's a nekkid inside of a CA headrest, since you'll probably never see one in a non-trashed seat. I thought it was interesting so I hope you find it so too. If you have any other questions/things you want measurements/pics of, let me know before I destroy the shell of the seat.
First off, here's kind of a side view. You can see the EPP foam behind the head and all the way around the air cushion things in the headwings.
Then, here's a pic showing the top view of the air cushion, and how wide it is-- 2 inches at widest. It is made out of what seems to be very high-density foam, in a plastic casing.
Here it is squished down; it took significant pressure to compress it to about 1/2 inch (and this was a hard picture to take, sorry it's so cruddy.) I could not with my whole weight on it compress it down to less than 1/2 inch thick (1/4 of the total width.) Of note also, it tended to compress only where I was applying direct pressure, and spring back up as soon as my position changed, kind of like memory foam but much faster.
Here you can see the little X-shaped slits in the plastic. There are 4, two on each part of the plastic (the side toward the child's head, and the rim that goes around the width), both toward the outside of the cushion. All are the exact same size, and I assume the size and placement is calculated to allow the air in the cushion to escape at a regulated rate to control energy dispersion (is that a word?) and all that stuff. (Also, all 4 are located directly under the meshy part of the headrest cover. So under pressure, they'd have access to air exchange.)
And here is a top view of the layers that comprise this part of the headrest. You can see, inside to outside, air cushion, plastic shell, foam under rim (presumably to cushion the big plastic bolt-type part that's on the outside of the cover and keep it from potentially mushing into the plastic shell), then the cover. On the other side of the cover is the plastic plaque type bolt functiony thingy (don't you love my technical terms?)
And lastly, couldn't get a good shot, but just trying to show how there's a square of sticky adhesive stuff painted on the plastic, holding the air cushion in place. It's sticky enough that even after pulling it off for this picture, it stuck right back on. I don't know why exactly I cared but hey, experimenting for the greater knowledge, right?
So that's a nekkid inside of a CA headrest, since you'll probably never see one in a non-trashed seat. I thought it was interesting so I hope you find it so too. If you have any other questions/things you want measurements/pics of, let me know before I destroy the shell of the seat.