Woman says faulty headrest accidentally deployed while she was driving

"I love Jeeps, it's been my third Jeep. I enjoyed driving it, I've been really happy with it," said Heather Anderson.

She says she enjoys cruising around in her 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

"[It's] great for taking the kids around, stuff like that, haven't had an issue with it, everything I wanted it to be," said Anderson.

That is, until recently, when Anderson was driving.

"I heard this loud popping, bang sound and then the back of my headrest slammed into the back of my head. It kind of shocked me, I had no idea what was going on, I thought, 'Oh, I think I just got rear-ended!'" said Anderson.

She didn't get rear-ended but as it turns out, it was her headrest that was the problem.

"So then I thought, 'My headrest just exploded! What is going on!' I finished crossing the bridge, pulled over, turned around and looked and I saw that my headrest, the whole thing had popped," said Anderson.

Anderson took some photos showing part of the headrest detached. It's supposed to be a safety feature if you get into an accident, kind of like an airbag.

"I guess there's a mechanical thing inside here, in this plastic piece and the whole leather part of the headrest swung forward about 3 or 4 inches and smacked me pretty hard in the back of the head," said Anderson.

But since Anderson wasn't in any sort of accident, she has no idea why the headrest was activated and deployed, striking her head.

"When I went to the doctor, I did have signs of mild concussion and whiplash. I had swelling at the base of my neck so he gave me some medication for it," Anderson said.

Anderson says she thinks her Jeep was still under the manufacturer's warranty at the time.

So, she took the vehicle to a Jeep-Chrysler dealership to be looked at and repaired. But she says the dealership told her she'd have to pay out of pocket if she wanted it fixed.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, we haven't heard of this happening. It's gonna be $608 because they have to replace the whole headrest just as you would a steering wheel if an airbag had deployed from it. They're having us pay for it. Their comment to us was, take it up with Chrysler, it's not covered under warranty, there's nothing we can do, take it up with Chrysler," Anderson said.

Anderson had to shell out more than $700 to get that headrest replaced. And, as far as getting reimbursed from Jeep-Chrysler, she says she's getting nowhere.

"They told us they would get back to us, same story, we haven't heard anything from Chrysler," Anderson said.

3 On Your Side contacted Jeep Chrysler which looked into the matter for us.

As a result, they apologized and indicated that Anderson's headrest deploying was an isolated incident and they agreed to send her a check for what she paid out which is more than $700. Anderson says she's looking forward to getting that check and is happy Jeep is paying.