Honda Car Forum

My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
do not.

I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
of the system.

I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).

Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
already buckled?

Thanks in advance,

-- Ron

Ron,
I am sure that this annoyance could NOT be "legally" to be
defeated by the dealer. It would subject the dealer to loss
of insurance and a lawsuit should someone get killed for not
wearing their seat belt. We all know lawyers can easily manip-
ulate juries to award a verdict when there is an injured/killed
"victims". Never mind that most states have seat belt laws. "It
must have been the dealers fault for taking away that reminder
leading to the victim not wearing their set belt. Therefore lets
award the widow and family ... ".

Honda (many auto makers) are now going to things like this. (i.e.
let's make it annoying to not wear it.). If you defeated it yourself,
it would be a different scenario.

chuck

Ron wrote:

> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.
>
> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
> of the system.
>
> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).
>
> Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
> would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
> belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
> disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
> already buckled?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> -- Ron

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 13:03:13 -0500, chuck smoko
<csmoko@earthlink.net> wrote:

>Ron,
>I am sure that this annoyance could NOT be "legally" to be
>defeated by the dealer. It would subject the dealer to loss
>of insurance and a lawsuit should someone get killed for not
>wearing their seat belt.

Obviously, the best solution is to have the reminder beep once or
twice, than shut up. This is the way it was done in all my previous
Toyota cars.

But, I don't see how the dealer is open to any lawsuit if it was
done at the request of the owner.

> We all know lawyers can easily manip-
>ulate juries to award a verdict when there is an injured/killed
>"victims".

By the same token, some lawyer could sue Honda *becasue* of the
beep, since it annoys the driver enough to cause an accident.

> Never mind that most states have seat belt laws.

But not all and in any case, it is no Honda's p;lace to enforce
laws.

> "It
>must have been the dealers fault for taking away that reminder
>leading to the victim not wearing their set belt. Therefore lets
>award the widow and family ... ".
>
>Honda (many auto makers) are now going to things like this. (i.e.
>let's make it annoying to not wear it.). If you defeated it yourself,
>it would be a different scenario.

Well, how do I do that?

-- Ron


>
>chuck
>
>Ron wrote:
>
>> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
>> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
>> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
>> do not.
>>
>> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
>> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
>> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
>> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
>> of the system.
>>
>> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
>> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
>> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).
>>
>> Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
>> would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
>> belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
>> disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
>> already buckled?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> -- Ron

"Ron" <ronami@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9hg6r01b85fquak4o8sbifrccng4ufvpv5@4ax.com...
>
> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.
>
> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
> of the system.
>
> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).
>
> Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
> would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
> belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
> disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
> already buckled?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> -- Ron
>
The liability aspects prevent them from disabling the seat belt warning. It
would be extremely negligent, and there is no way they could win a lawsuit.

You will be better off leaving the warning active for those few times when
the belt is a problem (certain backing situations or narrow roads that drop
below the hoodline, for example.) That will remind you to rebuckle.

(Impassioned rant *Please* don't forget to buckle up. Two women I work
with were involved in a high speed rollover last month, and although both
suffered concussions and one is recovering from a broken neck, they are both
expected to recover completely. Neither would have had a ghost of a chance
without the belts. Two years ago a colleague of my wife neglected to put her
belt on and slid off the road at low speed when she hit a patch of ice. The
only damage her BMW suffered was a bent passenger door where her butt hit it
and fractured one of her vertebrae. She could have had it pulled onto the
road and driven away instead of being medevac'd. She will probably not fully
recover and is told her nausea from the spinal damage will probably fade but
never go away. She's just glad to be able to walk.

BTW - the company I work for (an electric utility) summarily terminates
anybody who is injured in an accident in a company vehicle if they are not
buckled up. (It is a life-threatening safety violation, the same as bringing
a weapon to work.) They are serious about this - about a decade ago an
employee had pulled off the highway and was sitting in his stopped Blazer
when another car ran into it. He died, but the company held he was in
violation of the seatbelt policy because he was seated in the vehicle and
was not buckled in (or in the process). I forget what benefits if any he
lost, but the company successfully denied responsibility. The company led
the horse to water, and that he died of thirst was not their fault.

Mike

"Ron" <ronami@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9hg6r01b85fquak4o8sbifrccng4ufvpv5@4ax.com...
>
> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.

Not buckling your seat belt when the car isn't running won't sound the
'irritating beep'. That is the only time that you shouldn't have your seat
belt on. To do otherwise is endangering other motorists on the road. The
seat belt is designed to keep the driver where he (or she) belongs, behind
the steering wheel.

Brian

Brian Smith wrote:
> "Ron" <ronami@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:9hg6r01b85fquak4o8sbifrccng4ufvpv5@4ax.com...
>
>>My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
>>every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
>>While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
>>do not.
>
>
> Not buckling your seat belt when the car isn't running won't sound the
> 'irritating beep'. That is the only time that you shouldn't have your seat
> belt on. To do otherwise is endangering other motorists on the road. The
> seat belt is designed to keep the driver where he (or she) belongs, behind
> the steering wheel.
>
> Brian
>
>

Otherwise the driver will be roaming around in the back seat?!

Seat belts are designed to decelerate the occupant more slowly than the
car itself resulting in more human-tolerable forces.

They may have a beneficial side effect of keeping vagabond drivers in
their seat, but that's not what they were *designed* to do!

a

Ron wrote:
>
> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.

There are so few legitimate reason not to wear a Seattle that I can't
for the life of me see how this can be a problem for you.

> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
> of the system.

Disconnecting the switch will only work if it is a normally closed
switch (which it usually is). However, on many cars this switch ties in
to things like seat belt tensioners and air bag systems. Unless you know
exactly what the interaction with these systems are, I'd leave the
switch alone.

A safer idea would be to disconnect the beeper. In my '94 Civic, the
beeper is inside the "Integrated Control Unit" which is a box plugged in
to the back side of the fuse box. If yours is similar perhaps you could
take out the box and see if you could disable the beeper. Most likely
the beeper is the same as the one used for the headlights-on reminder,
key-in-ignition reminder etc., so you'd loose those functions. You don't
need no stinken' reminders.
>
> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).

If I were a dealer, I wouldn't touch it either.

Hi Ron:

I'm resisting the urge to lecture you too. These people are advising you
responsibly not to disable a safety device.
> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.
>
> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
> of the system.
>
> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).
>
> Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
> would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
> belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
> disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
> already buckled?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> -- Ron
>

Why don't you find out were the beeping is coming from and yank the wires?

Based on a video clip I saw a while back with the driver falling asleep and
rolling the car I'd suggest just buckling up. You have a family right?


"Ron" <ronami@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9hg6r01b85fquak4o8sbifrccng4ufvpv5@4ax.com...
>
> My 2004 Accord LX has a 'feature', whereby an irritating beep sounds
> every 30 soeconds for as long as the seat belts are not buckled.
> While I do wear the belts most times, this is an irritation when I
> do not.
>
> I thought that disconnecting the buckle switch should stop this
> annoyance (the processor will then 'think' the belt is buckled at
> all times); however, space under the driver seat is very cramped and
> I cannot find the point where that switch is connected to the rest
> of the system.
>
> I asked Honda service to disconnect the switch and was told, rather
> arrogantly, that they will not disable a 'safety feature' (I am not
> sure how harrasing the driver qualifies as a safety feature).
>
> Does a kind soul on this NG have the electrical schematic? If so,
> would you please tell me where is the connector to the driver seat
> belt switch physically located and whether it needs to be
> disconnected or shorted to fool the system into thinking the belt is
> already buckled?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> -- Ron
>

My 98 has no such beeping, just the annoying red light on
the dash. HOWEVER, my friend had a Ford Ranger with this
annoying feature. He defeated it by pushing the seat belt
release button when it started beeping at him. For some
reason, it wouldn't beep at him after that, until he stopped
the motor, and restarted.

Not sure if this is applicable to hondas, but worth a try...

t