Toyota realizes that few customers shopping for a minivan care about horsepower or zero to sixty times—they’re basically looking for the easiest way to haul kids. So on its 2015 Sienna, the automaker is introducing a rather clever new feature called Driver Easy Speak which amplifies the driver’s voice with a dedicated mic so that they don’t have to turn around while talking (yelling) to passengers (kids).
The minivan’s makeshift megaphone is aided by a flip-down conversation mirror that lets the driver check on passengers in the back without completely taking their eyes off the road. And even better than the mic up front is the fact that there’s no microphone in the back. So the passenger’s incessant “are we there yet?” will be mostly silenced by engine noise. [Toyota via Engadget via Digital Trends]
