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R56 Can I Turn Off My Seatbelt Chime?

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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 12:25 PM
  #1  
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Can I Turn Off My Seatbelt Chime?

I know I'm gonna get a lot of "you're ALWAYS supposed to wear your seatbelt" replies. However, I live a very short distance to some of the places I frequent. (local stores, friends house, parents house, etc.) and dont always want to put on my seatbelt, especially in the freeeeeeezing cold when I am all bundled up. Is there a way to turn off this chime, or at least shorten the length of which it beeps?

BTW, dont worry, I wont try to sue you if i get into an accident without my belt on
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 12:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Tiny1
I know I'm gonna get a lot of "you're ALWAYS supposed to wear your seatbelt" replies. However, I live a very short distance to some of the places I frequent. (local stores, friends house, parents house, etc.) and dont always want to put on my seatbelt, especially in the freeeeeeezing cold when I am all bundled up. Is there a way to turn off this chime, or at least shorten the length of which it beeps?

BTW, dont worry, I wont try to sue you if i get into an accident without my belt on
Quick answer to your question: Buckle it and sit on it, wrap it around the back of the seat, or get just the buckle portion to stick in the connector.

Now to attempt to change your mind:

Just because you are close to home doesn't mean an accident is less likely to happen. After all, it's frequently said that most accidents occur just a few miles from home.

Let me ask you this, though, regarding your excuse: How much time does it take for you to get all bundled up? Isn't it also inconvenient to do a lot of things when you are bundled up? Why just stop at not wearing your seatbelt? Maybe you should not close your doors for such short trips, since it takes extra time, and it's difficult to make that movement when wearing such bulky clothing. You should probably just leave the car in reverse the whole time when backing out of your driveway, since it's such a short trip and it's a hassle to move the shift lever when you are all bundled up.

All kidding aside, once you make the mental adjustment that wearing a seatbelt is just one tiny component of the whole process (unlocking door, opening door, sitting down, closing door, putting on belt, inserting key, starting car, moving shifter, pressing pedal), then you'll no longer consider it an inconvenience. You wouldn't get dressed without zipping up your fly, for example.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 12:57 PM
  #3  
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Originally Posted by Dan00Hawk
You wouldn't get dressed without zipping up your fly, for example.
Some do. Seems to coincide with either very young, or at the other end of the age spectrum.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 01:18 PM
  #4  
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Yes it's in the setting in the radio.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 01:39 PM
  #5  
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God has his way of weeding out the idiots.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 01:48 PM
  #6  
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It's 2008 and people are still refusing to wear seat belts. Unbelievable.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:10 PM
  #7  
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Did you know most accidents happen close to home?

Your choice, but it really is no hardship to just click it & then motor.

Good luck to you.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:23 PM
  #8  
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not to continue the bashing or anything, but it just sounds REALLY dumb to turn off the chime that reminds you to wear your seatbelt i mean, seriously, how little do u value ur life?

look at it this way, if u love ur mini, buckle up, cuz if u dont, and u crash, u might fly thru the windshield and damage the car further lol. just kidding man, suck it up and buckle.

btw, i cant find a way to turn it off just turn it down which dosnt really seem to work. remove a fuse?
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:24 PM
  #9  
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Most accidents happen close to home because you are driving close to home far more often than you do far from home.
Assuming equal driving skill and luck, the more miles you drive the more accidents you will get into. Because you are coming and going from a home base, it follows that you will cover more miles close to home.
It's not as if it's patently more dangerous to drive close to home.

That being said, I would recommend he wear a seatbelt, but I don't think it's the government's job to mandate this.

With my Audi, anyone with a VAG tool to hook into the computer could de-activate the seatbelt gong. The dealerships won't do it for the most part but an independent mechanic would likely do it.
And no, I didn't have this done because I choose to wear my seatbelt.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:26 PM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by mcs22004
It's 2008 and people are still refusing to wear seat belts. Unbelievable.
There are fewer and fewer.

Dan gave a complete answer for the OP's question.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:38 PM
  #11  
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While I hate to support this, if you can't find the sett or VAG than you should be able to unplug the sensor and short or leave it open (depending on which means "buckled").

My lawyer says I take no responsibility if you take my advice.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:48 PM
  #12  
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Potential Darwin award winner!
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 02:51 PM
  #13  
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I always wear my seatbelt, but hate the stupid warning chime. i'd probably want to have it deactivated also.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 03:14 PM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by Dan00Hawk
Just because you are close to home doesn't mean an accident is less likely to happen. After all, it's frequently said that most accidents occur just a few miles from home.
Yep, I have been run into right in front of my driveway, so it doesn't matter if your driving 50 feet or 50 miles...buckle it!

having said that, I do find it annoying that I can't put my loaded backpack on the seat without the seatbelt chime going off, so instead it goes on the floor, no big deal. I love my car and all the little complaints I have don't really add up to much.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 04:37 PM
  #15  
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Picking up a few groceries, I always place the bags on the passenger seat. The weight (1/2 gallon of milk) sets off the seat belt chime. I then drive 5 minutes back home with the chime going..very annoying. Is there a way to reset weight limits? Or I just need to start popping the back open.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 04:53 PM
  #16  
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Put it in the boot!
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 05:24 PM
  #17  
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Originally Posted by Grape82
Picking up a few groceries, I always place the bags on the passenger seat. The weight (1/2 gallon of milk) sets off the seat belt chime. I then drive 5 minutes back home with the chime going..very annoying. Is there a way to reset weight limits? Or I just need to start popping the back open.
Buckle the groceries in, Buckling the passenger seatbelt also eliminates it blowing and buffeting annoyingly when the window are open at speed.

I encourage everyone to wear a seatbelt at all times because of this true story:
I had a friend who never wore her seatbelt, except when riding with me since it was the rule in my vehicles. She was driving her car (a late 70's Cougar) through town, a few blocks from where she lived. She swerved and hit the brakes to avoid a stray dog or cat that had run out in the road, but because of her vinyl seats (and the fact that they were a bench seat) she slid across the car, her foot coming off the brake. Because she was only holding onto the steering wheel her sliding (and trying to stay in position) caused her to turn more sharply and run completely off the road and into a sign and a low brick retaining wall. This caused her to hit the windshield (on the passenger side of the car). This whole thing happened at about 30mph and would have been a simple swerve and stop had she been buckled in. Had there been an oncoming car, or worse, someone on the sidewalk, this could have been a much more tragic accident. Needless to say, afterwards she was a devout belt-wearer.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 05:41 PM
  #18  
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My wife's Neon doesn't whistle if you don't buckle up. I'll sell it to you cheap too.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 05:48 PM
  #19  
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Don't wear your seatbelt. We need more organ donors.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 06:03 PM
  #20  
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Mine only chimes 3 times, and only does it for the driver, not passenger. The dealer must have a way of adjusting it. Even though i always use my seatbelt, i dont need a chime to remind me every time i get in. It seems it is habit forming.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 06:47 PM
  #21  
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Remember folks, there is still one state that doesn't have seat belt laws. Something about "Live free or die."

The answer to the question is that the dealership is not allowed to disable the seat belt alarm on the R56's and Mini of America won't tell them how even if they wanted to. There is an optional key-activated passenger's air bag de-activate switch that *should* disable the alarm on that seat, but even after mounting it in it's spot on the dash and taking the rest of the dash apart I was unable to find the plug you would plug it in to to actually wire it to the system.

Best bet is an "extra" seat belt tongue to poke in the buckle, though if you're going to that much trouble you might as well put on the belt.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 07:55 PM
  #22  
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You probably can't turn off the seatbelt gong without doing some wire splicing or unauthorized computer reprogramming, but you can adjust the volume of it from the radio audio controls.

At least the seat belt warning gong on the MINI shuts off after a few minutes... some new cars keep doing it constantly
 
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Old Feb 15, 2008 | 08:44 PM
  #23  
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Don't make the car think that your always buckled in when you really aren't!!!!
If you put a jumper in or hack the wiring or wrap the seat belt around the back and plug it in you put yourself into more danger than if you just drove with the gong silenced and here is why:

Cars nowadays have airbags that can go off in two separate strengths, or stages. in a front impact collision with a seatbelted driver, only the first stage of the airbag will deploy cushioning the driver.
IF the same driver has the same front impact collision but is not belted in, the computer knows that the driver has no seatbelt on and will deploy BOTH stages of the airbag at once to cushion the driver to give the driver the best chance of survival- preventing trauma to the chest/head.
IF the same driver hacks the mechanism to make the computer think that he is always buckled in, when he gets into the same front end collision the computer will only deploy stage 1 of the airbags, severely lessening his chances of survival b/c he really needs the full strength of the airbag to protect him, not just half strength.

If you want to drive with no seatbelt please go right ahead, don't let anyone on here stop you. but for your own sake don't mess with the seatbelt sensor. Cut the wires to the speaker that produces the gong if anything.
 

Last edited by zach999; Feb 15, 2008 at 08:50 PM.
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Old Feb 16, 2008 | 07:06 AM
  #24  
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How about this story, In 1992----- After driving up from Florida to Upper Michigan and back, I got teeboned about 200 feet from my home on the return trip. I WAS wearing my seatbelt.
 

Last edited by djam43; Feb 16, 2008 at 07:10 AM.
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Old Feb 16, 2008 | 08:37 AM
  #25  
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Back to the original post. You can not turn off the sound. You can grab the passenger seatbelt and plug it into your side
 
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