Let me toss in one more thing - the repair manual pages 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...

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...

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...

 

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

 

LMAO! That is a great post.