I habitually buckle up. But not for 150 ft. trips from my mailbox to my garage. And not when I'm just moving the car around in a parking lot.
My 2005 OBW has a very LOUD beeper that beeps for 15 seconds, is silent for
15 seconds, and then beeps AGAIN for 15 seconds. This cycle continues to annoy until the driver either buckles up or runs screaming into the middle of the freeway. My friends' '05 Forester does not do this. But a Subaru sales guy verified that all '05 OBs do it.
I thought I was buying a car, not a nanny. My dealer, fearing liability claims I suppose, refuses to touch it. Is there a practical way to subdue this monstrosity?
Not really. You could try to rip the dash apart and find the buzzer, but remembering that all such systems are now wired into the airbag control, you may well set off the airbag in your face. Unlikely but possible. Apart from that, you don't know if the buzzer also reminds you of services or anything else besides seatbelts.
Well, if that were what I was doing, I would plug in the seatbelt and then sit on it. The trouble with turning it off is you will not have the warning sometime when you need it. You would probably also lose the key-in-ignition warning as well. That's one I personally really do need.
That's the one I hate. You want to have a nice relaxing lunch in your car with all the doors open and the radio on, but all you can hear is tht #@#$%!@ door open chime...
Up until now, the responses were living up to my most cynical expectations. I especially liked the one about the dangers of disabling the beeper, because some day I might NEED it.
I wonder when that day might arrive? Satan's minions will no doubt start mounting snow tires on that very same day.
Seems like a reasonable question from a subscriber looking for help from some kind of intelligent life forms - all this guy receives are insults and stupid comments. I am sorry I bought a Subaru - I must have the same mentality as you other Subaru owners. At least I now know where I belong! sad, but true.
Sadly, this group is rapidly becoming a place for smart-assed/politically correct/basically useless commentary, rather than actual assistance with Subaru things :-P
Regarding your beeper; I too hate those damned things. I don't know for sure on the newer cars, but on my '96 Legacy, the offensive component is called a "seat belt timer module", and it is located on the panel below the steering column; an ~2X3X1 inch black plastic module. Simply unplug it.
I'm sure that you could open the module and physically disable (a large pair of wire cutters would do the job) the piezoelectric squeaker, but you will probably wish to re-connect the warning if you go to sell the car, so I would only pursue this if disconnecting the module caused other problems; CEL or ABS warnings or whatever. The only thing I've noted on my car is that the little seat belt icon on the dash doesn't illuminate either; small loss IMO.
If you don't find a similar thing on your car, the only thing I can suggest is to start pulling the access panels off until you find it. Listen very carefully; the sound is kinda omni-directional, but when you cover the correct part with your hand, you will know.
ByeBye! S.
Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101
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