I never bought the story of Haleigh riding in his lap. Ron would've been too impatient for that. But, why did he lie? You brought up a very good point about Haleigh's hair, etc...that would explain why he changed the story of who picked her up.
I always felt the picking up Haleigh and Haleigh on his lap was to explain witnesses seeing him drive by the bus stop.
IMO, TN did call Misty....called Misty to pick up Haleigh from the bus stop. When Ron found out that TN asked Misty to p/u Haleigh, he was furious. I think he went to p/u Haleigh but Misty got there first. I think he chased after Misty. I think Haleigh was trying to protect Misty when she got hurt.
One of the reasons I think Ron was chasing Misty in the car was the way he explained Haleigh's driving in the Cobra tape. He explains it as someone seeing a car turning, not as someone sitting in his lap driving. He says something like "she turned on the right blinker, then the left blinker." If it was Haleigh on his lap, IMO, he would say the way she turned, not the blinkers she used.
Ron could not take Haleigh to the hospital because her injuries could not be explained as an accident. Ron either did not realize how serious Haleigh was injured or did realize but did not want to go to prison. Ron then called TN who took over while Ron went to work for his alibi. Wherever TN took Haleigh was not GGma Sykes. Maybe some place where LE would NEVER consider.
["He was asleep. I got there 10 minutes after we noticed she was gone. I had Junior, he said he didn't know anything...said he was asleep," Haleigh's great grandmother, Annette Sykes, told First Coast News on Monday.]
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=132095
Two commas changes the meaning of what she is saying. "I go there, 10 minutes after, we noticed she was gone."
IMO, GGma Sykes said it....10 minutes after she arrived, we noticed Haleigh was gone. Gone is used when you cannot say dead. GGma Sykes did not say 10 minutes after we noticed she was missing but gone.
We know from the police report that GGma Sykes did not show up at the MH 10 minutes AFTER Haleigh was discovered missing or even 10 minutes AFTER the 911 call. GGma Sykes is NEVER mentioned in the police report. Therefore her gone has to be dead, not missing, and before police were notified.
This is just my opinion and only my opinion.