Fasten belts light

[Guest]

Hello all !!!<P>How do I get my 'fasten seatbelt' light to go off ? Is there some mysterious secret ?<P>I have checked switch in female part of the belt, I found the wiring connector underneath the belt where it connects to the body and disconnected it to jump the 2 terminals.... Nothing .<P>BTW-- (sorry !) This is a 1989 Buick Lesaber.<P>The owners manual has a highlighted box on the page saying "If the seatbelt light stays on bring your Buick to the dealer for service".<P>This sounds like a service ploy to me (much like the oil service lights on newer vehicles).<P>Any ideas ???

[Guest]

Newer cars sometimes use those idiot lights as warning messages of sorts. I know I had a car that the "brake" light would never go off ( even when parking brake not on ). It turned out to be a blown fuse for the brake lights. Trying checking the fuses, or maybe call the sevice dept. and see if someone there will give you a clue as to whats going on without having to take it in.

[NTX5467]

As a dealership employee, I need to question why you are trying to apparently disable that function? Remember that, as stated in your owner's manual, the Supplemental Restraint System (i.e., air bag) is designed to work in conjunction with the existing seat belt system, which is also there for your protection and safety. In order to prevent/decrease the injury of the deploying air bag, the occupants need to be "nailed down" in a particular place when the bag deploys.<P>If, by chance, the existing seat belts will not buckle around you, check with the dealer for "NO CHARGE" seat belt extenders, which are an extra piece of seat belt goes between the existing buckle pieces and "make it click".<P>If there is a sensor that has gone bad or has a wiring problem, you need to see the dealer anyway to get that fixed. Any vehicular safety related system needs to be operating as designed and not "short circuited" by the owner for any reason. If you did modify the system to your liking, then sold the car in later years without putting it back, the later owners could hold you liable for their injuries as you modified the system and possibly caused them to be injured more than if the system had been in its "as produced" condition.<P>Basically -- get it fixed if there is a suspected malfunction, period.<P>NTX5467

[Guest]

I did'nt explain this fully enough..... <P>I am not trying to disable anything on this vehicle. I just purchased it. 14 yrs.old with 34,000 WELL maintained & documented miles. Absolute cherry. I do not even turn my radio on without putting on my seatbelt, but for my entire commute the darn light stays on. This vehicle is not equipped with airbags.

[NTX5467]

Thanks for the additional information and clarification. Perhaps I was a little strong in my reply, but you wouldn't believe some of the things that owners have done to their cars that we have to fix once the cars are traded in when the fix itself was not that expensive to do.<P>Sounds like you have a really nice car.<P>Thanks again,<BR>NTX5467

[NTX5467]

This is what I found in the GM Parts database --<P>There can be two different configurations of seat belts in '89 LeSabres (and probably a few years prior) that can affect the way the seat belt light works.<P>The first type (option code AR8) is what you might call the "normal" seat belts as the belt retractors are bolted to the vehicle floorpan inside the passenger compartment and the shoulder belt portion has an upper guide attached to the body pillar. With this "Active Restraint" set up, there is a chime module (GM nomenclature is "alarm") that has the various "head lights on", "key in ignition", and "seat belt" alarm functions in it. I suspect with this arrangement, the seat belt light will have a timer on it and go out after an appropriate period of time.<P>The other seat belt configuration is the "Passive Restraint System" (option code AR4). With this configuration, the seat belt retractors and upper guides for the shoulder belts are contained completely in the vehicle's front doors. Also, the "passive" nomenclature means that the belts can remain buckled at all times, yet the doors can be openned for the front seat occupants to get in or out "behind" the belts. When the door closes, the belts surround the occupant(s) in a normal manner. Hence, the "passive" terminology as the front seat occupants don't have to actively do anything for the seat belts to surround them. If desired, the belt can be unbuckled each time and used as the "active" or regular seat belts are at the occupant's/user's option.<P>With the passive belt system, the chime/alarm module is different than for the "active" system mentioned above, part number wise, and there is a separate Seat Belt Indicator Module (which I suspect runs the light on the instrument panel). <P>The parts data base would locate the active belt system chime/alarm module on the passenger side of the instrument panel (underneath, of course) and would not locate the seat belt indicator module in an illustration.<P>The chime/alarm module part number for the option code AR8 "active" belt system is 25524794 and for the AR4 "passive" belt system it is 22533568. Typically, these part numbers are stamped/cast/inked into the casings for those modules (along with some other production/vendor codes).<P>The Seat Belt Indicator Module for the AR4 belt system is part number 22534666. Similarly, that number should be on the part somewhere. This part should cost under about $30.00 at the present time. It might take a Buick service manual to determine where it is, though.<P>Finding the main chime/alarm module should be pretty easy if you get it to make noise and track it down. It is possible that the other one would be nearby, but that is a highly variable situation.<P>I hope this helps pin things down a little more for you on this deal.<P>NTX5467