Failed Head Rest

[Steve99A8]

Anyone else have the head rest mechanism fail? Now when I actuate the lever, I hear the motor hum and vibrate but the head rest doesn't move.

[Mikes97A8]

I just bought a 97 A8 quattro about 3 weeks ago. And that is the only thing I have not been able to fix. Your description matches my problem exactly. One person I have talked to said that when this happend to him he was able to get it to catch and come back down only when it was cold outside. he went on to say that he dosn't mess with it anymore, (just set it and forget it). I sure hope someone out there reads this and knows how to fix it. My local dealer didn't have any ideas for an easy (inexpensive) fix.

[Steve99A8]

I'll take it the the dealer for service the next time I have an oil change. If I learn anything about how to fiz this I'll pass it on.

[silverA8L]

Just curious...

[skiracer]

I have the exact same problem with the driver side headrest- it makes noise, but no movement. I'll check my Bentley manual as soon as it arrives and see if there is anything obvious that an owner could fix without special tools etc.

[Mikes97A8]

Yes, many times, the end result is the same. It won't go in all the way and won't move at all when operating the head rest motor.

[happycow]

I had the same problem with mine when I bought a used 97 A8. Made the noise when I turned it on, but did not move. I took it apart and found that there is a small motor which drives a cable (like a speedometer cable on a motorcycle), which in turn connects up to the headrest. When the motor is activated, the cable drives a gear which moves the headrest up and down. Pretty simple. The problem I found was that the hard black plastic outer sleeve of the cable was actually LONGER than the metal cable contained within. So, when I tried to lower the headrest, the actual metal cable inside the black outer sleeve was just spinning away, not making contact with any of the gears up at the headrest. The black outer cable has a coupling on each end, so I removed the coupling, shortened the black casing about 1 cm, and then pinched the coupling back on. I then reattached everything and the black outer casing now did not stop the inner cable from making contact with the gears. The headrest works great, and I saved a few bucks over ordering a new assembly. It is a pain getting to all of this inside of the seat, but everything in this car goes back together a lot easier than most cars I have worked on.

Hope this helps!

[Mikes97A8]

That sounds great and I think I know exactly how to fix it, based on your description. However, I have no idea how to get inside the seat? I have a diagram of all the components inside the seat, but no explanation how to get to them. Any suggestions? (Thanks in advance!)

[happycow]

Mine was in the back seat, which was really easy to get into. I have no idea how to get into the front seat. I would contact a friendly dealer and ask about that. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[dpd]

the cable backed out of the motor[problem with a8's since 97].if you take off the rear seat back cover[4 screws under the leather].you will seat the headrest gear box with a cable going down and making a left turn to the motor which is facing down].over time and use the cable routing changes causing the cable to back out of the headrest gear box.loosen the cable and reoute it back to its original way,tighten it and test.