Disclosure: I received this car to review for three months as part of the Toyota Sienna Diaries campaign.
Okay so every car I have driven so far that had a navigation system installed has had the capability to use it while driving. What I mean is that while I am driving I have had the ability to input an address or search destinations while I am driving. Safe? Heck No!
The 2014 Toyota Sienna has those features disabled while the car is in motion. So lets say I wanted to look up an address or find a nearby restaurant to eat at, I now have to pull over to use the navigation. Now at first I thought this was a pain in the butt as not even my husband who is the passenger most of the time (yes I need to drive to feel comfortable) cannot use the Navigation System while the car is in motion but really it is a great feature for safety.
As drivers we have enough to worry about on the road and if you think about it, messing with the Navigation System is the same as sending a text message. Big No No! It may seem like you are taking your eyes off the screen for just a few seconds, but that is all it takes to endanger yourself and those around you. I have learned too that I don’t need to always be in such a hurry, it is okay to spend a minute inputting my destination into the Route Guidance rather than wait until I get to a red light.
Need to find a destination while driving? No worries, there is the Voice Command you can use! I found using this is super easy as the prompts are read aloud as well as displayed on the screen for what you need to say. I was able to fly through the commands and say an address for it to calculate the route to. There was a few mistakes but I have gotten the hang of it and spoken more clearly.
So while many may find Toyota disabling the Navigation System a nuisance, I applaud them for the extra safety measures which hopefully remind people to keep their eyes on the road!
See how the buttons are grayed out (my husband actually took this from the passenger seat):
What do you think, yeah or nay for the navigation system being locked while the car is driving?
lisa says
I don’t mind a disabled GPS while driving. More studies would have to be done to see if it affects drivers,/accidents imho. I do not have or use a GPS and rely on other sources to get to my destination. I do pretty well without one.