Minor issue. I am at a little over 70k miles, and I've noticed the indicator light for the driver's side seat belt no longer comes on. I am used to it bugging me on startup to buckle.

Here's the multipart question. Does the sensor sometimes think the seat belt is always buckled causing the light (LED I assume) to not come on, or is it more likely just a dead light? Is it an LED? Would it be easier to just replace the cluster with a new or salvaged one, or the one light? Any advice on easy test to determine if it's the light or sensor besides stripping the cluster down and testing the light?

Thanks for any tips/advice.

 

all the dashboard warning lights should come on during every start-up cycle. the ABS, the TPMS, the CEL, the door ajar light and the airbag light, MAIT REQ light should all come on briefly when you start the car

in the tC, if you drive around without the driver's seat belt buckled, the car beeps at you a few times to try and remind you. so if you xB doesn't do this, it might have a problem with the sensor thinking that the seatbelt is always buckled.

chances are, it is probably a dead LED, which case, it wouldn't be hard for somebody who knows how to do sodering and LED swaps to fix.

getting a new cluster would be expensive, and swapping gauge clusters would be fradulant (and illegal) as the cars odometer mileage is stored in the gauge cluster.

 

You might also check that the weight sensor plug on the underside of the seat is still hooked up. If its undone/cut no signal is sent to the cluster telling it someone is sitting there.

 

i don't think the driver's seat has a weight sensor like the passenger seat does. pretty sure the car logically assumes that there is always a driver present in the driver's seat operating the vehicle.

 

I thought the mileage was stored in the computer, not the cluster. At least it would make more sense to prevent somebody from changing the miles. Has anyone confirmed the mileage is stored in the cluster?

I can do the soldering, that is not a big deal. I am just not looking forward to dismantling it, find a compatible LED, ect.

I am fairly certain it is just the LED. I can live with it and will fix it sometime when I have free time.

 

in the tC, it is stored in the cluster, and not in the ECU, i know, i've swapped ECU's on mine. mileage stayed put. probably the same in the xA/xB since people have swapped ECU's and such. mileage is stored in the cluster. people have probably done so many LED swaps, it wouldn't be hard to find out the bulb for that.

 

The drivers side seat belt light is controlled by the switch in the latch. The flashing red light is always on, whether someone is sitting on the seat or not. When you put the buckle into the latch, it hits a switch which turns off the light.

I doubt the LED burned out as those are rated to more than 80,000 hours. I guess your problem lies in the switch inside the latch. Try spraying some WD-40, LPS, CRC-56, or the like, in there and working the buckle in and out.

 

I just ran into this issue with my tC a few days ago. The light only comes on when you hold down the lock on the buckle for a while after unbuckling the seat belt. The indicator works sometimes only, but not always. Has you resolved your problem yet because I'd like to figure out how to fix mine. Thanks.

 

in the whole scope of things...the seat belt light is an annoyance if it doesnt work...

really, do you need a light to tell you if your seat belt is on or not?..I wouldnt waste the time to fix just a seat belt light..
but thats just me

 

I thought it had some significance in the conjunction with the airbag system.

 

hmmmm..

you might be correct.

 

Now the problem just got weirder. I changed out the factory battery with a nice 720 CCA battery recently. After the new battery was in (and many systems reset) the light started working again regularly, for a day. Now it's out again.

Yes, my main concern is how this relates to the air bag. And I really don't like taking it to the local dealer. I took it there 4 times trying to get a warranty repair for a hanging door latch. Still is not fixed. You can see the door latch just hangs about 1-2 millimeters compared to rest. They tried to fix it with a big glob of grease, new door locks, then more grease and then telling me it needs to spend a day in the body shop. What, nobody can adjust a darn door latch? You can look and see it hanging low, not flushed like rest of the latches.

 

Okay, that fixed it! I messed around with the latch, and pressed the button all the way down several times while using duster to clean any debris. It's working normally so far now.

Thanks folks!

 

So there's a possibility that there may just be debri of some sort that's stuck in there. I might just use my compressed air bottle for my computer to spray in there.

 

congrats on getting to the bottom of your light problem

 

Lol, that's what I did. But I also got active with the seat belt release button. The first sign was when I mashed it all the way in instead of just until it released. The light came on then, so I grabbed the can of duster and took it further. Kept pushing the button all the way down while spraying bursts of air. Still working fine.