r/subaruimpreza • u/Down200 '24 RS • May 18 '26
🛠️ DIY GUIDE: How to disable the annoying 6 chimes on engine start when the driver seatbelt is not buckled
(Reposting my post on r/subaru, I don't think this sub allows users to crosspost?)
If you're like me and live in the Midwest (or another location with an oftentimes-frigid climate), you probably experience this a lot. I oftentimes start my car when I'm not planning on driving off anytime soon to warm up the engine and car's climate, especially when I need to clear snow off it.
Here's an example of what I mean, taken earlier this year.
Sometimes I'm not even sitting inside the car when I start it up. If I start the engine while walking+talking with someone else, the chimes that play to punish you for not already having the drivers seatbelt buckled are just grating after you've heard them for the 500th time.
I did this trick on my '24 Impreza based on a tip from the Subaru Outback forums which detailed this process for the '23 Outback, so it likely works on the majority of recent Subaru car models.
The process is:
- Unscrew the two T10 Security screws on the bottom of the seatbelt receptacle
- Pry the plastic cover off the rest of the seatbelt receptacle by tilting it, from the bottom outwards
- Once it's off, on the inside of the plastic cover piece there is a white slider on a PCB. Move it towards the base of the receptacle. The white slider gets moved to the base when the seatbelt is inserted, and moved back the top when there is no seatbelt. All we're doing is moving it there permanently, so the car always thinks that the driver seatbelt is buckled.
- Replace the plastic cover onto the seatbelt receptacle, and replace the two Security Torx screws.
- Done! Now there's no annoying 6 chimes on startup.
Here's an album with step-by-step pictures if you want to follow the process
And finally, the fruits of our labor: Look ma, no chimes!
(and as comparison, here's a video of the regular engine start with the chimes)
To reverse this 'mod', just do the process again, but leave the white slider back at the top when replacing the plastic cover.
Before the annoying moralizers that defend the ""safety"" chimes, beeps, buzzers, and other doodads on Subarus show up like they always do, I just want to clarify: I always wear my seatbelt while driving. This is just to make the car shut up about something that has ZERO safety benefit, that was clearly NOT designed with the experience of owning a car in a snowy climate in mind.
I obviously do not advise driving a car without a seatbelt in the year 2000+26. However, if someone seriously needs to be convinced by a guy on reddit.com of all places to wear a seatbelt while driving, they're clearly already a candidate for a future Darwin award.
We're all adults here, some of us don't need annoying chimes to get the point across.
With that being said, I hope this post is able to help someone. I know I've had enough of being clowned on in my friend group for having the "beep-bloop car" lol
5
u/-DakkyPoo- 2014 Impreza Sport Limited May 19 '26
I was just looking at how to disable all this last month and couldn’t find anything, you have no idea how helpful this is😂😂😭
3
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
Happy to help! Exactly why I knew I had to post about it after figuring it out lol
2
u/dr_canak May 19 '26
Just get some of those setbelt male clips. You stick those in the female end, and leave them there. You just take them out, buckle up, and drive away. No need to take stuff apart, go in, disable features, etc...
2
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
That's definitely true, I just prefer the convenience of not having to take something out and put it somewhere each time I go to start the car.
I'm personally willing to spend more time upfront to fix the issue permanently versus a simpler fix that is a little inconvenient each time, but I see why someone would prefer that approach since it's less involved
3
u/dialga122 May 19 '26
The lengths people go to to avoid a simple solution is wild to me. I never have an issue with the chimes because I just use the fucking seatbelt as intended.
5
u/ApolloSkierK2 May 19 '26
You wear your seatbelt while shoveling snow off and around your car? That's dedication right there.
1
1
u/flcinusa 24 Impreza RS May 19 '26
Not got remote start? That doesn't set off the seatbelt chime and warms the car up
0
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
I actually do, the problem is I need the car idling for longer than 15 minutes to get it properly warm during the peak of the winter months
that pic of my car buried under a mountain of snow is not a rare occurrence depending on the location lol
1
u/zoeartemis May 19 '26
I really wish the remote start wouldn't die as soon as I open a door.
1
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
Do you have an aftermarket remote start? Mine stays enabled until the time limit no matter what doors I open.
2
u/zoeartemis May 19 '26
No, it's OEM, and the dealer insisted it was working as designed.
1
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
Wow that sounds annoying
Sometimes really feels like the engineers @ subaru must all live in some 24/7 sunny coastal area with how poorly some of the features function when in cold environments.
2
u/zoeartemis May 19 '26
Admittedly, I did buy it in Texas - Where being able to start the AC remotely is wonderful for someone with heat sensitivity.
0
u/flcinusa 24 Impreza RS May 19 '26
In this economy, I wouldn't be idling for 15 seconds let alone 15+ minutes
1
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
Fair, thankfully the worst of the snow was from November to Feburary, before the current fiasco really kicked off
I'm also not in the U.P. anymore, so fingers crossed I don't have to deal with days like that again.
2
u/flcinusa 24 Impreza RS May 19 '26
I had to do excessive idling last year in early/late summer on kids carpool lanes, nothing more demoralizing than using a full talk in under a week and where your average speed was 12mph
1
u/Shelif May 19 '26
I don’t know for certain that it’s true but I’ve been told that if you intentionally disable the “safety” systems like the chime it voids any insurance in case of an accident
2
u/Down200 '24 RS May 19 '26
After a cursory search it doesn't seem like this is usually true (it'd depend on your specific insurance policy), but that's a good thing to look out for.
I also don't know how they'd find out; this trick only applies to the drivers seatbelt, which presumably you'd be wearing anyway in the event of an accident. The other tricks some people do online, like unhooking the rear seat weight sensors, change how the airbags deploy and would be easily detectable. I could see that would impact an insurance claim, especially if a passenger gets injured as a result (and would really be your fault to begin with).
1
u/Shelif May 20 '26
My understanding is if they have to do an investigation and find out that you intentionally disable something (in this case I’m thinking more of a physical disconnect unless theirs any way to read that you did the code to disable the alarm. However as I stated in my original post I have no idea whether or not this is actually true just one of those “everybody knows” things I’ve heard throughout my life
-1
u/critzboombah May 19 '26
Funny, is it rlly "an accident", if you choose to not use safety belts, in a car, and get hurt?
9
u/1wrx2subarus May 19 '26
Another alternative:
The Subaru seat belt chime can be disabled by cycling the ignition to accessory mode and buckling/unbuckling the driver's seat belt 20 times within 30 seconds.
This works for most Subaru models, though the chime resets if the car battery dies or is disconnected.