Before anyone can be a wise guy I'll answer my own question by saying that the easiest way to disable the blinking seatbelt light is to put on your seatbelt. :P

I'll sometime leave my car on(A/C!!) and sit in the car while my wife runs into the store or if I'm in my driveway or driving across the street to the basketball or tennis courts. The blinking seatbelt light gets on my nerves. Is there a fuse that will disable the blinking of that particular light? If not, is the only other way to disable it by taking off part of the front dash and getting behind there and removing the bulb or covering it up w/electrical tape? Any suggestions on how to disable the light?

yes turn the car off open the window :P

Just buckle the seatbelt when she gets out. You could take the thing apart if you wanted (it's fairly easy, just look at the thing and carefully take it apart), but it wouldn't really be worth the trouble.

You could always go to the junkyard and find the end of the seatbelt that plugs in and use it as a dummy. That would shut off the light and still allow the airbags to deploy.

max2k: i take MY seatbelt off when i'm sitting in the car w/it running as well.

jethro: i don't want to get seatbelt clips fromt he junkyard and plug and unplug them. a simple answer like taking out a fuse or putting a piece of black tape over the inside of it is probably the answer. i'll look into it tomorrow.

The fasten seatbelt light can be caused not to blink by instructing the car's 'puter not to blink it. The instructions have been on ScionLife several times, but I am NOT going to guide you to them. :P

Just fasten the belt, look the other way, or set something on the dash in front of the light...

am i mistaken to say that the connector that senses a seatbelt that is fastened is beneath your seat? maybe you can unplug the connector and put a jumper wire in it..

CrayonBOX, that can also mess up the airbag deployment... The belts, indicators, and airbags are all tied in together...

agreed. i don't want to get into rewiring and getting all crazy. unplugging a fuse, removing a light or putting a piece of black electrical tape over the inside of the dash is about as far as i want/should go.

(1) That fuse has a whole lot of things on it.
(2) The "light" is a soldered-to-a-circuitboard LED.
(3) Black electrical tape will work - inside or outside the display.
(4) Since the computer can be instructed by the end user not to light the light in the tC, I suspect a similar set of steps exist for the xA and xB.

Tape inside might get hot and melt. If you are going that far why not just pull the 2 bulbs and be done with it.
It originally sounded like you didn't wan't do anthing hard. Thats why I suggested the other thing. My bad.

thanks tom!

so that leaves the question, does anyone know the steps for disabling the light? :)

i may pull the light. i'm trying to avoid that though b/c the light is soldered in their to a circuit board. if i ever sell the car in the future i don't want the buyer to ask, "why isn't that light lighting up? i need the light there." then i have to go through a process of soldering a light back on there. reprogramming it, taking out a fuse or using some tape is definitely my preference.

since i would imagine the little LED light can't get too hot a piece of tape inside may not be all that bad. hrm.

i may pull the light. i'm trying to avoid that though b/c the light is soldered in their to a circuit board. if i ever sell the car in the future i don't want the buyer to ask, "why isn't that light lighting up? i need the light there." then i have to go through a process of soldering a light back on there. reprogramming it, taking out a fuse or using some tape is definitely my preference.

since i would imagine the little LED light can't get too hot a piece of tape inside may not be all that bad. hrm.Unless they have had an xB, they wouldn't even know about the light. So why tell them about it. lol
Yeah, since they are leds tape should do the trick. I'm going to try that on mine.

OK, I really don't like assisting in disabling a federally required safety feature, so this is absolutely as far as I go in assisting.

Try the ...[EDIT]...

Or just put black tape on the back of the display window...

(Of course you realize if you then forget to fasten your belt there is NO guarantee the airbags will fire, either.)

You're on your own.

*washes hands*

jethro: i was thinking the same thing. believe me, if i ever sell the car i won't be mentioning some of the little mods i've done. =)

i went to take some of my dash off the other day. i took part of it off by pulling out the part around the speedomoter. as i moved down i noticed there was a little screw in there but i wasn't sure how to get that off so i could completely remove it and get more access. has this already been discussed?

tom, hehe. thanks. i thought about the federal requirements and i thought i was leaning on the laws but not going over the line since my intention isn't to disbale the seatbelts but just get rid of the annoying light. thanks again! you rock!

Unless they have had an xB, they wouldn't even know about the light. So why tell them about it. lol
Maybe because every new car has been required by federal law to have that light for years and years??? Could be. :lol:

That's one of many things I check in a used car...

I'm just going to make a cover for the whole section out of electrical tape. Then remove it if need be down the road. Should look invisable.

so i was mistaken; thanks for catching that..

Let me toss in one more thing - the repair manual pages (http://tijil.org/holdfile/Scion Repair Manuals/04 xB Repair Manual/05 - Diagnostics/combination meter/drivers seat belt lamp.pdf) for just the driver's seatbelt indicator...it really is a fairly complex system.

The actual wiring diagram is much messier... :D

the esiest way of doing this is to take apart the dash unit around the LED compartment and use a pair of pliers and crush the small LED. This had to be done to my xB when I added a steering wheel with no airbag. the airbag light was driving me nuts.

computerman: i ended up popping off the dash and rather than crushing the LED i just put a little piece of electrical tape over the inside of the plastic display panel. works like a charm plus it's easily removable if i ever need to.

Depending on how old you are you may remember the delightful buzzers that accompanied the lights when the seatbelt was not connected. If you think a flashing light is annoying find yourself pretty much any early 70's car that has not been molested from original and enjoy that for a couple of seconds. As far as the Fed Safety standards I still scratch my head over those asinine automatic seatbelts that ran along a rail around the door and strapped you in whether you wanted it or not. I've always considered that to be the result of a politician telling an engineer how to design a car.

Those were a result of the same law that gave us airbags - the ability of a car to provide "passive restraints" meaning if the person was too dumb to take precautions themselves (in other words were "passive" not "proactive") the car would do it anyway.

That's 'lawyerspeak' for "it's for your own good" - which is what they also told the tomcat before they took him to the vet... :P

My mum's car has bells and buzzers and flashing lights and even the belt-on-a-track that nails you as soon as you start the car.

The only thing it doesn't have is the ill fated "ignition interlock" that prevented you from even starting a car if the seat belt was not fastened - or if the switch was out of adjustment... :nope:

Now if the manufacturers would only quit putting in such super features as the electric door locks that automatically UNlock when the car stops - those things are a real perk to carjackers and thievs - they know which cars to wait for and know that when they stop for the light there is no way to keep 'em locked. *sigh*

Sorry, folks, I'm one of the vast majority smart enough to fasten my own seatbelt and unlock my own doors. If there are folks out there driving cars that don't have at least that many smarts... well... "Think of it as evolution in action." (Apologies to Larry Niven for lifting his phrase.)

Hmmmm... Looks like someone activated one of my automated features and I typed this all in before I even thought about it. :D

Doggoned creeping featurism (http://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/jargon300/creepingfeaturism.html)...

tom: i couldn't agree more w/you. but isnt it nice that the government is mandating what you need to do for your own personal safety? you're too stupid to know that you need to buckle your seat belt. good thing that the goverment is telling you what to do. argh. lol :)

Those were a result of the same law that gave us airbags - the ability of a car to provide "passive restraints" meaning if the person was too dumb to take precautions themselves (in other words were "passive" not "proactive") the car would do it anyway.

That's 'lawyerspeak' for "it's for your own good" - which is what they also told the tomcat before they took him to the vet... :P

My mum's car has bells and buzzers and flashing lights and even the belt-on-a-track that nails you as soon as you start the car.

The only thing it doesn't have is the ill fated "ignition interlock" that prevented you from even starting a car if the seat belt was not fastened - or if the switch was out of adjustment... :nope:

Now if the manufacturers would only quit putting in such super features as the electric door locks that automatically UNlock when the car stops - those things are a real perk to carjackers and thievs - they know which cars to wait for and know that when they stop for the light there is no way to keep 'em locked. *sigh*

Sorry, folks, I'm one of the vast majority smart enough to fasten my own seatbelt and unlock my own doors. If there are folks out there driving cars that don't have at least that many smarts... well... "Think of it as evolution in action." (Apologies to Larry Niven for lifting his phrase.)

Hmmmm... Looks like someone activated one of my automated features and I typed this all in before I even thought about it. :D

Doggoned creeping featurism (http://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/jargon300/creepingfeaturism.html)...

LMAO! That is a great post.