Seat Belt Warning Buzzer

[revband]

Hi All,

I have replaced my 2008 avensis with a 2011 model, on the old one I was able to disable the seatbelt warning buzzer but the procedure won't work on the newer one, does anyone know how to do it please, I often need to use a fairly long drive then open a gate or visa versa and its driving me mad.

[Fitter]

I don't see the problem. Wear the belt, it's the law. When you want to get out the buzzer shouldn't sound with the vehicle stopped. If you really want to drive without a belt, fasten it and sit on it. However it is worth rmembering that to be involved in an accident and suffer injury your insurance wont pay out.

Fitter

[alan333]

If you don't wear a seatbelt (obviously for health reasons etc) then get a piece of thin plastic or similar and cut it to the same shape as your seatbelt buckle, but instead of making the square hole in the centre leave the gap open to the bottom end. Plug this into your latch until it clicks then remove it again, fooling the car into thinking you have the buckle plugged in. Next time you want to wear your belt simply press the unbuckle button to release the buckle it thinks it has in the socket and hey presto.

Disclaimer...oh it's dead dangerous not to wear your belt, it's the law, you could die etc etc. And beware the car will think you have your belt on so the airbags might behave as such and give you a sore one in the face in the event of a crash.

[revband]

OK guys it would seem you misunderstand me the only time I would drive without the seat belt is to negotiate the PRIVATE DRIVE which is around a mile long. my 2008 model HAD the facility to switch the alarm off by using the trip reset button, ignition key and fastening belt in a set order. Can it be done in any way on the later model?. Pretty please anyone.

[citam]

I have 2003 Avensis and I would also like to switch off buzzer for key in ingnition, when the door is opened. Is there a way to do that?

[Starlight Taxis]

It really gets on my nerves when someone asks a genuine question like this and people come back with some USELESS reply like "wear your seatbelt then you won't have a problem". How pointless! You might as well not have bothered replying at all!

I too am getting VERY frustrated with my seatbelt alarm. For one, it goes of in reverse, which it shouldn't do because it is perfectly within the law not to use a seatbelt while manoeuvring (and any time you're in reverse you WILL be doing a manoeuvre), this is the only car I've ever known to sound the seatbelt alarm while in reverse. Secondly, once you've set it off it doesn't stop EVEN after the car has stopped, you either have to plug it back in again only to unplug it straight away again, or turn the ignition off in order to get it to stop. As a taxi driver this is SO irritating as 9 times out of 10 a customer will always take their seatbelt off just as you are pulling over (not waiting until the car has actually stopped first) so that they can try to get their money out of their pocket etc., then while you're pulled over and they're counting their money and possibly having a little bit of a chat with you or whatever this god awful buzzer is going off (and then after a while it gets louder) until the customer gets out, all because the customer had their seatbelt off for about 2 seconds while the car was in motion but stopping. I had a Mondeo before which was great because you could cancel the buzzer (which wasn't really much of a buzz, more of a gentle bing which you can live with) from the drivers side just by pressing the red buckle-release button. Also, if it was going of it would actually stop of its own accord if the vehicle came to a stop.

So yeah - people generally don't ask this question because they want to go round breaking the law, if they wanted to do that they WOULD plug it in and then sit on it.

revband - I too have a 57reg 2008 Avensis and would really love to know how to disable this feature please!!! As for your new Avensis, the only thing I can suggest is if you ask your main dealer very nicely as they should know all the combinations to disable features like that. IF it's not able to be disabled in the new model I can tell you how to do it manually, but it won't be easy unless you're a bit handy with a soldering iron and removing interior trim etc (if not, most good auto sparkies could probably do if for you with an hour's labour or so).

You can't just unplug the pressure sensor in the front passenger seat as this is linked to the airbag system, so will not detect anyone sitting in the seat and potentially not setting the airbag off if you have an accident.

You can't just unplug the pressure sensor in the driver's seat as I suspect this wouldn't make a jot of difference as the computer isn't stupid enough to think that the car can be driven without a person in the driver's seat. In fact, I'm not sure there even is a pressure sensor in the driver's seat for this very reason!

If you locate the buzzer (not sure about the new model but I know it's mounted the the circuit board on the back of the dash clocks on my model) - you can't just un-solder it and remove it, nor can you jab it with a screwdriver to destroy it, as this will break the circuit which would flag up all sorts of nasty warning lights etc. The only way to do it is to replace the buzzer with a resistor (an auto sparkie told me you can replace it with a 5w bulb soldered in but I'm not convinced the original buzzer consumes anywhere near 5w and so putting a 5w bulb in its place probably isn't wise as you'll be running more power through the circuit than it was designed for, although it won't definately cause any problems i.e. blowing the circuit, it's always better to be safe rather than sorry!). So I'd recommend measuring the resistance of the buzzer, once removed from the circuit, to know roughly what resistance resistor to replace it with. You don't want to go too high on the resistance as you'd risk the circuit not detecting there's a link (and therefore still having the warning lights on the dashboard), and you don't want to go too low on the resistance as you'd risk over-loading the circuit and blowing something on the circuit board (or possibly the resistor). I'm guessing the existing buzzer would consume anything from 0.1 watts to 1 watt... therefore giving a target impedance range of between about 1440 ohms and 144 ohms at 12v. So anything between those two values would probably do the job nicely. Get a high power wirewound resistor as you'll effectively be shorting the circuit with the resistor, therefore the resistor is just going to be consuming power and possibly getting warm (you don't want it to get TOO warm!). Maplin sell 220R (220 ohm) wirewound resistors rated up to 3w for 59p each so there's a good place to start (or ebay). A 220 ohm resistor will consume just under 0.7w at 12v and just under 1w at 14.5v so won't run too hot for a resistor rated at 3w and shouldn't blow the circuit either, so that's what I would go for.

I was going to use this method when I finally got around to doing it, but now I hear from you that there potentially is a way to do it with a combination, if you'd be so kind as to enlighten me I would be very grateful!

[Starlight Taxis]

I have 2003 Avensis and I would also like to switch off buzzer for key in ingnition, when the door is opened. Is there a way to do that?

I Also would be very interested how to turn this feature off on my 57reg 2008 Avensis T180. Any suggestions please anyone???

[revband]

Hi Starlight Taxis, Thanks for you reply, I guess I need to talk to the dealer on this one.

The way I did it on my 2008 model is, turn on the ignition but don't start the car, set the trip meter to ODO, turn off ignition and turn back on within 5 seconds, press and hold the trip reset button for 10 - 15 seconds whilst still holding fasten seat belt, release trip, turn off ignition, and unfasten seatbelt.

This worked on both my 2.00 d4d 2003 model and 2.2 d4d 2008 model, possibly the T180 is different. I hope this will work for you.

[Starlight Taxis]

Wow that's a long sequence! Thanks very much! I'll try it now. I take it from your reply you're not too keen on mucking around with a resistor? Probably more hassle than its worth I agree. Plus I'd be very surprised if Toyota took away the ability to turn it off on the new model if it existed before on the old model! Good luck with the dealer!!! Kind regards, Mike

[taxi]

i use a seat belt extender £6 for 2 offf eBay,