The FMVSS rules only apply if you’re manufacturing or importing cars, so nope.
So go to a junk yard and find the same make/model of car, and buy the seat belt tab, cut it out of the old dead car, take it home and plug it into the slot end in your seat. It will connect the electrical links, and the dinging will stop.
I hear you there. I drive on snow and ice 6 months of the year. A tiny slip, engine cuts down to nothing and you find yourself trying to accelerate into traffic with a hamster under the hood. I can turn mine off. But it comes back on every time the car is started. STOP trying to think for me.
It’s not really “thinking for you” because it’s doing something the driver can’t. It’s a common misconception that all traction control does is cut power. The problem with wheel spin is that when one wheel has no traction, the differential sends all the power to that wheel instead of the one that has grip. What TCS primarily does is apply the brake on the wheel that’s spinning, which allows power to get to the wheel with grip. Some TC systems can cut power if you really stomp on the gas, but usually it just feels like power is being cut because the brake is being applied to the one wheel.
There’s some situations where you want wheel spin and so TCS works against you, but that’s mostly stuff like deep snow or sand. With on-road winter driving conditions, letting TCS do its thing almost always gets you moving sooner than turning it off and spinning your wheels, despite what it feels like.
I guarantee that even a small increase in the rate of seat belt utilization would have a measurable effect on the average cost per claim. Medical costs on average for claimants who were not wearing a seat belt are much higher than those wearing one. The difference is enough to be noticeable with only a few percentage increase in seat belt utilization. I don’t know the exact statistics, but unless you are claiming the noise cause almost no one to wear the seat belt, it will decrease your monthly premium.
I’m sure it had some effect, but I think the number of avowed seat belt non-wearers who responded to the chime by actually wearing their belt instead of just buckling and sitting on the belt or otherwise defeating the system is pretty darn low. I’m sure the insurance industry is happy they’re required now, but it’s not something like ABS or airbags that they were actively clamoring for (and would specifically give you a discount for.)
Some vehicles absolutely do have the ability to at least turn off the chime; my 2005 Dodge Dakota lets me do that; I have a short or something in the system that registers my driver’s side seat belt as unbuckled, when it is definitely buckled.
There was some sort of ignition-key ju-jitsu that I did that disabled the chime, so now the light on the dash lights up, but I don’t get annoyed by the dinging constantly. IIRC, it’s in the manual, and also freely available by Googling.
If nothing else, you may want to look at the fuses and relays in your car and see if there’s a seat belt chime one, and just pull that sucker out.
In our 2008 Ford F-150 there is a way to disable the auto door locks. Just an aside, The door locks only lock outsiders out. They still open with just the door handle for the inside. So, I guess the only thing they protect you from, while driving, are carjackers.
As far as the seatbelt ding ding ding, I too would love to disable it. I always wear my seatbelt, (force of habit) but my husband is a first responder, he doesn’t. Many firefighters and police officers never wear seatbelts. They say it’s because they have to be able to get out of the emergency vehicle as quickly as possible. I’m not sure I buy that. I think they just think they’re invincible.
He’s gotten 3 seatbelt tickets in the last 5 years. He’s better about it, but still forgets about 1/2 the time.
This works for (some) Toyotas:
- Turn the Car ‘ON’, but do not start the engine (Leave your foot off the brake). Cycle your trip reset knob until it reads ODO. Turn the ignition back off. Wait a couple of seconds.
- Make sure seat belt is not fastened
- Turn the ignition back on, do not start the car (Leave you foot off the break) As soon as you see everything light up, press and hold the trip reset knob and do a long 12 second count.
- Keep your finger on the trip reset knob. Fasten your seat belt, as soon as you fasten your seat belt, you should see the ODO display go from XXXX miles to “b-on”. At that time take your finger off the trip reset knob and press it again. It should cycle to “b-off”. You should be all set and turn the ignition off and unfasten your seat belt.
On my Subaru, there is a method to disable the chime that involves clipping and unclipping the buckle 20 or 30 times within x amount of seconds after turning the ignition on. I never ever pull onto the street without buckling my seatbelt, but I did this to avoid it chiming at me when I realize I’m not wearing it, like moving the car from my driveway to my garage, or when I’m busy putting something in my pocket before buckling up, etc.
Some cars have a lot of options like these to customize things like auto door locks, whether or not the car beeps when you hit the lock button on the key fob, etc.
The methods to change these settings are sometimes obvious, but the seatbelt thing is usually a little more obscure, for obvious reasons…and they are very specific to makes and models. Dealer techs and people in the know on car-specific forums often know how to do it if it’s possible.
I have a Subaru Legacy, and there is a procedure to turn off the seatbelt chime. I found it on a Legacy forum. It involves turning the key on and off a number of times and doing a few other things within a set time limit. I also did this on the Nissan Maxima I owned previously, again discovered on a Maxima message board. Search out a forum for your particular make/model and find out there. Note: I always wear my seatbelt while on the road. The only time I drive without it is on private land at low speeds.
I also disabled the auto-lock on my car. The manual describes how to do this. As I recall, you can set it to lock when you put the car in “D”, when you accelerate to 9 MPH, or not at all.
Or, depending on your spiritual destination, you may hear it for all eternity.
I understand that it will brake the spinning wheel, putting more power towards the one that has traction. However, it also limits power (or RPM or whatever it does). This limit is based on time, from what I can tell, because even after getting onto solid dry pavement, the power takes a few seconds to come back. That is what bothers me. I enter a nice dry highway from what is often a slick icy road. There a few seconds where I need to be accelerating (on perfectly dry pavement) that I can’t because it had detected wheel spin previously. The slick area now well behind me.
When in deep snow, going up my steep driveway, it is often better to turn it off. I need momentum. And if it detects a little wheel spin and shuts down the power, I loose that momentum. Where as a little wheel spin wouldn’t be a problem at all.
FWIW - 2006 4x4 Nissan Pathfinder, good snow tires all the way around
If you search on a forum related to your vehicle you may find a reverse switch that you can install to change the default setting from always on to always off. If enough people have wanted one someone may have made a reverse switch.
I have one installed on my car. It was simple. Mine was made by SLP for a performance car. I popped off the switch cover for the TCS button, plugged the little device into the wire harness and put the cover back on. Now my TCS is always off unless I turn it on. Much preferable to always on. I can hit the switch to turn it on for the 3 or 4 times per year that I want to use it and it says off the rest of the time.
If TCS detects wheel spin it uses the ABS to activate the brakes. It also gives haptic feedback by causing the gas pedal to kick back at my right foot to let me know it is working, very annoying.
why would anyone go through all of that hassle? just put the damn seat belt on.
I was able to kill the auto-locking bug on my Focus pretty easily. I do not like to have to remember to unlock the car when I am picking my passenger up at the door. And I do not drive around with toddlers, so I see no value in having my doors locked all the time (only in some neighborhoods). My friend was not at all happy with the Impala loaner that automatically unlocked all the doors when she put it into Park.
I worked at a rental car agency back in about '73-74ish when I was a college boy. DOT came out with buzzers that were activated by seats having weight in them and the belts unfastened. Lap belts only then, I think. Cars didn’t have shoulder harness belts. Anyway, many people got around the noise by just pulling the seat belts around the bottom of the seat and fastening them or around the seat back and fastening them and leaving them fastened always.
how? I have a Ford, and have exactly the same problem.
Look in the owners manual, it gives you a little ritual that involves turning the ignition key back and forth several times, then tapping the lock or unlock switch.
I am a P/C actuary, and that’s not how it works. If there were a discount for having a seatbelt alarm, you would know, the way you probably were dimly aware at some point that there is a discount for certain anti-theft devices. Now, the P&C industry might have lobbied Congress to pass a law requiring that alarm, I don’t know, but it’s not a market-force-driven-by-insurance-premiums thing.
Thanks! Will do.