Now, if I am ever in a situation where I might be carrying ANY passengers who might want to start messing with stuff while I am driving and cause a distraction and safety hazard, how do I disable (by way of the fuse panel):

-The 4WD without setting error codes
-The power windows (cant find the fuse. I tried everything else not having to do with anything else listed here or the power locks, mirrors, ABS, airbags, cluster, lights and gauges. )
-The radio without losing my presets or clock (10A RDO IGN fuse???)
-The sunroof (same as window fuse whereever that might be?)
-The rear wiper and hatch (5A MIR/LKS fuse seemed to do it???)
-The cigarette lighter and the 2 outlets under the dash (obviously (CIGAR LTR and AUX PWR???)
-The air conditioning panel if it becomes necessary (Which HVAC fuse? I have the Automatic A/C)

If anyone wants to know why I would want to disable all this, let me know.

 

Just smack your passenger upside the head when they start messing with stuff. Works pretty well for me.

 

don't take any passengers that look like they want to play with all the buttons

my wife was like that when i bought my truck

 

I'm with CBR995!!

 

As much as I would like to do that, I can't. I would get in serious trouble. Here is the whole story behind all this:

Last week I was a leader for a week at scout camp for the troop I made Eagle rank in last year since they originally didn't have enough leaders for the week (We had at least 2 leaders with the troop at all times per national regulations.). The troop went to get pizza mid-week in 3 vehicles. I had 2 scouts in my truck (I didn't even want them riding in my truck but the other 2 leaders refused to drive them) and they were causing nothing but trouble. After my standard "Seatbelts on or the truck doesn't move" speech, the rest of the troop followed me since I had the GPS. They were messing with the radio (even though I pressed the faceplate release to disable it) even though I didn't want the radio on. I told them that it is MY truck and they follow my rules when they are in it. They were touching everything. They would have done real damage if they had a chance.
They rolled down the windows and they were hanging halfway out of them waving to the 2 other cars behind (both were the other troop leader's vehicles carrying the rest of the troop). After they were back in after I told them several times that I was looking for a place to pull over so they can both switch to one of the other cars (nowhere to safely do that (windy roads), so that didnt happen. I was only moving 5mph until they got back in), I locked off the windows. Then they wanted more air, so I unlocked it again so I can open it 2 inches. They rolled the windows down and did it again. This time when I tried to roll the windows up (it was safe and clear. They were in.), they kept overriding my switch commands by pressing the down switch while I was trying to close them back up. When I finally got the windows closed, I kept them locked and turned the A/C to max. If I didn't have the cargo box on the roof of the truck blocking 1/2 of the sunroof opening, they would have tried to stick their hands or even head out that also. They opened that too. The windows they were using stopped working for some time after they were back up. Mine and the other rear window was working fine. I think they overworked them and the breakers blew. Those windows were working fine and they are usually never opened, so the motors were fine.

The one idiot in the front seat even pressed the 4LO button while I was trying to park the truck at the pizza place. It only went as far as 4HI since it was moving and in 3. The 4LO button was flashing. I didn't even know until I felt and heard a clank or clunk and looked over and saw the idiot's hand moving away from the 4WD controls. I stopped, pressed the 4HI switch to cancel the 4LO command and then into 2HI so I can park the truck. He even kept arguing with me on my use of 3 instead of D driving up and down the steep hills on the way. He said that I would overheat and blow the transmission. I said not a chance because 1. I have an aftermarket cooler 2. I was only doing 20mph max 3. There was not much of a strain on the transmission. 4. It would be more likely to blow in overdrive.

Aside from some mud on the seats, carpets and mats, I couldn't really find any other damage once the week was over and I finally made it back to my apartment. The windows work fine (all 4). I put the truck in 4HI and 4LO and jacked up the front left wheel and I can only turn it like 10-20 degrees and it moves the CV axles and the driveshaft (it also only moves about the same when I grab and rotate it both ways. Sometimes it doesn't move at all in 4HI/4LO and it moves freely in 2HI.), so there was no damage to the 4WD. My radio was not damaged from the idiot almost snapping the AUX connector off when he was messing with that also.

Those 2 idiots are banned from my truck permanently. 99.9999% of the time, I do not carry passengers at all. I hate carrying passengers in this truck. On the 0.00001% of the time I have any passengers in the truck, the ones who cause trouble I never let in the truck again. I already told the older scouts who are (now "were") good friends of mine on facebook chat that am not going to serve as a leader for that troop anymore, no matter what their leader shortage is because of how the entire troop was throughout the week. I only volunteered originally because they were looking for another leader to make sure that the required number of leaders was maintained for the entire week to keep the troop legal to be at camp.

Believe it or not, one of the scouts who did all this is the son of the mechanic who regularly works on my truck. His father is an excellent mechanic who was the only one who solved the mystery behind the brake failures 2 months ago after multiple problems with an out-of-state shop who misdiagnosed it and replaced the master cylinder (see my thread "Brakes failed on highway"). The kid also made several threats to cut my brake lines at camp and he actually came close to actually doing it right in front of me earlier in the week. He took out his pocketknife (which he wasn't allowed to have anyway, but I had no authority to confiscate it), reached into the front left wheelwell and only came an inch away from cutting the steel lines. I simply told him that unless he wants to personally pay for the repairs, the 75 mile tow (+ more because the truck was not on a road, but in a grass and mud parking lot where it is easy to get stuck) back to his father's shop back home and legal fees when I have him arrested for that, to stay completely away from my truck.

 

I hope a leader knows about the issue. I still say you should be an Asst Scoutmaster, and have some authority over the kids.

I think you would still be considered an adult leader of some sort, and you could have taken that kid's knife away.

Our troop just went to Summer Camp last week. I couldn't go. Stupid job! jk.

 

The reason why I say never again is because this was not the only trip where I went as a leader because of a shortage of leaders and later regretted going on the trip. All hell breaks loose as soon as the parents leave. They seem to have no respect for the leaders and the other troop we were sharing a campsite with at camp. I joined a Venturing Crew earlier this year and they are the complete opposite of this troop. All this just does not happen during crew activities.
Believe it or not, the original troop I joined 6.5 years ago before I transferred to this current troop in Dec 2006 (and later made Eagle mid-2009) is trying to "steal" me back as a leader. Too bad I go to college 125 miles away from home. The other leaders in the troop are aware of all this and they do their best to deal with the situations, but the scouts just don't listen to anything. The new scouts (the kid who had the knife who tried to cut my brake lines was one of them) didn't even have a Totin' Chip card (they earned it later that week), which meant that they are technically not allowed to carry a pocketknife. I told him at the end of the week that if it were up to me, the I would have ripped all 4 corners off (invalidates the card after 4 minor incidents with knives or axes. One corner = one incident. Severe incidents (in other troops that is) = card revoked on the spot (but we have never had that problem)) and burned the card because if he had the card before the week started, all 4 corners would have been gone by the end of the week because they do stupid stuff with pocketknives. They were even worse with the bug spray and fires. They stopped after the other leaders threatened to call parents at 10PM if they do it again. Only thing that worked.

 

Hmm...

Have the leaders gotten in contact with the parents?
I would suggest a meeting with the parents to discuss what is going on. Now, that will be tough because many parents just drop their kids off and leave.
I would see about emailing every parent, and have them come in for a meeting, and talk about a way to stop this. Maybe even see if some could become Adult Leaders to help. It sounds like their just isn't enough leaders to intervene when their's an issue.

You like Venturing? I was thinking about joining a crew, but I ended up staying involved with my old troop as an Assistant Scoutmaster.

 

The leaders were talking about actually forcing the parents to attend camp next year. I personally think it is a great idea if it keeps the peace, but it makes the troop operate like it was a cub scout pack (parents run everything). Parents should be invited and encouraged to attend events, but the troop should still run as a scout-run troop. But at least the additional supervision will make sure nothing gets out of hand. There has to be a balance somewhere between the scouts running everything and getting out of control and the adults having total control over all activities otherwise it can cause problems with advancement with leadership requirements since the scouts have to serve in different leadership positions.

I just joined Venturing a few months ago. It is an excellent program and I wish I joined it earlier. I still serve as an assistant leader for the troop if it is an emergency and they need another leader if one can't go. You can dual-register. Most of the members of the crew are registered in a troop in addition to the crew. Some as leaders, some as scouts.