mmarshall

For you Moms and Dads in Car Chat, are you tired of having to play referee to constant infighting in the second and third-row minivan seats, who eats what snack, who drinks what juice, who watches what video, who plays what game, etc......and having to make your voice carry inside that big minivan interior?

Well, Toyota engineers have come up with a least a partial-solution when it's time for a new minivan. Check out this latest option on the Sienna:

http://www.hngn.com/articles/36569/2...-amplify-s.htm


Toyota is trying to make minivans more appealing to consumers. The car maker added a new feature called "Driver Easy Speak" to its latest Sienna minivan that can amplify a driver's voice through speakers at the back seats. The new feature will help parents yell at their kids in the back seat without shouting on top of their voices.


Toyota's new feature in Sienna works only one way. This means kids cannot talk back, at least not by using Driver Easy Speak. The built-in microphone amplifies the driver's voice through speakers for the passengers sitting at the back seats, ABC Newsreports. The latest addition comes as a part of Toyota's redesign for the 2015 Sienna, which aims at rejuvenating the love for minivans.

Toyota unveiled the all-new 2015 Sienna Thursday on the social media, explaining the modified interior, improved handling and its new family-focused smart technology. In addition to the Driver Easy Speak, Toyota also offers optional pull-down conversation mirror to help drivers check up on kids without turning around.

"Today's parents are embracing their life stage and those relatable family moments that make us laugh and feel connected," Jack Hollis, vice president of Toyota Division marketing at Toyota Motor Sales, said in a press release, Thursday. "The 2015 Toyota Sienna seizes that same spirit of fun, everyday experiences with family and fits into the modern family dynamic. That is why Toyota chose to introduce the newest 'Swagger Wagon' to the world through a creative lens."

The 2015 Toyota Sienna also features LED daytime running lights and headlights that add to the car's redesigned front grille. Other smart features include a 4.2-inch info display for turn-by-turn navigation, an optional 7-inch touchscreen, which can be customized to place important features on the home screen such as music, navigation or Driver Easy Speak.

The Driver Easy Speak feature will come equipped with Toyota's Entune premium audio systems. The pricing details and fuel economy estimates were not immediately available but the car will make its first appearance at Artscape in Baltimore this weekend.

pbm317

This isn't new. This feature launched in the 2014 Highlander. Are parents really going to push a button and wait to try to say something to their kids? Not likely. You have to remember to turn the feature on, digging through the touch screen. It won't turn down the volume of music when you're using it.

I suppose you could just turn it on and leave it on all the time (might need to turn it on each time you start the car). But seems more like a gimmick than something actually useful.

mmarshall

Well, I'm not a father myself (and never have had kids) so I myself don't often deal with issues like this. I simply posted this for the convenience of those who might be interested in a device like this, and let the moms and dads here in CAR CHAT argue the fine points both for and against. I won't say much about it except, at least on the surface, it seems to be a handy device, just like the built-in, pull-down, DOT-approved child car-seats that used to come with some of the Dodge/Chrysler minivans. They were a very nice feature, then suddenly were dropped....perhaps maybe from the cost of producing them?

corradoMR2

What I didn't like about it when I checked it out on the '14 Highlander a few months back is it's a two or three touchscreen push before you get to it. A little cumbersome for an otherwise decent feature. They should make it a one button operation

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

I'd just pull over and give the stink eye... no need to yell when the stink eye comes out lol. Besides our family is loud so raising your voice holds little weight around here. Stink eye is a different story it's like pushing in a pressure point ^_^

Mr. Burns

It's officially a bus.

foofighter

It's truly more fulfilling to simply it'll at them. That gets the point across vs over the speakers

rominl

iTrader: (4)

part of me relates this to the self park feature on the ls460 back in 2007

spwolf

they keep using this parking feature in several European vehicles - Prius and Auris namely...

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i won't be surprised if it's improved, but truth is at least here in the US, it's more of a gimmick than a useful feature. i used mine maybe 3-4 times, all for demo to my friends. pretty much all LS owners i know hardly use it either. and the system in 2007, you need to have a lot of space both in front and behind the car that most people can just park like that.

again not saying it doesn't work, just like the system in the sienna. but more like who (and how many) is going to use it

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Tired of Unruly Children?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Or just continue to use what's in the GX460 the sunglassholder/mirror. Nothing scarier to a kid then to look into their parents angry eyes as they scream at you through a tiny piece of reflective glass

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hahaha indeed, good one

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

hahaha.. funny pic

Och

iTrader: (3)

Thats why god created condoms.