Does anyone know how to remove the rear seat headrests on a 2000 C70 convertible?
This is just for one night - for a homecoming parade. We'll put 'em right back on after the parade. The girls will be sitting on the rear deck. With long "princess gowns" on, those headrests are going to be extremely awkward!
The manual doesn't show any way to do this. There's supposed to be some sort of attachment point for a child seat harness under the headrests, but I can't even get my fingers between them and the seat.
I tried just pulling up -- not as hard as I could, but pretty hard, nonetheless -- and they wouldn't budge.
Okay - got this one figured out myself, with some help from John at SVS in Sacramento. John hadn't done this and didn't have a body manual, but he told me that our local dealer (Turner Volvo) had told him that you have to remove the seat back to get at the mounting clips that hold the headrests in place.
DISCLAIMER: First of all, don't blame me if anything goes wrong! Proceed cautiously, and if anything doesn't make sense, stop what you're doing and have a professional work on it. I would assume that other C70 convertibles are similar to mine, but that's no guarantee. The same advice goes for replacing the headrests. If you aren't sure they're securely re-installed, have a professional look at it. Second of all, none of this should be construed as encouraging anyone to tamper with the safety features of their car! (After all, wasn't safety one of the reasons you bought a Volvo in the first place?) We removed the headrests for a homecoming parade at less than 5 miles per hour around a football track and they're going to be replaced when the parade is over.
The amateur lawyer in me is telling me that I may now proceed with the instructions...
1) Remove the center armrest cushion. (This isn't completely necessary, but I found it helpful. It gives more room to work, and you can look in through the gap and see the mounting clips when you get to that stage.) On the 2000 C70, the cushion comes out completely if you undo a plastic web clip.
2) Remove the rear seat bottom cushion.
There are two clips near the front of the cushion; each one is more or less near the center of each seat pan. Grip the front lower edge of the cushion near these points and lift briskly to pop the clips out of their mounts. Slide the seat cushion forward (noting how the rear edge tucks under the seat back and around the seat belt hardware) and lift the cushion out of the car.
3) Loosen (but do not remove!) the seat back cushion.
The seat back is held in place by two nuts that are located at the lower outside corners of the seat back cushion. (They're kind of up and under the cushion corners a little bit.) You may need a deep socket and an extension to get at these. Also note that you do _not_ have to remove the seat belt attachments near the center of the seat.
4) Release the headrest locking clips.
Note how the felt "seals" are arranged around the seat belt attachment points in the center. Lift the cushion and peer in through the center gap where the armrest cushion was. (You can pull the cushion up quite a bit without hurting anything, but note that the headrests come down _through_ the cushion so you can't remove the seat back without removing the headrests first!) Way up at the top, inside, you'll see two white plastic clips on each side where the chrome shafts for the headrest comes down from above. Each clip has three legs. Two of these legs -- on the sides of the headrest shaft -- are shorter. The central leg -- in the front of the headrest shaft -- is longer and curves down around the bottom of the shaft and towards the back of the car. Hook your finger in the curve of this central piece and pull towards the front of the car. (On mine, when I did this, I felt a little *click* as the clip released. I'm not sure you will always feel this, though.)
5) At this point, you should be able to remove the headrests by lifting them straight up.
6) Replace the seats and armrest.
Replace the back cushion, being careful to get the felt parts around the seat belt attachments and the nylon attachment for the armrest cushion in the proper places, and re-attach the nuts at the lower outside corners. Replace the lower seat cushion, paying special attention to the way it fits around the seat belt buckles on the sides and the seat belt attachments in the center. Be sure not to trap the nylon web for the armrest. Press firmly down on the front edge of the seat cushion to snap the clips back into place. Replace the armrest cushion.
I haven't replaced the headrests yet. (The parade isn't for a couple more hours yet.) But it looks like the seat back presses on the clips in such a way that when the seat is in place, the clips will automatically lock on the headrests when they're put back. I expect I'll be able to feel them click onto the shafts.
If not, I guess I'll just have to take everything apart again.
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