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Toyota’s updated Sienna isn’t going to set any hearts ablaze -or convince TTAC readers of its supremacy vis a vis our beloved Chrysler minivans – but it does have one feature so compelling that I am going to get one from the press fleet just to sample it.
The available Driver Easy Speak feature uses the vehicle’s built-in microphone to amplify the driver’s voice through the rear speakers so parents don’t have to shout to passengers in the back.
I’m curious to see how this works. Will it amplify conversations or music as well? Is there some kind of push-to-talk feature available? Oh, the fun I could have with this on a road trip with 6 of my closest friends…
63 Comments on “Now You Don’t Have To Yell At Your Kids Anymore...”
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This is your parent speaking.
Just letting you know to keep your tray tables in the upright and locked position.
We are currently cruising at a speed of 55 mph…
…and if you’ll look to your right, you’ll see the crumbling infrastructure of Detroit…
It’s so sad to me to see that it’s THE PARENTS FINANCING THEIR KID’S IGNORING OF THEM.
They have headphones plugged in their DSes, Vita’s, smartphones (the worst) to drown out their parent’s conversations and the power of the media is so strong that the parent is absolutely no match for it at all.
Watch the worst, most lascivious “entertainers” (at best), and various levels of porn on their portable devices (at worst).
The most shocking thing to me when I was in college – working at Best Buy – was when I saw teenaged kids who would activate the parental locks on their parent’s TV’s because they didn’t think their parents were “mature enough” to watch Cinemax After Dark.
By the time the parents realize “they have to do something about the kid” they are grown up and living in their house like a ROOMMATE – and since there are squatter’s rights – you can’t even throw them out.
I gather that you’re not a parent yourself?
Eh, I am a parent and I generally agree.=
I have a more nuanced take.
At home, you shouldn’t use TV as a babysitter, for all of the conventional reasons. I’m always dragging my kid outside to do something fun.
But, in the car, when the kid just has to sit there for hours for reasons beyond their control, that’s the time to make it a little less frustrating by letting them watch TV and play video games. They can’t exactly get out and run around until we stop the car, and Interstates are pretty boring to look at. So, why not use everything you’ve got, from silly games, to iPad games to make everyone’s day a little better?
We don’t do this on short trips across town, of course, because the extra overhead on short trips doesn’t help anything. OK, we do roll down the windows and play Star Wars or Frozen music sometimes.
But, seriously, sitting in the car while your parents go somewhere is a chore.
For me, the choice was spending money on kids or spending money on cars and super premium unleaded.
Private School or a Magnuson Supercharger.
Decisions, Decisions.
@BTSR: Agreed.
I’m fortunate to have 5 kids, aged 24 to 13.
They don’t get cell phones until college (which they pay for), and they are all funding for their own educations one way or another (scholarships, work, loans).
We’ve traveled the country together (mostly camping, but also visiting family). We never had a video nanny in the car; I instructed them to count telephone poles and enjoy the grandeur of nature as it passes by.
Sure, there were a few tough trips with 5 hours of crying, fighting, or diaper blowouts, but never once did I think I needed a PA system to corral the troops. The best cure for bad behavior was to stop the car, warm the bottom of the perpetrator, then enjoy silence for the rest of the trip.
The kid project isn’t finished yet, but I’m confident they’ve matured more via direct interaction with their parents – in good times and bad – than with an electronic drug.
EXACTLY this. Some parents, like me, should never be given a toy like this.
The kids need some constructive activity while traveling. Does the Hondavac run while the van is in motion? There you go. Now pair this up with the Sienna PA system – suitably enhanced with heavy bass and reverb – and announce in your best R. Lee Ermey voice:
“YOU HAVE UNTIL WE REACH OUR DESTINATION TO HAVE THIS VEHICLE STANDING TALL AND SPOTLESS! AN INSPECTION WILL BE MADE!!”
They have this in the Highlander, and it actually works okay. What it’s best for isn’t yelling, but rather making going “Uuuuuuuhhhhhhh this is your captain speaking, we’ve reached our cruising altitude of three feet, and the forecast is for sunny skies. Mom will now distribute the peanuts.”
“Good afternoon everyone and thank you for choosing Mom Airlines. We have a drive time today of approximately two hours and twenty-three minutes. We are currently second in line for departure, just waiting for Jimmy to move his bike out of the driveway. Dad please prepare the cabin for takeoff.”
“You’ll find the child safety locks are engaged. Just a friendly reminder that none of you are too big to spank. Today’s in drive movie will be “Speed” because my sense of irony died years go.”
“Today’s in drive movie will be “Speed” because my sense of irony died years go.””
You’re not a parent yet, are you?
At about hour three or four of seventeen-hour (if you’re lucky) trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario, you’ll speed. Believe me, you will.
I’ve clocked 160km/h because someone needs to pee.
@psarhjinian, according to the OBGYN’s calculations I’m about 60 days from being a Daddy.
I know that life will change immensely.
3-4 hours is long enough with our 20 month old. I can’t imagine 17 hours. She can only stay in the Winnie the Pooh trance for 45 minutes or so.
“I know that life will change immensely.”
Some tips:
* Sleep.
* Make a lot of healthy, frozen meals in advance.
* Sleep.
* Learn to do things in as time-efficient
* Butter up your mother-in-law.
* Sleep more.
* Blow off criticism and judgement if it doesn’t work for you as a parent.
* Sleep
* Sleep
@ Principal Dan, Congratulations, dad!
Best of luck, PrincipalDan. Fatherhood is the best thing that ever happened to me, even ahead of getting married.
psarhjinian, your advice is great. I simply don’t sleep enough though.
Congrats Principal Dan!
Don’t let the baby interfere with road tripping. My family of origin did the Seattle-LA round trip when I was 3, Menlo Park to Boston when I was 4, lots of trips between Boston and NYC and elsewhere when my baby sister was a baby (in the following episode, she pees on me tinyurl.com/fanhoodends
and we went all over Europe for two months–five of us in a Peugeot 404 wagon–when she was 3 1/2
Enjoy!
Thanks, Guys. @Holzman, my family did too. My paternal grandmother moved to Tampa, FL when I was in elementary school. Once a year there was usually a road trip down I-75 to see her. Dad could usually accomplish it in 18 to 20 hours of driving and that was in the old 55 mph days.
I’ve driven roughly 12,000 plus miles since about 2005 going to visit various family across the country and seeing the sites along the way.
Principal Dan,
Clearly, you’re not one who learns from the mistakes of others! :)
Yes, family road trips are great. We’ve taken our 4 on the road many times and there have been a a few unhappy memories but they’re buried under a mountain of pleasant ones.
To this day my wife complains about the time when she was on I-95 with her learner’s permit and her brothers in the back of the family van watching “Speed” and never sure which sounds were the traffic and which sounds were the movie.
“There is a tight left-hand turn ahead at a stop sign, as we exit our subdivision. Please remain seated upright so as not to crease your khaki pants on our way to Panera.”
There’s nothing like Dad jokes that fall completely flat because the audience (kids) lack the experience to get the humor. I’ve learned that sarcasm and irony are worse than useless on 8 year-olds, who tend to interpret what adults say guilelessly.
My father’s famous parenthetical questions when I was misbehaving (from about 3rd grade on): “Have you had your butt kicked lately?” and the old favorite: “Would you like to have my foot surgically removed from your rear?”
Your father knew R.L. Burnside ?
“I’ll tell you what if you don’t get out of here and make it fast I’m gonna put my foot right in your ass”
That’s going to have little effect on their headphone volumes. Now, if they installed low-voltage taser devices into the headrests, I’d be all over that.
How about they install COMPETENT PARENTS??????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU
Toyota Sienna: You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of the Toyota Corporation.
Competent parents are busy keeping the car from crashing. Everything else is secondary, especially during an all day prairie crossing.
Between the sleep depravation, and the narrow perspective that children tend to prefer, parenting does roll you this far back in to the basics.
That’s too cruel for the children. The poor, poor children, won’t anyone think of them?
Nation of pussies indeed…
I’d like to see a third row slapper.
Buy a Dodge Durango. I regret reading TTAC’s review of the 2011 because I immediately ended up in the back seat of a rental one and made the mistake of telling the driver what the mysteriously-iconographed button on the dash did.
Two solid days of getting smacked in the head by anybody that could reach the dashboard.
Still the best looking minivan out there with the impractical sport package, at least until the new Kia Sedona comes out. The minivan segment could get interesting in the next few years as the aforementioned Sedona comes to market along with the Tesla Model X, with the new Odyssey and Sienna slated to be updated in a few years time as well. I’m guessing that we should see improved mileage along with better Stow N Go, cabin mics, and vacuum cleaners.
That’s actually a great idea and one that should cost next-to-nothing to implement in a car that already has decent Bluetooth integration.
And it’s hardly a commentary on these sad, sad times. You need to speak up pretty loudly to communicate across two rows at highway speed, especially if said minivan is full of kids who are, I don’t know, talking, laughing, singing, doing kid stuff, etc.
Hey Derek,
I’ll review this one. Thoroughly. So thoroughly that Toyota’s press handlers will be hoovering up the ground-in Bear Paw crumbs for weeks.
+1
Driver Easy Speak, as I experienced it in a Highlander XLE, is one of the best new car features I’ve encountered in the last couple of years. Carrying on a routine conversation without raising my voice at all is huge, and being able to leave it turned off (it needed to be manually turned on each time we started up the Highlander) and speak quietly so the kids out back can’t hear is just as useful.
To me this seems like a subsititute for actually increasing noise insulation and reducing NVH. I can understand it a bit more in a vehicle where your passengers are a considerable distance away (like this van) but not on something smaller like the Highlander.
I had hoped not having to yell at your kids any more meant that a big hand came out of the side of the seats in the back to slap em for you. That would keep them quiet.
You ever sat in the second or third row of a Highlander? There is a good distance from the driver. Especially when you adjust the center row to maximum leg room.
Having said that my Highlander is definitely quiet enough to carry on a conversation at highway speeds. I did that no problem ferrying family around on the 4th of July weekend.
Second row, yes – but that was in the old one! There was never a problem talking, and I’m sure the newer one is more quiet.
Now my mom’s current 09 Pathfinder, there’s a car that needs driver speakers.
If achieving Bentley-like NVH reduction requires dozens or hundreds of extra pounds of insulation, carpeting, headliners, etc., this seems like a very clever and efficient idea. Makes sense if you ever transport those who’s hearing isn’t great, too. It would definitely make driving my own mom and dad around much easier.
The only portable entertainment I ever had in a car was a book, oh and my brothers and I would play license plate poker.
My mom never had to shout because she kind of demanded respect and we were mostly compliant (typical scuffles notwithstanding).
Is this a solution in search of a problem, or an added “goodie” that’s pretty pointless?
Oh, and congratulations Herr Chef Dan!
After I read the first paragraph and hit the jump… disappointment. I was expecting Toyota to find that Toyota really “gets” parenting and was making a sound-insulating divider a reasonable-cost option. Too late for me but it would make future parents’ lives so much better.
Rather than enabling lousy parenting, I recommend being an actual parent.
It pays dividends outside the minivan – like being able to take them to fancy restaurants and knowing they won’t shoot up their school. And… there’s rumors that if you do a really good job, you can look forward to their wedding day and the subsequent well behaved grandchildren.
Why is everyone saying “Oh, kids shouldn’t be on their iPads” and stuff? I always have to take my headphones and my M7 on long roadtrips. Reason? I need to stay sane. Sure, I don’t like looking down at my phone because 1: It makes me dizzy and 2: I like looking at the cars, and don’t want to miss out on seeing any cool cars and/or scenery. For me at least, music or even movies playing make trips go by faster.
Ironically, I was sad that our MPV didn’t have a DVD player when I was younger. While I don’t really understand watching movies, I understand kids with headphones on.
I just sent off a 14-karat neurotic single mother with her very nice 13 yo daughter on a trip from Brooklyn to Charlottesville.
Now, the mother is the house guest from hell who never shuts up about herself. She even said to me, “I know, I’m really annoying you, right?” which is like saying “Do these pants make me look fat?” The daughter is pretty, popular and seems to be the actual parent.
But the mother kept screaming “you WILL NOT be texting your friends while I’m stuck driving 300 miles!” I’d hate to be that kid right about now.
Waiting for updated T&C…I hope I am not disappointed.
Great idea. I predict it will be most popular among seniors who have lost some of their hearing.
And thanks, PrincipalDan and the missus, for bringing a child into the world.
This sounds like fun!
I once drove an old Wayne school bus for the farm I worked at. The built in PA system was great!
“Get your *** back in the seat now!”
The bus only had one row of seats left.
Ladies and gentlemen…..ahhhhhhhhh….this is your captain speaking.
Today we’ll be cruising at an altitude of 287 feet above sea level, with a projected speed of ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…73 MPH. If you look off to your right, you can see a McDonalds…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh…and the outside temperature is……..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..43 degrees.
Mom will be serving……..ahhhhhhhh…juice boxes in the cabin…ahhhhh…..in about 45 minutes. We would like to remind you……ahhhhhhhhh…we don’t want to see the fasten seatbelt lights on at any time………….and ahhhhhh….this is a non-smoking ride.
I’m going to stay out of the whole “when I have kids, I’ll never…” and “when I was a kid, my parents never had to…” discussions, and just say this: My motion sickness seems to be getting worse, to the point where I either have to be driving, in the front passenger seat, or staring straight ahead out the windshield to keep the nausea at bay. I don’t know if it’s just me, or if it’s aggravated by all these “terrible modern cars,” or maybe just that now that I’m an adult, I’d rather have conversations with my fellow adults than move little bits of data around.
Okay, maybe I will say one thing: my future children will be able to bring whatever they want on a trip, so long as they carry it all without protest, it doesn’t impede on their fellow passengers’ space, and they don’t lose it or any part of it. Their old man never once lost a Lego piece on a trip, and I don’t expect them to either.
Here’s the driver easy speak in action at 5:55
shoot, how do you put in a link?
On TTAC sometimes posting links works and sometimes it doesn’t. There is no real rhyme or reason to having success with it.
I put links in quotes – seems to work.
Don’t put in “http://” or “https://” or the link police will snatch the whole thing. You can typically add a space too.
http ://www.kissmybuttlinkpolice.com
I was really getting excited when I read the headline. I somehow thought this was about a system that would somehow muffle all the yelling and screaming coming from the back of the van. For a moment, I thought about trading in my just paid off 2012 sienna…
I would treat my passengers to endless karaoke.
I would make fart noises into the microphone and then blame the kids in the way back for stinking up the van.
That’s how I parent.
Both of you. Both these guys right here.
Our children are grown and are out of the house, but it does seem like an interesting feature. Don’t make me pull this car over! From an engineering point of view, likely almost free to implement, they probably had the built-in mic for bluetooth phone support already, so no new parts, just pay some programmers to add a few thousand lines of code and call it a day.
When we bought our current SUV, we purposely did not get the DVD player option. I was totally against the idea of my kid (at the time we only had one) watching movies while we drove (or much TV at home), this was despite my friends advice.
We routinely do 12 hour trips in a single day. Now each kid has an iPad, books and bruises on the leg that I can reach from my seat (kidding!)
We point out the mountains and the animals, they couldn’t be less interested. On this last trip I told my daughter to look up at the clouds, that there were purple unicorns and sparkly rainbows in the sky. She didn’t even look up from her book and said, “that’s awesome!”
Dora, Mickey mouse and Frozen are about the only things that can keep a two year old quiet for 12 hours strapped into an upright seat. If I have to listen to Frozen one more time I am going to do something bad.
That being said, I would rather have a zapper built into their seats than a PA system. I think it is more effective when I point my rearview mirror at them and shout.
I was also hoping for the inclusion of a noise cancelling front cabin. On our last trip a couple weeks ago, I seriously considered putting on my Bose noise cancelling headphones. Just the thought of it made me smile.