Would it kill you to talk to your child or let them be bored
A Florida man, ID’d as Pavel Tolstiy, is getting a lot of heat on the internet after screenshots from a video he uploaded in 2016 gained traction. The photos and video show him bragging about setting up what looks like an 18-inch flatscreen TV connected to a Playstation 4 positioned in front of the passenger airbag. One of his kids, riding shotgun, can be seen playing Call of Duty while his friend plays against him in the rear seat.
Check out the photo on Reddit and the full video for yourself below. And a mirror linked here if and when OP removes his video after so many complaints.
Father of the year has a ps4 setup in his car for his kids. Monitor is in front of the airbags. from r/IdiotsInCars
The original video caption reads,
“Long trip with my son and his friend. 4-5 hour of driving and no words from them.”
The car, as mentioned, is a 2016 Toyota Camry. Although some international Toyota models make it easy to disable the passenger airbag with a key switch placed on the far right of the dashboard, for the greater good of United States drivers, like this guy, the passenger airbag is only controlled by a sensor.
It’s only visible for a second, but his passenger airbag sensor shows off, as it should.
These airbag sensors, at least on newer model Toyotas, only trigger on with a weight typically above 100 pounds. Since his kid doesn’t weigh that much, the passenger airbag sensor under his seat recognizes a weight but doesn’t switch on the passenger airbag.
That being said, this man is putting a lot of faith into that airbag not deploying. A quick Google search reveals there WAS a recall for 2016 Avalons and Camrys for faulty occupant airbag sensors. Here, there’s a chance they won’t deploy in a crash situation, but who knows if the opposite might happen, the airbag deploying despite the sensor reading OFF.
His Camry manual also tells him not to do this stupid thing.
Airbags inflate insanely fast, between 100-220 MPH, thanks to an explosion of chemicals. Crash situations happen in the blink of an eye so they have to inflate quick. Anything placed in front of the airbag becomes a projectile right into the driver’s or passenger’s face.
That flatscreen? It’s now accelerating at 100 MPH towards your kid’s face.
So ya, place nothing in front of the passenger airbag even though the sensor says it might be OK.
Also, using screens as a pacifier for your own “driving sanity” is not only a cop out, it’s conditioning your kids to become dependent on screens when there’s the slightest chance for boredom.
“It’s my kids so don’t tell me how to parent,” you might think, but boo hoo.
Kids these days NEED to be comfortable with life without screens. Humans were not made to look at screens for as long as we do. Sadly, I fear, this new generation is evolving to become screen-dependent for all facets of life.
If you’re reading this and you’re a parent, let your kids be bored. It’s OK. They’ll learn to cope through wholesome human activities like conversation, letting their imagination take them places, or simple silence for their over-stimulated minds.
And keep areas in front of the airbag clear at all times.
