How would I go about coding out the seat belt chime and the low fuel chime on my Fabia?

 

I used to have an MX5, that didn't even have a fuel light and I never ran out of fuel and I've never even considered driving without a seatbelt, so I really don't see the point in either warning.

 

Is this possible with VCDS? And if so, how?

Well, if your never going to drive without seat belt on, or run out of fuel, you will never hear the chime so why bother?

Put seatbelt on before turnign ignition key and seatbelt warning won't.

 

Low fuel warning goes off with about 50 miles range available, so cure is obvious.

The seat belt chime goes off as soon as you turn the ignition on. I have always started my cars and let them idle before I pull away and the chime is just a nuisance that I would personally like to remove.

 

The low fuel chime is also a nuisance as the same chime is used to indicate more serious problems than only having 50 or 60 miles of fuel left. The chime is also excessively loud and sounds for too long.

 

Both of these things are entirely down to my preference, so if anyone actually knows how to code them out with VCDS I would appreciate your responses.

I don't think you can code the fuel warning out.

 

The seatbelt warning you can. It's in Instruments.

 

Go into that and click coding. If you hover over the short coding box it will give you the number that is added on for seatbelt warning. Adjust the coding according to what it says and save.

 

The coding will be a series of numbers. Let's say it's 00000000 and it will say "000000xx" seatbelt warning +01 for instance. That means if you want seatbelt warning your coding would be 00000001 and without it it's just 00000000.

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Phil

Didn't know the fabia had seat belt warning. Mines has never done it.

Didn't know the fabia had seat belt warning. Mines has never done it.

 

Not all of them do.

 

Some will either have the necessary hardware but will have it switched off and some just won't have the hardware full stop.

 

Phil

The seat belt chime goes off as soon as you turn the ignition on. I have always started my cars and let them idle before I pull away and the chime is just a nuisance that I would personally like to remove.

 

The low fuel chime is also a nuisance as the same chime is used to indicate more serious problems than only having 50 or 60 miles of fuel left. The chime is also excessively loud and sounds for too long.

 

Both of these things are entirely down to my preference, so if anyone actually knows how to code them out with VCDS I would appreciate your responses.

 

I sympathise with you, I too loathe the low fuel chime, it always makes me and my passengers jump and it seems utterly unnecessary since the warning light on the dash illuminates at the same time. However I don't think it can be coded out since I've looked into it before.

The fuel warning on the Cordoba used to scare me! It's a really loud "beeeeeep"! I noticed on the Octavia it's a much more subtle and shorter "bong".

 

Defintiely can't be coded out... not easily anyway.

 

It could be done but you would need to download the EEPROM, identify which coding is for it, find what to change it to, then write back to the EEPROM. And there would be a real risk of bricking the cluster.

 

Just not worth it.

 

Phil

A layer or two of tape over the orifice of a piezo tweeter attenuates the sound quite a bit, if you were interested in a 'turning down' of the fuel warning (if nothing can be done in firmware, and you don't wish to completely kill the sound source).

No idea how easy it is to access this component though; nor even if it is definitely a piezo, but I expect so.

Don't mean to high jack the thread, but just a quick question along the same lines, my fabia used to emit a beep like sound, if you tried to drive off with the hand brake on, but about 6 months a go it suddenly stopped, does anyone have any ideas as to why?

 

No idea how easy it is to access this component though; nor even if it is definitely a piezo, but I expect so.

 

The sounder is mounted on the printed circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. It also makes the sounds of the indicator tick-tocks.

 

Ah, cheers Lee; that makes my idea a bit of a non-starter then. I don't find the indicator 'tocking' particularly loud, so wouldn't want to damp that down.

After using VCDS to recode the suitable modules, I managed to achieve nothing in regard to the questions I asked here. There is no way to turn off the low fuel chime, and the seat belt warning, I can change the code, store it and reread it as changed after the ECU has reset, but the chime is still there. Next step is to try unplugging the seat belt buckle sensor and see how that goes, as otherwise it's going to drive me mad.

 

Thanks for everyone's input on this.

Would love to enable the seat belt chime on my car! cant believe so many people want it removed... but I guess I should live with it for a week or two before saying anything els.

 

What are the chances on my 2005 vrs?

Has anyone els switched this feature on? i'll be honest, I didn't think any Fabia had it and it wasn't possible to have it.

Check whether you have any wiring going into your drivers belt buckle, if so, you may be able to turn it on with VCDS.

 

The option will be in the Instruments module, then Coding. Make sure you record the 5 digit code before changing it, then use the pop up box to see what the coding options are.

 

It'll be something like this:

 

??xxx: Options

+01 = Brakepad Warning active +02 = Seatbelt Warning active +04 = Washer Fluid Warning active

xx?xx: Country

0 = Germany 1 = Europe 4 = Great Britain (GB) 6 = Saudi Arabia

xxx?x: Cylinders

3 = 3-Cylinders 4 = 4-Cylinders

xxxxx?: Speed Impulse Number (K-Value)

2 = Engine Code BJX/BKV 3 = Engine Code BBY/AUA/BKY 4 = Engine Code AMF/BAY/ATD/AXR 5 = Engine Code AZL/BBX/ASZ/BLT 6 = Engine Code BBZ/AUB 7 = Engine Code BNV/BMS/BNM/AZQ/BME/ BAH

 

So, for example, if you have brake pad warning and washer fluid level active now, your code will start with 05. If you want to add seatbelt warning, change the code to start with 07.

 

I guarantee you won't want to keep the noise if you do manage to add it.

To finalise answers for my original questions at the top of this thread:

 

The seat belt chime can be stopped by unplugging the switch at the connector underneath the seat.

 

The low fuel chime cannot be removed.