[StreakyNuno]

Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars... Masterpiece

[MadhattanJack]

This is a subject that's been quite "near and dear" to me ever since I got my own Ph.D. in automotive interior design (from Miskatonic University in Arkham, MA, natch). What a lot of people don't realize is that the term "headrest" in this context is not the formal component name — they're actually "car head restraints," and the name has been shortened to "headrest" in the vernacular because the word "restraint" carries too many negative psychological connotations that involve being tied up or handcuffed or chained to the bed while someone has their way with you, usually sexually, but not always. Car-interior designers don't want people resting their heads on the restraints, obviously, because then people will simply fall asleep at the wheel, wreck their cars, and die, depriving the automotive industry of valuable customers and the associated revenue they represent.

Sooooo.... the big-drama controversy right now in the seat-design space is, of course, "to tilt or not to tilt." Head restraints have always been up-down adjustable, which is fine because so many people are really too tall to be allowed to drive tiny little putt-putt cars in the first place, dad-gummit. But in recent years, some automakers — especially the Japanese ones — have been installing forward-angled restraints with forward-rear tilt mechanisms, ostensibly to decrease the likelihood and severity of whiplash cases from head-on collisions with those little toy Hot-Wheels™ cars (anything bigger and it doesn't matter, you're basically going to be decaptitated). American manufacturers are somewhat divided on the issue, with GM steadfastly refusing to provide tilting head restraints in nearly all their vehicles, while Ford and Stellantis seem to be more open to the concept because their CEOs are morons.

And that's not all — the latest "fad" is to put audio-system speakers inside the head restraint, with the rationale being that the closer the speaker is to your head, the less volume is required to hear the severely mixed-down vocal tracks found in 90s-era shoegaze albums like Loveless and Souvlaki. Assuming this is true, it could reduce both energy consumption and the likelihood that someone will throw eggs or bricks at your car because you're driving through their otherwise-quiet neighborhood at night and waking the neighbors with loud, booming, bass-heavy tunage. So it all seems like a good idea, until you realize that the magnets in the speakers are just a few millimeters from your head - easily close enough to interfere with the constant micro-frequency signals directed into the tiny transceiver in your brain that was implanted there by the government during the first Trump Administration, these transmissions being what caused you to vote for the second one.

Last but not least, no BEA thread would be complete without a standard album link. If the OP had taken the trouble to include one, I probably would never have written any of this.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Scholars by Car Seat Headrest

[albummaster]

the bit about brainwaves got me thinking maybe Elon has implanted a Neuralink in his toyboy.