Seat belt warning

[allanb]

My car has a warning light that flashes if anyone has failed to fasten his seat belt. Unfortunately it has started to flash randomly even if all belts have been correctly fastened; no amount of wiggling of the fasteners makes any difference.

The flashing light is accompanied by a beeping noise which will eventually drive me crazy.

The dealer can't find anything wrong, and proposes to replace the fasteners, at great expense. Another solution wold be to simply disable the warning system. I could easily live with that, but would it be legal, or could I have a problem with the CT? Does anyone know?

[Will]

Taxi drivers seem to be able to disable theirs.

I know what you mean, they are extremely annoying (the beepers, not the taxi drivers).

[Bugsy]

Allan, the sensors that usually cause this are under the seats not in the belt mechanism.. They are the ones that put the light on when someone sits in the seat. Try unplugging the connections under the seats and giving them a squirt of WD40 before replacing.

[Suandpete]

Ours did that as well - it turned out that a water bottle had rolled underneath the seat - as soon as it was removed the light went out......

[bigears]

hi

this is a common fault on citroens and peugeots, I believe. 

[allanb]

Thanks for the suggestions. (There are no water bottles under the seats.)

Bugbear: logic suggests that there is a sensor that turns the light on when there is weight on the seat - as you suggest - and a switch in the buckle that overrides it when the belt is fastened, i.e. turns the light off. If this is so, and the light is coming on when it shouldn't, wouldn't that mean that it's the buckle that's faulty?

In any case, if I can find the sensor you mentioned, I could always disconnect it and leave it like that. It would solve the problem in a way, but I'd still like to know whether it would be legal.

[Bugsy]

As I said previously, the most common fault I found was the underseat connections. On VW/Audi vehicles (I used to have a garage specialising in those marques) the sensors are linked and disconnecting, cleaning and re-connecting usually solved the problem.

I would suggest that you trace all the connections, check for broken wires and give the multi-block connectors a clean and a squirt.

As regard the legality, well, I'm no legal expert, but if you do disconnect them, who would know. The operation of the belts are checked at CT time but I doubt that the functioning of the warning light is part of that check.

Gary.

[suein56]

[quote user="Bugbear"] but if you do disconnect them, who would know. The operation of the belts are checked at CT time but I doubt that the functioning of the warning light is part of that check. [/quote]      

My old banger - Citroen Saxo '96 - doesn't have seatbelt warning lights -she is obviously too old for such sophisticated technology; but that doesn't hinder the seatbelts being rigorously checked during her CT.

Sue

[Sunday Driver]

The CT does not include a check of any seatbelt warning system.

 

[allanb]

[quote user="Bugbear"]As I said previously, the most common fault I found was the underseat connections. On VW/Audi vehicles (I used to have a garage specialising in those marques) the sensors are linked and disconnecting, cleaning and re-connecting usually solved the problem.

I would suggest that you trace all the connections, check for broken wires and give the multi-block connectors a clean and a squirt.[/quote]The car's an Audi, as it happens.  I'll certainly try what you suggest.  Thanks.

Thanks to SD also for the reassurance that whatever I do it's not going to be a CT problem.