# Seatbelt warning chime sounding with seatbelt fastened



## HunterRose (Feb 16, 1999)

I've been having an intermittent problem when driving down the road the seatbelt light will come on and the bell start chiming even though I am still buckled up.If this happens at below 5 mph then the emergency brake applies bring you to an abrupt halt or if you are stopped at the red light when this fault happens you try to take off when the light changes only to find out that the parking brake has be applied. Has anyone run across this or found what could be the cause.
I thought I'd read there was an issue in the 2009 with under seat wiring, what should I look for there (wire colors)?


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## daNinja (Mar 19, 2014)

HunterRose said:


> I've been having an intermittent problem when driving down the road the seatbelt light will come on and the bell start chiming even though I am still buckled up.If this happens at below 5 mph then the emergency brake applies bring you to an abrupt halt or if you are stopped at the red light when this fault happens you try to take off when the light changes only to find out that the parking brake has be applied. Has anyone run across this or found what could be the cause.
> I thought I'd read there was an issue in the 2009 with under seat wiring, what should I look for there (wire colors)?


Whoa...that sounds kind of dangerous.

I sometimes drive though my apartment complex with my seatbelt unbuckled. All I get is the chime (which isn't really that annoying when compared to my gf's 09 4-Runner). My e-brake never gets applied.


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## DaBz1981 (Oct 8, 2010)

can understand the reasoning behind the parking brake applying. but it's dumb... especially at those speeds.

mine does not do that


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## Motorista (Oct 28, 2005)

I don't believe the Emergency brake behavior you describe is by design, especially in the US where VW could very well be liable for the consequences (collisions) of an unexpected rapid deceleration. I think it's more likely the symptom of a more complex electrical fault: if you have access to VCDS, do a scan of DTCs and post them here, folks may be able to help.
Good luck,
Motorista


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## HunterRose (Feb 16, 1999)

Motorista said:


> I don't believe the Emergency brake behavior you describe is by design, especially in the US where VW could very well be liable for the consequences (collisions) of an unexpected rapid deceleration. I think it's more likely the symptom of a more complex electrical fault: if you have access to VCDS, do a scan of DTCs and post them here, folks may be able to help.
> Good luck,
> Motorista


Will do. And for those curious to know if the CC will do an ebrake burn out yes it will. Hit the gas from a red light to get on highway and spun the fronts and dragged the car a bit. Hit the brake button and she twitched a bit and took off. I would never repeat that....


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## Lord ET (Sep 10, 2013)

My wife started having this issue (never experienced it below 20mph so I cannot attest to your parking brake issue) this week where the seat belt light would come on and the chime would sound. It happened to her both ways on a 5 hour trip..every 10 seconds or so. I looked all around the internet and found numerous Jettas and Golfs with similar issues and their root cause was a broken wire under the seat. This evening I took out the 4 seat-bolts and lifted the seat up to find the seat belt wires. There is a small black cable with a pair of wires inside that plug in under the front driver seat. Yellow and Blue. When the seat belt is disconnected the circuit is complete and when the seat belt is clicked in the circuit is broken and the car registers the belt as latched. I took the cover off of the buckle and saw a little white switch inside. I took the switch off of the buckle portion and pried the side off. Inside I found a small clump of dog hair. 
I took a few minutes to examine exactly how the latching function works and opens this circuit. There is a an upside down T shaped green plastic piece that is depressed when the clip is inserted into the buckle. This green piece presses down on a protruding contact which it presses outward and in turn breaks contact with the other contact it normally rests on. The dog hair clump was allowing the buckle to latch, but wasn't allowing the green plastic to move the contact far enough away. I'll attach some pictures to clarify.(SORRY THEY ARE HUGE)


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## HunterRose (Feb 16, 1999)

We pulled the seat and replaced the latch. You way sounds easier....


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## The1Bill (Dec 8, 2009)

It's funny that I'm reading this today. This morning, the seatbelt light came on and the chime sounded. I found a simpler solution to my problem, though, my briefcase was just heavy enough to trigger the pressure sensor in the passenger seat.

My solution : Buckle the seatbelt for the rest of the ride to the office, and throw the case in the backseat on the way home.

My initial thought was that I had picked up an electrical gremlin, something like what was described in this thread.

-Bill


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## DasEfx (Mar 23, 2015)

Hi,

I am randomly experiencing the same issue, and it all depends on how my body is oriented.

I want to take a look at the inside of buckle to see if something is lodge inside, however does anyone know if we can simply pry the two sides the black buckle cover off without breaking it, therefore being able put them back on afterwards?

Thanks in advance!


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## The1Bill (Dec 8, 2009)

By chance, did you have anything on the passenger seat when this happened?


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## DasEfx (Mar 23, 2015)

Nope, nothing in the passengers seat.

I find that the chime and warning symbol remains on mostly when I'm looking over my shoulder before performing a left hand turn. It stays on for about a second or two, and once i go back into my normal driving position it stops. 

Also, if I wedge a dime in between the "tongue" of the belt and the buckle when it's fastened the chime will not go off at any point during my drive. It's as if the trigger mechanism that _Lord ET_ spoke of has shifted slightly in some shape of form or something is blocking it at a certain angle


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## Jscharff (Dec 14, 2014)

Yea im having the more traditional belt warning chiming while buckles but ive never had the brakes automatically applied at any speed whatsoever. That definitely sounds like a much more complex issue. On a separate note, im looking for a fix for the chiming issue that doesnt require me buying a new $75 belt drivers side buckle assembly. Any ideas?


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## DasEfx (Mar 23, 2015)

Temporary Solution:

I wrapped a small amount of scotch tape around the tip of the 'tongue' of the seat belt; doing so reduced the amount of play/wiggle room when fastened in the latch, and low and behold the chime is no more.


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## Jscharff (Dec 14, 2014)

Hm...ive tried using a hair tie to help seat the buckle in soundly but i may try this with some painters tape. Ive also noticed that my drivers side buckle latch doesnt rise out of the housing as much as the passengers side. This is driving me crazy


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## Robotninja636 (Jun 12, 2015)

I've been getting the same thing mostly during sweeping left turns, but never had the e-brake engage. That should only happen if you have the Auto Hold enabled in my opinion. The Auto Hold is what engages the e-brake once the seatbelt is unlatched.

I'll take apart the damn thing on the weekend and see what I find!


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## b4w (Sep 23, 2013)

You can disable the seatbelt chime with vagcom. I did for my cc and now those 1 mile trips down the road are far less annoying.


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## Jscharff (Dec 14, 2014)

Im still having trouble finding a willing person to help with a few vagcom set ups, i cant invest in the ross tech yet but would like a few tweaks made


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## SirVily (Mar 22, 2019)

Replying to a five year old thread because I find this while googling my issue. Same thing happened to me in our 2019 Atlas, seat belt chime warning for no reason. 

Well my solution was easy, take the cell phone off the passenger seat. Same thing happens in BMWs, the sensor they use to detect if someone is sitting in the seat is sensitive to cell phone antennas, sounds strange but true.


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## divineVR6 (Mar 21, 2002)

I just coded out the seat belt chime with vagcom 


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## pilkukim (11 mo ago)

People will have different sensor issues, but I also wanted to contribute. My son's 2009 VW CC had the issue of the seat senor constantly going off when buckled in. Found a video on Youtube with a simple fix that worked for our issue. You put a small piece of cardboard (1/4 x 1/4 inch) into the seatbelt buckle holder. It worked. It's been over 3 weeks and the sensor has not gone off. The Youtube video wasn't great, it was like 15 seconds long with no directions.


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