Online sellers are offering small plastic figurine heads designed to fool Tesla driver-monitoring cameras into believing a driver is present [1].

These products target the safety systems intended to prevent driver distraction. By bypassing these checks, users can potentially ignore the alerts that mandate active engagement with the road, increasing the risk of accidents.

The figurines, which resemble Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, are sold for approximately 10 dollars [1]. Users place the plastic heads near the vehicle's interior camera to simulate a human face [1]. This placement tricks the software into registering an attentive driver, effectively neutralizing the safety warnings that trigger when a driver looks away from the road [1].

Tesla utilizes these cameras to monitor driver attentiveness and ensure the operator is not incapacitated or distracted while using driver-assist features. The use of a physical proxy—such as a 10 dollar plastic head [1]—creates a loophole in the computer vision system.

This method of deception relies on the camera's inability to distinguish between a three-dimensional plastic model and a real human face in certain lighting or angles [1]. Because the system looks for specific facial markers to confirm presence, the figurine acts as a visual decoy [1].

The availability of these items on e-commerce platforms highlights a growing trend of consumers seeking ways to disable or circumvent automotive safety restrictions. While the product is marketed as a novelty, its primary function is to disable a critical safety layer designed to protect the driver, and other road users [1].

“Small plastic figurine heads sold for about 10 dollars can be placed near a Tesla’s driver‑monitoring camera to fool the system.”

This development illustrates a persistent conflict between automated safety enforcement and consumer desire for autonomy. When safety systems rely on visual pattern recognition, they remain vulnerable to 'adversarial attacks'—even low-tech ones like plastic models. This may force automakers to move beyond simple image recognition toward more complex biometric sensors or infrared depth-sensing technology to ensure a living human is actually behind the wheel.