# Seat back **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [May 3, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591 "2008-05-03T22:14:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bluebird93](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Bluebird93](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bluebird93)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/1 "2008-05-03T22:14:05Z")
a friend of mine was rear-ended by a druck driver. My friend was in a '05 Cavalier. the back of her seat slammed backwards. Some people was it’s designed to do that. (sounds good for the back) and other mention the tiny little plastic piece that controls the seat back. Which is right? ---
**Author:** ![maico\_490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@maico\_490](https://community.cartalk.com/u/maico_490)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/2 "2008-05-04T02:31:36Z")
WHAT? re-read and re=write your post ,PLEASE! maico ---
**Author:** ![budd2049](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@budd2049](https://community.cartalk.com/u/budd2049)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/3 "2008-05-04T03:06:17Z")
Lemme see if I can translate this… _A friend of mine, who drives an '05 Cavalier, was rear-ended by a truck driver. The driver’s seat fell all the way back. Some people said it’s designed to do that (whoch sounds good for the back), but others mention the tiny little plastic piece that controls how the seat reclines. Which is right?_ Close? ---
**Author:** ![Jad2007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dec6dc/32.png) [@Jad2007](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jad2007)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/4 "2008-05-04T03:15:17Z")
A valiant effort, budd…I just hope the OP didn’t go out and drive after writing that post, otherwise he, too, would have been a “druck driver”… ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/5 "2008-05-04T10:10:41Z")
I doubt if it was designed to do that. It sounds less safe to me, especially if someone was in the back seat. ---
**Author:** ![BustedKnuckles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bustedknuckles/32/25_2.png) [@BustedKnuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BustedKnuckles)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/6 "2008-05-04T12:12:55Z")
No, it was designed to do that. A lot of the little cars had this designed to help lessen the impact of rear-end collisions. The thought was that the back of the seat collapsing should prevent the transfer of inertia for the collision to the back and neck of the driver. I’m not sure of the exact mechanical means, but a plastic cog designed to fail at a particular load sounds plausible, so you may be right on both counts. ---
**Author:** ![MrPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MrPhil](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MrPhil)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/seat-back/13591/7 "2008-05-04T22:17:48Z")
No, it should not have done that. If the seat collapses backwards when you’re rear-ended, you can come sailing out from under your seatbelts. A hard enough collision and you could even go through the rear window! Seat backs are not supposed to collapse under any circumstances.