I posted this in the Problems forum but didn't get a definitive answer...

Can anyone tell me how to turn off the bong, bong, bong seatbelt/door alarm. It is intensely annoying!

 

You can turn it down, but I don't know if you can turn it off.

 

find a seat belt buckle that fits, click it in, enjoy

 

As these *&^%$#@ alarms are required by federal law they can not actually be turned off.

Also as this is controlled by and is part of the audio system in the car there is no gong to remove. The sound comes out of the speakers in the doors.

But as many others have said use a seatbelt end. That is really the only way to get it to stop.

You could probably get it to go away if you replaced the whole audio system, head unit, and amp but and wiring to the speakers, but as i have not tried that i can not be sure that even that would work.

 

Case in point: I pulled into the garage yesterday and as I was about to get out of the car I got 2 phonecalls on bluetooth. My choices were

a. tell them to hang up and call back - twice
b. remove the key and disconnect them - once
c. wrestle w/the phone and my 3yr old and probably disconnect them anyway - once
d. sit in the car w/the a/c and engine running
e. sit in the car w/the engine off w/the windows rolled down in the 90º FL heat
f. suffer the bong, bong, bong...

My wife's mercedes has a ding ding but it turns off after about 30 seconds. My old Passat did the same thing... Is it too much to ask?

 

Instead of asking them to call you back why not say "hey I'm getting out of the car with (insert 3 yr olds name) and i will call you back when i get in the house (or where ever you are going)"

Mine just sends the call back to the phone as speaker phone so i can't comment on what your phone does.

Same as a

Same as a, or if the engine is running keep your seatbelt on, or get a seatbelt buckle as previously suggested.

Same as a, and if you open the door to talk it is just like rolling the windows down.

See a

I just checked by bosses 2007 E550 and is dings, bongs what ever you want to call it for about 1 mnute then goes off and then come back on after about 2 minutes and stays on for at least 4 minutes that i sat in the car.

Another co-workers 2006 Chrysler Town and Country just stays on all the time.

So find a seat belt buckle and that should do the job for you.

 

Schatzy - I don't know if you have kids and if so how they work but w/Oscar in the car life can be bit hectic .

As for the seatbelt buckle - will that disable the door alarm? That is to say - if I have the seatbelt buckled but the door open will the alarm stay off?

Anyway - I'll deal w/it - it's just so insistent and annoying I was hoping there'd be some way to just kill it DEAD...

 

Hmmm interesting. In my R56 it will turn off after a minute or two. My girlfriend forgot once and was putting on makeup so she just let it beep for a while and it stopped, it was a long time though. If I take my seatbelt off after I have come to a stop and stay in the car, I do not get the beep.

 

Some vehicles seem to bong longer that others but they will all go off and then eventually come back on it you sit there long enough.

If I get in my car (08 clubbie) and drive away with out my seatbelt on will start to bong after about 30 seconds and then keep going for about 2 minutes, then it goes off for a little less than a minute and the comes back on and will bong for more than 5 minutes then go off and then come back on after a few minutes. I know this because i just tried it at lunch time while taking a 20 minute drive to Lowes. And then i repeated the some test on the way back and it was the same.

 

Rexicon, did you turn the volume down to the lowest level?

 

rexicon, just tell me you're wearing the thing the rest of the time. It's dangerous not to in a car with airbags. I encourage all motorers to stay safe!

 

Thanks for the concern - I'm religious about buckling up.

I just seem to spend a lot of time w/key in and the doors open it seems and the damn bonging winds me up.

Phone calls, gassing up, detailing, bugging the neighbours w/the vibrations from my HiFi stereo ;-) etc

 

My 08 MCS is only a couple of weeks old. I left my seatbelt off for a little over a minute and the bong noise stopped, even after opening my door with the car still on. I waited about a minute more to see if it would come back on and nothing. Sweet.... pure..... nothingness.

 

I guess I need to clarify my bong aversion (aside from spilt water...).

The bong, bong, bong that drives me nuts is the bong that occurs when the car is off, seatbelt unbuckled and the driver's side door open.

This is a scenario that I seem to run into at least 1x per week and NO - it doesn't turn off - EVER. Just keeps bonging away until you get fed up - restart the car, turn off the stereo and fire up the garage stereo, get off the phone etc.

 

Okay that was a better explanation of what you don't like but my question then is

Why would you have the drivers door open, the fob in the ignition and the radio on?

1. why not just open both windows and close the doors the bong will go away, Radio will stay on and you can listen to it.

2. remove the fob from the ignition and the bong will go away. of course the radio will go off after a few minutes but that is to save the battery.

3. if you are listening to the radio and you have one in the garage why use the one in the car.

 

Schatz - your response really made me smile this time

Why pose so many logical questions to a somewhat illogical man w/delusions of logical grandeur...?

In answer to your questions:

1. because I like both doors open during detailing sessions and they typically last more than the battery saver cutoff but not as long as the "I want to murder the MINI bong inventor" ravings.

2. Because my radio will cut off too soon

3. Because there are times when you just want to be able to open the door - hang your foot out and revel in the high fidelity reproduction of your downsampled mp3's rendered in all their magic through the MINI HiFi stereo and the garage stereo only has an ipod hookup despite previous erroneous descriptions WITHOUT a hugely annoying bonging noise going on in the background.

In all seriousness - I guess I'm resigned to not being able to tailor this to my whims - I'll deal w/it and just chalk it up to MINI youniqueness. Thanks for all your responses.