Technical Seatbelt Alarm

[gazz_bee]

The point I was making wasn't whether the lifejacket would successfully protect you. The lifejacket is the lead safety equipment you have when you fall overboard, an airbag isn't the lead piece of safety equipment in a car crash. A better analogy would perhaps have been that I perceive the relationship between seatbelt and airbag to be similar to that of the lifejacket and its flashing beacon.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

If this is true, which on balance sounds likely, the whole airbag safety system is called into question.
I have life jackets on my boat, and I insist on them being worn by all aboard, even though fellow boaters think this is an OTT approach.
What's the good of a part-time safety system?

Not at all, SRS is exactly that, its supplement restraint system, ie designed to work with, not instead of, which is exactly why you should always wear a seatbelt.

If you're not wearing a seatbelt and the airbag goes off its likely to seriously injure or kill you. This is why the system isn't active when the ignition is off, because most of the time when sitting in a car without it being driven seatbelts are often left off etc, and you may not be sitting correctly, as you would be when the car is in motion.

You cannot compare it directly with life jackets, because as has already been mentioned, these only activate and inflate when you hit the water - no different to airbags, only inflate when the car is 'on' and you're expected to be sitting properly and wearing your seatbelt.

You wouldn't expect a life jacket to deploy just as you've zipped it up before you hit the water would you?

 

[gazz_bee]

Not at all, SRS is exactly that, its supplement restraint system, ie designed to work with, not instead of, which is exactly why you should always wear a seatbelt.

If you're not wearing a seatbelt and the airbag goes off its likely to seriously injure or kill you. This is why the system isn't active when the ignition is off, because most of the time when sitting in a car without it being driven seatbelts are often left off etc, and you may not be sitting correctly, as you would be when the car is in motion.

You cannot compare it directly with life jackets, because as has already been mentioned, these only activate and inflate when you hit the water - no different to airbags, only inflate when the car is 'on' and you're expected to be sitting properly and wearing your seatbelt.

You wouldn't expect a life jacket to deploy just as you've zipped it up before you hit the water would you?

Exactly the point that I wasn't managing to get across.

 

[Mick F]

Thread drift alert!

I spent 27years in the Royal Navy, retiring in 1996.

We had life jackets that were manually - by blowing into the tube. The auto ones were reserved for upperdeck crew during seamanship stuff of which I wasn't part of because I was a technician below decks.

If we had to abandon ship - not that we did! - but we practiced it many times - and during the Falklands War some crew did for real - I was there, but on a ship which wasn't hit - the manual lifejackets were partially inflated "just in case" and fully inflated ASAP. We jumped into the sea with an arm round the lifejacket and the other hand holding our nose. The arm round, held the LJ down so it didn't break your neck as you hit the water.

So yes, a deployment of lifejacket is a good thing before you hit the water, but you need to be aware that it will do it, so I stand by my point.
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Back to the seatbelt issue..... I am going to disconnect both seatbelt alarm systems.
Yes, of course we will wear seatbelts, but the damned wailing noise will be gone.

Regards to all,
Mick

 

[Sweetsixteen]

Wish I hadn't thrown the life jacket example into the pot now!
Off-thread and not a great comparative anyway.
But I agree about holding the jacket as you jump in. Some have crotch straps, and you can easily lose your voice if the water catches you wrong!

 

[Mick F]

Said is a high squeaky voice .................
Yes, you are correct!

Squeaky,
Mick.

 

[306maxi]

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index...._blame_for_death_of_passenger_in_camillu.html someone was wondering whether a car whose ignition was off would fire its airbags? Nope. Personally I wouldn't be dicking around with any safety systems in my car.....

 

[AndyRKett]

Back to the seatbelt issue..... I am going to disconnect both seatbelt alarm systems.
Yes, of course we will wear seatbelts, but the damned wailing noise will be gone.

Regards to all,
Mick

Ok clearly you didn't read the bit when I sad you could turn the beeper off very easily

so away, plugged it into MultiECUscan an 30 seconds later turned it off

Seriously hacking the wiring about is a bad idea, the 500 has a much more advanced airbag system than most other fiats mainly because it's newer designed than most, so it has things like dual stage deployment, in the steering wheel and dash, curtains which act independently and can deploy if the car is parked up and switched off, and seatbelt pretentioners, in many cars with seatbelt monitoring if the seatbelt isn't connected it won't deploy the pretentioners. Weight sensors and location sensors in seats are used to decide how many stages of the airbag to deploy and if knee bags are needed. They use all these sensors to decide in a fraction of a millisecond which airbags to deploy and to what extent, if there are any issues or faults at the point of deployment I,e weight sensors shows empty seat but seatbelt connected, the system might abort deployment to prevent injury.

They are vastly more complex these days than the setup I had in my 93 mondeo with 1 steering wheel airbag and 1 crash sensor.

If you wanna switch off the noise no problem software can take care of it, but chopping arround any part of the electrics on the airbags or seatbelt could very well end in tears, if not injury it could cost you an MOT or worse your insurance being invalidated

I think Maxi hit the nail on the head, don't dick around with it

 

[scout]

Ok clearly you didn't read the bit when I sad you could turn the beeper off very easily

If you wanna switch off the noise no problem software can take care of it, but chopping arround any part of the electrics on the airbags or seatbelt could very well end in tears, if not injury it could cost you an MOT or worse your insurance being invalidated

I think Maxi hit the nail on the head, don't dick around with it

I think you'll find I told him in post #2 & #4 how to get it sorted through the software and here we are at #89 and its still rumbling on. Just accept that some people can't be told. I give up with people that won't/can't take good advice.

I genuinly hope the OP never has an accident where someone is injured because the bags don't deploy correctly.

Stay safe everyone

FWIW I use one of these when I don't want the alarm going off (Heavy bag on passenger seat)

 

[Mick F]

Hi guys,
Some people don't read posts, and only think they have read them.

I did some research and found that you can get Fiat to turn off the alarm, but it's only temporary.

It comes back if you alter the buzzer volume.

I said this up thread.

Regards,
Mick.

 

[scout]

Hi guys,
Some people don't read posts, and only think they have read them.

I did some research and found that you can get Fiat to turn off the alarm, but it's only temporary.

It comes back if you alter the buzzer volume.

I said this up thread.

Regards,
Mick.

I've had my 500 for nearly two years and have NEVER adjusted the volume of the buzzer, and your turning it off so why would YOU do it either? :bang:

Alternatively buy the cables (under £20) and download the software and you can turn it off as many times as you want

 

[AndyRKett]

Mine is TURNED OFF not effected by buzzer volumes or anything else, the battery has been disconnected a number of times with no effect

It doesn't really matter what you've heard or been told but some third hand person who once knew a guy, with a cat, who sat on the bonnet once.
Two people are telling you it can be simply and easily switched off, try that before theorising anything more.

Otherwise It's just turning into so weird and unnecessary ramblings.

 

[Melanabb]

... a guy, with a cat, who sat on the bonnet once.

I know the man!

 

[jrkitching]

a guy, with a cat, who sat on the bonnet once.

I know the man!

His name was Erwin (the man, not the cat).

Ever heard of Schrödinger's Airbag?

It might, or might not, activate in a collision - but there's no way of knowing prior to observing the event .

And then, at the same time, the airbag of an otherwise identical but LHD Fiat 500, built alongside the first but now living in Copenhagen, will instantaneously either deploy, or not deploy - there's no way of knowing which, but it is certain to be the opposite of what the first car does. .

 

[306maxi]

Mine is TURNED OFF not effected by buzzer volumes or anything else, the battery has been disconnected a number of times with no effect

It doesn't really matter what you've heard or been told but some third hand person who once knew a guy, with a cat, who sat on the bonnet once.
Two people are telling you it can be simply and easily switched off, try that before theorising anything more.

Otherwise It's just turning into so weird and unnecessary ramblings.

A lot of threads seem to be going that way at the moment....

 

[jrkitching]

A lot of threads seem to be going that way at the moment....

It's probably the Moderator .

But something does come to mind concerning a pot, a kettle, and a distinct lack of colouration .

 

[306maxi]

Oh I wasn't talking about you John, someone else seems to fixate on things that don't really need all that much attention.

 

[logger]

Is there a way of disabling the seatbelt alarm?
I find it intrusive and un-necessary. A simple warning light would be enough.

Our 14 month old Lounge just had its first service. I had them disable the chime after a bit of arm twisting. Hallelujah..... So refreshing to get rid of that irritating thing.