Bubble in headrest, Tesla might be caused by interior cleaner/conditioner

[stopcrazypp]

My car is only three months old and this happened just after I took a couple road trips for the first time, meaning my head was resting against it for 1-2 hours a few times. It's been winter and a mild spring, so it's not like it's sat outside in particularly warm sunlight; in the garage the majority of the time. No products have been used on the interior and the only hair product I use is shampoo, which is washed out. So at best they replace it under goodwill and I can be worried it will just happen again? Terrible.

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Yeah, best thing is they pay for it good will. You can also buy covers. The headrest is actually removable.

The least expensive custom fit front seat cover I found was this series of cloth ones, but headrest part is built in.
https://www.amazon.com/TOYOUN-Covers-Custom-Protector-Wrapped/dp/B09B6B9F7V/
The PU covers are significantly more expensive even for a set of front ones, but they would match the stock car more. Wasn't able to find a cover just for the headrest that is custom fit for Teslas.

 

[Arizone]

Yeah, best thing is they pay for it good will. You can also buy covers. The headrest is actually removable.

Thank you. I'm checking through the numerous other threads. I'm struggling to actually find headrest covers. 99% of listings are just headrest pillows. Seems I need to find seat covers and ask if I can be sold the headrests separately as I'd rather not cover everything, or go to an upholstery shop, or just throw beanies over them as one person did. Depends if I want to take preventative measures now, or wait for it to happen again then worry about fixing it.

I will say that at least one other person mentioned Head & Shoulders shampoo, which I use, or other anti-dandruff shampoo, not that basic care products found at any store absolves the car seat from not being fit for use.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Thank you. I'm checking through the numerous other threads. I'm struggling to actually find headrest covers. 99% of listings are just headrest pillows. Seems I need to find seat covers and ask if I can be sold the headrests separately as I'd rather not cover everything, or go to an upholstery shop, or just throw beanies over them as one person did. Depends if I want to take preventative measures now, or wait for it to happen again then worry about fixing it.

I will say that at least one other person mentioned Head & Shoulders shampoo, which I use, or other anti-dandruff shampoo, not that basic care products found at any store absolves the car seat from not being fit for use.

You can also buy a used headrest too as another option, depending on if Tesla is willing to do goodwill.
model 3 headrest: Search Result | eBay

Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't seem like vendors sell headrest covers separately. A lot of the custom covers have the headrest part built into the top half of the seat cover. I guess they don't want to have people having to take off the headrest to install them.

Note these are the least expensive PU style seat covers I could find (am considering getting the gray ones myself, I got generic cloth covers and they don't fit well). Looking at the install video, actually the headrest cover is a separate cover in this style. Not sure if vendor would be willing to sell headrest covers separately.
https://www.amazon.com/EKR-Custom-Covers-Select-Tesla/dp/B089GPSJG4

 

[RipVanFinkle]

They’ll replace it. They replace everything and keep swapping things out until they find something that works.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

this is clearly a supplier specific/ material type thing fairly unique to what batch of pleather Tesla is using here.

*millions* of people use hairspray/ gel and drive cars with pleather seats and for decades now.

i only clean my interior with warm water and microfiber towels but my wife does use hairspray / products and dares to rest her head on the.... headrest ... obviously by then the product is well dried in but still. zero issues here with now close to 30k miles and nearly 3 yrs in.

 

[Candleflame]

My car is only three months old and this happened just after I took a couple road trips for the first time, meaning my head was resting against it for 1-2 hours a few times. It's been winter and a mild spring, so it's not like it's sat outside in particularly warm sunlight; in the garage the majority of the time. No products have been used on the interior and the only hair product I use is shampoo, which is washed out. So at best they replace it under goodwill and I can be worried it will just happen again? Terrible.

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oh man this is such a common issue. its almost certainly caused by either pressure or chemicals/natural oils from skin. some people have it on the armrest too.
unclear atm if its a manufacturing defect or they are all prone to that. id wager the former.

 

[P3dStealth]

Just over 18,000 miles. I use no hair products. Mine is a 2020. Maybe it's a certain year or bad run of headrests.




Comparison to my other vehicle seats at 16 years old. 175,000 miles.

 

[JimShaw]

This is my second M3. My car now is a 2022 M3P, 15 months old with 14,500 miles and I am the only one that drives the car.

I'm 80 years old, with short hair. I do not put anything on my hair except a shampoo which I get from Target. Nothing exotic and I do not use any type of cleaner on the seats.

One day I noticed the driver's headrest had a bad problem. It all of a sudden appeared one day.

I set up a Tesla appointment through my cell. The day arrived; service drove up my home and took a look at my headrest. He mentioned he has never seen a headrest as bad as mine and that it'll be covered by warranty.

It took him about one minute to swap out the old for the new. He called Tesla when it was replaced and was told there is a charge of about $208 (after tax). The service guy told me he told them it looked like it wasn't my fault. He could not get them to change their mind.

$200 is not going to break me BUT it does bug me that it wasn't under warranty. It bugs me enough that I just posted this thread.

At least I feel a little better now.

 

[jjrandorin]

This is my second M3. My car now is a 2022 M3P, 15 months old with 14,500 miles and I am the only one that drives the car.

I'm 80 years old, with short hair. I do not put anything on my hair except a shampoo which I get from Target. Nothing exotic

One day I noticed the driver's headrest had a bad problem. It all of a sudden appeared one day.

I set up a Tesla appointment through my cell. The day arrived; service drove up my home and took a look at my headrest. He mentioned he has never seen a headrest as bad as mine and that it'll be covered by warranty.

It took him about one minute to swap out the old for the new. He called Tesla when it was replaced and was told there is a charge of about $208 (after tax). The service guy told me he told them it looked like it wasn't my fault. He could not get them to change their mind.

$200 is not going to break me BUT it does bug me that it wasn't under warranty. It bugs me enough that I just posted this thread.

At least I feel a little better now.

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(moderator note)

I moved your new thread into one on this exact topic that I remembered being posted before (yes its been seen before, to answer the thread question you asked).