So our defender is my wife's car and we have 2 kids. We have the kids seat in her car. The rear head rests (restraints) are pressing against the kids seats. Not a big deal, but in theory the head rests are removable. I have read the instructions from the online manual, but the headrests do not go up at all. I press the tab and it will let that side wiggle but the other side is firm and won't budge. I have tried pressing the tab shown in the manual and the secret tab - see the link Head rest removal

Anyone know if there is a secret trick or if these early cars restraints are even removable?

 

Hi, The headrests are removable, while one side of the headrests has a typical button to push, the other side has a button - only its concealed under the plastic cover. You can access the button two ways (1) you can try to pop the cover off. This method didn't work well for me and I felt like I was almost going to break the plastic (2) you can use a plastic prying tool to gently go under the cover where the button is (its on the opposite side - the first and second image below shows the concealed button on the seat directly behind the driver side) and push inward towards the center of the headrest. If you push inward on that while pushing the button on the opposite side of the headrest it'll come right up. They are tricky but it works. I hope all of that made sense. Thanks!

 

I came across this old thread. Here's an update: My 2023 110 has accessible buttons on both sides, makes removing the headrests a one person job.

 

Lucky you! I wonder if that's standard on the 23's going forward. Mine doesn't have those accessible buttons at least on the second row so I made a video. Still a one person job if you have a butterknife

 

This weekend I discovered my 2020 110 S has the same problem. I happened upon the "squeezing both sides at once" solution purely by accident, as I was testing the proper storage of the headrests (in accordance with the manual).

It seems there was maybe a shortage of parts during our 2020 builds?

Thanks to all for the heads up and confirmation. Enjoy !

 

Anyone have their rear head rests suddenly stop folding down. Mine have been fine. I put the seats up and down all the time. Suddenly the driver side rear I can no longer press the button to flip the rest down so I can lower the seat. It’s like the button is stuck and just won’t depress. Anyone else had this happen?

 

Thinking you may have just gotten lucky, my 2023 still has the button hidden..