Can I use A/C when charging?

Disagree with you here.
1. I dont see anywhere Toyota warn us not staying the car while getting the car charged.
2. Lots of us park the car in the garage to get it charged overnight. If the car released toxic, one would have the same risk of inhaling it by living in the house compare to sitting inside the car.
Is it your speculation? Or do you have anything to back up your thoughts?

 

That is ... except for those who have a heart problem and have a pacemaker.

 

As someone with a pacemaker who never made it to this part of the manual, I find this quote quite interesting.

I think they're being extra cautious, but any activity around strong electrical current is strongly discouraged. For example, don't work on running car engines (thank goodness I don't earn my living as a mechanic) or run small handheld power equipment, like a chainsaw (but lawnmower is ok since, I assume, it's far enough away. I think it's the magnetic fields created by the current that is the problem as it has a magnetic interface with the outside world - also need to keep earbud headphones away.

I have already done those things warned about (charged my car, and entered it while charging), and am still here to write this. I'm going to have to dig a little more to try to understand why plugging in a car (bad) is different than plugging in an appliance (no warnings). Maybe check things out with a gauss meter. Perhaps it is the DC current, or Toyota is just doing some CYA.

Just don't tell my wife.

 

You're supposed to get out of your car, walk around, and "shop local" while your car is charging. That's why local governments are working to put in more charging stations. Who knows? You may just find a neat new shop or restaurant.

If for no other reason - sitting isn't good for ya. Getting up to stretch your legs and keep your blood flowing will help stave off stuff like DVT and the like.

 

Quiet afternoon in the office so I decided to go down the pacemaker rabbit hole to see if I should really be concerned or not.

Found a German study that showed the largest fields are found along the charging cable while the car is being charged (Patients with pacemakers or defibrillators do not need to worry about e-Cars: An observational study - IOS Press)

The highest level measured was 116 microT for a 40A Tesla. The 16A Leaf was 30 microT, and there's a general trend of lower amps, lower magnectic flux density.

Meanwhile, my pacemaker manufacturor says a circular saw is "minimal risk" - keep at least 6-in from your device.

This reference ( EMF-Portal | Saw) says a circular saw creates 2milliT at it's surface. This is ~67x greater than the Leaf charging cable, or 17x the Tesla.

To me, this means no worries for Level 1 charging, and perhaps a small bit of caution for a Level 2 charging (I shouldn't wrap the cable around my chest). I guess I will make a point to keep the cable away from my chest, and probably avoid the cabin while it is being charged.

I think Toyota is being extra cautious probably because there's really not much research aside from this one study.

 

They're probably trying to head-off nuisance/spurious claims of "My Prius shorted out my pacemaker!" because people/lawyers/juries are eager to nail a big corporation that hurts "the little guy".