johna1

Hi. I am about to take delivery of a new E320 CDI. I have asked the dealer to investigate disabling the annoying seatbelt chime, but I suspect he will come back and say it is not possible.

Is this equipment standard in the US? Has anyone successfully disabled it without compromising the parts of the safety systems?

Thanks John

bmms8

congrats on your car man! are you talking about the 3-5 second chime when you get in? or is it somehting else? i never found it annoying really.

johna1

If the seatbelt is not fastened then there is a chime that sounds for about 3-5 seconds quite frequently (maybe every 30 seconds).

In an ideal world I want the light to remain on as a warning, and the safety systems to be aware that a seatbelt is not being worn (because I believe this will modify/affect the air bag behaviour). This means that simply disabling the sensor is not going to work.

The dealer advises me that they already have asked the workshop on behalf of another customer last week and they said no, but that they will try again for me.

bmms8

i see, but i have heard that if you dont waer a seatbelt, and you get into an accident, the airbags will not deploy, and if they do, you can break a lot of vital bones in your body, why dont you want to wear your bel in the first place? isnt it a law?

Frank Wiesmann

On new Mercedes in Germany, a high pitched beep will beep in half-second intervals for 5 seconds, then stop and then continue if you have not buckled up within 10 seconds after it stops. The beep starts once you begin to drive unbuckled and will not stop coming back every 10 seconds till you buckle up. Now, THAT is annoying!

johna1

Well, yes, sort of. My understanding is that most cars with advanced safety systems monitor passenger weight, restraint wearing and accident forces to decide whether and how aggresively to deploy air bags. Certainly my XKR did this.

I often don't wear a belt for round town low speed driving because I find it gets in the way and is generally irritating. It is a legal requirement here (although not everywhere in the US I think), but is not easy to enforce, so that is not an issue for me.

I guess I also have a kind of objection to the nannying view of MB that they know best. I hated that attitude in a Volvo I was unfortunate enough to drive for a while which had a huge buzzer that went continuously while the belts were unfastened.

Something lurks in my mind about reading that MB got the final star of their 5 star safety rating in Europe for the E by putting in the chime - this would tend to confirm the idea that it may not be so easy to get rid of (as well as my views of EEC bureaucrats).

Rgs John

Frank Wiesmann

that got bumped up to the five star rating from four simply because this is a criteria in the current EEC crash test.

jim256

bmms8: fyi, the airbags will still deploy without seat belts fastened, but you are correct that you could be worse off because your position relative to the bags could be detremental.

bmw2mb

i don't hear any seat beat warnings...all i get is the keyless go beep! it overrides every other warning at all times.

marksatex

My wife is a Neurologist and sees a lot of head injuries. Even at low low parking lot speeds a head injury can be very very serious if not fatal. Think how inconvenient it will be to be disabled or worse as a comparision. Wear the belt!

If you do not believe that a low speed impact can injury you, take a hammer and hit your head a few time to replicate the scenario- If it doesn't hurt maybe you don't need a seat belt. It's the same exact discussion we have with the kids about wearing helmets on their bicycles.

Wear a seat belt. I personally would love to see a full 5 point harness instead of the 3 point we have now having been a major auto crash survivor myself. IMHO.

jyg e500 maybe

BMW beep , 3 beeps. then light on dash stays on, no more beeps.

johna1

So, the dealer has come back and says they can disable the audible alarm without impacting any other systems or features so that seems good to me.

2 weeks to delivery (which will be my birthday).

weinschela

Many fatalities are caused by not wearing seat belts for "just a short trip in the neighborhood". If the chimes force you to put them on, they could actually save your life.