ACURA MDX . ORG
www.acuramdx.org ACURA MDX . ORG Archive > Model Specific Discussions > 2007 and newer MDX
 
DVD headrest installed - redux - with pics - Click HERE for Original Thread
Advertisement
0utlier
Just posting this in case anyone wants to see this in ebony. These are very inexpensive DVD headrests, but they seem pretty good. I'm sure they aren't as good as the $1500 set, but my kids don't care. The best thing I like about these is they have built in speakers. On trips, I fade XM to the front and the kids watch a movie in the back. The kids don't do headphones very well right now. I could never find any high end units that had built in speakers anyway.

We only turn them on when we go on trips longer than an hour so hopefully they'll last a long time.

I got them for around $370 shipped and I paid $150 to the local audio store to do a pro install. Installing them yourself is definitely doable, but I prefer to spend my weekends doing other things.

The headrests match pretty well. If you didn't know any better you most likely wouldn't be able to tell they weren't stock.

I got them from http://cgi.ebay.com/7-Headrest-LCD-...1QQcmdZViewItem

I offered them $299 and shipping was $69 for 2 or 3 day UPS from Hong Kong.



csmeance
head-rests don't look right with the seat in my opinion. I would have gotten them taken out and put in the factory headrests.
0utlier
Of course they look "not right" to you. They are definitely different from OEM. They look "just right" to anyone who doesn't own an MDX and wouldn't know any difference. Most importantly, the kids can watch different movies or the same.

I'm not too terribly hung up on the shape of the headrests. I much prefer to save the $1000+ it would have taken to get factory look-a-likes. Not to mention the smaller screen the OEM headrests would have to use.

My MDX was built prior to June 2007 so it doesn't have active head restraints anyway.
gotMDX
NICE!!! I was to get one for my van but the two other vendors I've found sell the units 'as-is'. I believe there is no warranty because they are discontinued items. Did you get any warranty from your merchant? Also, how are the games that came with it? I wanted those wireless headphones, too. They might work with my X's ent. sys. So far my 3-year old already broke two wired headphones. The two OEM wireless hps are working well for the 4 and 7-year old boys! :4:
Advertisement
0utlier
There is like a 15 day DOA policy, but no explicit warranty I'm aware of. I'm not going to ship these back to Hong Kong for any warranty work anyway. If they break I'll just toss them. They seem to be of decent quality though. The screens are of the Sharp brand. I'm sure they're not as nice as the uber expensive headrest DVD's, but only the kids watch them and they could care less if it's not the highest of quality video.

The video does look better than the crappy strap on headrest DVD players I had. The kids are too young to play the games so I can't comment on those. We only run the DVD in the car when we go on trips of longer than an hour. These DVD units won't get much of a workout. The number one selling point (at any price point) for me was the built-in speakers. I absolutely couldn't find any headrest DVD players that had built-in speakers locally, at any price.

These units fit our needs and since we don't run them often I expect them to last the life of our ownership of the car.
craniotes
quote:
Originally posted by 0utlier
My MDX was built prior to June 2007 so it doesn't have active head restraints anyway.


Actually it does (or rather, did ;)). Acura tweaked the design halfway through the model year to make them more effective.

Even so, your DVD units look nice, and the price was definitely right.

Regards,
Adam
0utlier
quote:
Originally posted by craniotes


Actually it does (or rather, did ;)). Acura tweaked the design halfway through the model year to make them more effective.

Even so, your DVD units look nice, and the price was definitely right.

Regards,
Adam



Everything I've read says cars built prior to June 2007 don't have AHR. You can easily find this info searching through google. Can you link to something that says otherwise?
MDiX
I see those foot marks on the back of the seats. I get those too. For that price it looks like a good buy.
Advertisement
1badsterling
mine is an 08. Can someone confirm if I put strap on portable dvd player screens on the headrest if this would affect the operation of the active hr system?
craniotes
quote:
Originally posted by 0utlier


Everything I've read says cars built prior to June 2007 don't have AHR. You can easily find this info searching through google. Can you link to something that says otherwise?



It's fairly common knowledge 'round these parts that Acura took the active head restraints back to the drawing board when the X scored a "marginal" rating for rear impacts in IIHS testing. You can easily find this info searching through Google. However, to help point you in the right direction, here's a link to a press release issued by Acura back in September 2006:

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-a...ticle_id=604566

The active head restraints were also touted on the original 2007 Acura MDX website, as well as in the original brochures.

Regards,
Adam

PS - BTW, whatever Acura did, it worked. It now scores a "good", which is the highest rating.
0utlier
craniotes, you're absolutely right. I read wrong. Prior to June 07 the AHR got a marginal rating. It seems after some tinkering it finally got a Good rating. I do stand corrected.
craniotes
Frankly, I wouldn't sweat the difference too much, nor would I swap the OEMs back in and toss the DVD units. I'm no engineer, but it seems to me that the real heavy lifting in the active head restraint system is done by the mechanism that forces the head restaint up and forward. This should remain functional regardless of what type of head rest you're using. The only advantage I can see with the OEM units is that they're canted forward to a greater degree, which doubtless helps to position your head better in case of a rear-end collision. Perhaps this is what pays for all, but given that their design is uniform in all 2nd generation MDXs, I doubt it.

Regards,
Adam
Advertisement
0utlier
No, I'm not going to switch anything back due to this. I'm working on being a middle aged man now and if all my misspent youth didn't kill me (and it should have, I assure you), I'm not going to sweat a marginal rating on a head rest restraint that isn't even available on 99% of the other cars out there.
Needsdecaf
quote:
Originally posted by craniotes
Frankly, I wouldn't sweat the difference too much, nor would I swap the OEMs back in and toss the DVD units. I'm no engineer, but it seems to me that the real heavy lifting in the active head restraint system is done by the mechanism that forces the head restaint up and forward. This should remain functional regardless of what type of head rest you're using. The only advantage I can see with the OEM units is that they're canted forward to a greater degree, which doubtless helps to position your head better in case of a rear-end collision. Perhaps this is what pays for all, but given that their design is uniform in all 2nd generation MDXs, I doubt it.

Regards,
Adam



After driving a Volvo with fixed headrests that actually are designed to work correctly and are NOT adjustible or removable, every other manufacturer's head rests are a joke, except for maybe Saab.
craniotes
IIRC, active head restraints debuted on the Saab 9000, but even before then, they, like Volvo, seemed to get the distinction between "head rests" and "head restraints" long before anyone else did. Swedes are good like that.

Even so, I'm not knocking the system currently in place in our X's. Like Outlier said, even with respect to the "marginal" early production units (which doubtless are still far better than regular head restraints in a rear-end collision), we've got safety technology that 90% of the other cars on the road lack. I sincerely hope that I never need to test their efficacy, but if I do, it's nice to know that they're there.

Regards,
Adam
oracion1
The LCD's look great. The only (major, IMO) problem is that the color just does not blend it and makes the whole seat look cheap.
Advertisement
0utlier
quote:
Originally posted by oracion1
The LCD's look great. The only (major, IMO) problem is that the color just does not blend it and makes the whole seat look cheap.


Only someone who had an MDX would most likely even notice they weren't stock. And even then because they would know the MDX didn't have an option for headrest DVD's.

If you go back and forth from the headrest to the seat, and back again a few times you may notice the slight difference in shade/texture (at least with ebony). However, the eyes in the back of my head quit working long ago so I don't even see the headrest while in the car. My kids haven't complained at all about the mismatch as they're watching separate DVD's.

For me, the slight difference in shade is not worth $1000+ it would take to make it perfect. Of course, your tolerance for imperfection may be considerably lower than mine.

I'm ok with 99.999% of the world thinking these are OEM. It's also ok by me if you want to spend $1500+ to get perfectly matched DVD headrests. To each his own.
JustinTyme
Looks fine, at least you got the color. I got a set of strap ons for mine. (DVD players.:D )
deanking
I just put a dvd headrest system in mine. From the pictures, these look nice. I had seen posts with the tan interior but having the ebony (which is really dark gray) I was concerned that the generics would not match. These seem to match pretty well. I personally agree that only an MDX person would see any difference in the headrests. Even still, if you were to trade the car in, I bet they would leave the system in rather than remove it to make the car look 0EM again.

It's interesting that built-in speakers was a must have feature for you. Mine came with a FM Transmitter that works great. Still, the only time I would ever subject myself to listening to it would be if the batteries in the headphones died.
mklsim
Out of curiosity, do they come in black....I checked the ebay vendor, and I didnt see an option in the pics, except for dark grey, like in your pic.

Nice find.

Powered by: Search Engine Indexer and vBulletin v2.2.9
Copyright © 2000 - 2002, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited
Copyright 2000 Acuramdx.org. All Rights Reserved.