My wife noticed the other day when she was in my car that the back of her head can easily come into contact with the metal rotary symbol the is in the seat, she is shorter than me ( 5'1' vs 5'11") so don't have any problem with the seat. Since she works in a tramua unit she was wondering if it would cause a person more serious injury if their head were to slam back into that symbol in the event of an accident.

 

this has been brought up before
and many agreed it could be harmful to passenger

 

Many also considered it to be a non-issue. The "metal" insert is actually lightweight silver plastic, and it's mounted to the fabric of the seat rather than solidly to the seat frame. I don't believe it poses any serious injury threat.

 

Even though it may be silver plastic, it is still a firm object that is making contact with the back of your head. I imagine that it could potentiate more injury if you violently make contact with it.

 

I have to admit, the thought of a rotary logo indented permanently to the back of my head has a certain appeal.

Really, now...don't you think this whole idea of the plastic logom embedded deep into the surrounding heavily cushioned material as a potential danger just more than a bit silly........

 

I don't think so, no. Metal would be worse of course, but any object hitting your skull at high speed is bad news...

I don't doubt the Mazda safety engineers studied this in detail though (especially given that many Japanese people are of similar proportions to the OP's wife )

 

Perhaps a taller wife might be in order......just kidding.

IF it's that large of a concern, just put her in the back seat....oops....just kidding again.

Maybe it's a good excuse to install 6-point-harness-style racing seats

 

Depends what you mean by high speed.
It is not a loose article that will fly forward from the rear of the car in a collision. Rather it is a piece of plastic, attached to the seat padding. Since you are strapped to the seat with it, I think that your head won't be hitting the object at a relatively high speed. (Unlike a point on the dash or a free object from the back seat.)

 

I 've been thinking about that.. Ya know, it would be nice if Mazda came out with some pillow inserts that plugged into it so that you can lay down on the seat without having their head fall into that gap with it's hard rotary emblem.

The RX-8's seats, while the look very nice, do not provide much head comfort for not-so-tall folks like myself. I'm 5'6 and my head falls into that hole when lower the back all the way down. Rotary pillow inserts would be pretty useful to have in the car for such occasions.

 

There is already a thread about this "safety" issue.

Was determined safe.

Someone there brought up the idea of getting the rotary triangle burned into the back of the head when the supposed 'metal' heats up in summer.

-Peter

 

I think the only way this plastic rotary emblem poses any "serious" threat is if you were to be hit very violently in the rear. In a head-on collision, your seatbelt and airbags are going to absorb all of the force exerted from your body's inertia going -forward- and then you will fall back into the seat. I don't think the fall back into the seat is enough to harm you. Now, if you were rearended and your inertia forced your head backwards...that might be cause for concern, but that is unlikely because in order to achieve the amount of force, I imagine your neck would snap first. That's my theory.

 

The (semi-) detached object in such cases is often your head! From what I've seen though, the RX-8 has fared very well in crash tests for both occupants and pedestrians.

And from the anecdotal evidence of the crash pics posted on this forum, the passenger compartment is very well protected. I'm a little wary of that engine being so close to the driver/passenger's feet, but the fact that it's so light does help matters. (Compared with a massive V6 or V8 lump sitting in front of you ).

 

If you're as hard-headed as I am, your skull would be intact and the emblem would need replacing.

 

If you are REALLY that concerned that there might be a safety issue, try putting on some neoprene seat covers (like Wet Okole). You will cover up the rotors and will have a nice soft surface that would absorb what little force that lightweight plastic could possibly do in a collision. You can even enhance your interior's design with custom colored inserts. Not my preference unless the seat bolsters start showing unusual wear.

 

Not really, because the same inertia that moved your head back relative to the seat, would also have moved the plastic rotor trim backwards relative to the seat padding. That's why it's flexibly mounted instead of being integral to the seat frame.