Seatbelt Light

It's good to be back.

A model year would help, because a switch is what tells the car if you're buckled up or not (and hence a big suspect in your case), and that can be in different places in different generations.

oh yeah i forgot to put that in there...well im driving a 1998 Corolla..

The light should not come on when you are wearing the seat belt.

If they do come on then the seat belt switch is probably bad.

Very easy to fix - just did this on my son's '98....

- Remove the interior trim panel between the driver side front and rear doors (support pillar).

- Look down near floor at the seat belt retractor assembly.

- Find the little white electrical plug (DO NOT mess with the plug that has the YELLOW taped wiring - part of the crash protection system)

- Squeeze the small two wire white plug and it should pull off the retractor assembly.

- Two ways to fix the white plug to turn off the dash light

1. Get some stranded electrical wire (lamp cord is fine) and remove a couple of fine strands (maybe 3/4 of an inch long) and twist them together. Insert into the white plug connector -- idea is to short the two contacts together. You need fine strands so everything fits back together nicely. Plug the shorted connector back into the retractor assembly. This short makes the dash light sense that the belt is pulled out and being used. The belt switch gets worn over time and that's why the dash light comes on.

2. Get a short length of solid wire (or 1/2 inch piece of paper clip wire - non painted). Shape into a U form and insert into the white plug connector to short the two contacts together. Use some electrical tape to wrap everything up nice and tight - don't want the paper clip wire touching anything else. You don't need to plug the white plug back into the retractor assembly if done this way.

Replace the trim piece and you're good to go.

Very easy to fix - just did this on my son's '98....

- Remove the interior trim panel between the driver side front and rear doors (support pillar).

- Look down near floor at the seat belt retractor assembly.

- Find the little white electrical plug (DO NOT mess with the plug that has the YELLOW taped wiring - part of the crash protection system)

- Squeeze the small two wire white plug and it should pull off the retractor assembly.

- Two ways to fix the white plug to turn off the dash light

1. Get some stranded electrical wire (lamp cord is fine) and remove a couple of fine strands (maybe 3/4 of an inch long) and twist them together. Insert into the white plug connector -- idea is to short the two contacts together. You need fine strands so everything fits back together nicely. Plug the shorted connector back into the retractor assembly. This short makes the dash light sense that the belt is pulled out and being used. The belt switch gets worn over time and that's why the dash light comes on.

2. Get a short length of solid wire (or 1/2 inch piece of paper clip wire - non painted). Shape into a U form and insert into the white plug connector to short the two contacts together. Use some electrical tape to wrap everything up nice and tight - don't want the paper clip wire touching anything else. You don't need to plug the white plug back into the retractor assembly if done this way.

Replace the trim piece and you're good to go.

Last year, I've done what jzack said in his post on my '98 Corolla. Okay, the warning doesn't flash anymore, but if you do not put your seatbelt on, the warning won't blink either too. But... since I put my seatbelt on everytime I drive, I doesn't bother me at all.

Alright thanks..the light has never come on before and i didnt even know there was one there...but then outta nowhere it starts blinking and didnt stop...i always put on my seatbelt so i dont need it either..but yeah ill try that and Thanks again

Very easy to fix - just did this on my son's '98....

- Remove the interior trim panel between the driver side front and rear doors (support pillar).

- Look down near floor at the seat belt retractor assembly.

- Find the little white electrical plug (DO NOT mess with the plug that has the YELLOW taped wiring - part of the crash protection system)

- Squeeze the small two wire white plug and it should pull off the retractor assembly.

- Two ways to fix the white plug to turn off the dash light

1. Get some stranded electrical wire (lamp cord is fine) and remove a couple of fine strands (maybe 3/4 of an inch long) and twist them together. Insert into the white plug connector -- idea is to short the two contacts together. You need fine strands so everything fits back together nicely. Plug the shorted connector back into the retractor assembly. This short makes the dash light sense that the belt is pulled out and being used. The belt switch gets worn over time and that's why the dash light comes on.

2. Get a short length of solid wire (or 1/2 inch piece of paper clip wire - non painted). Shape into a U form and insert into the white plug connector to short the two contacts together. Use some electrical tape to wrap everything up nice and tight - don't want the paper clip wire touching anything else. You don't need to plug the white plug back into the retractor assembly if done this way.

Replace the trim piece and you're good to go.

That is called "shorting out" the switch, or "Jumpering it". It basically takes it out of the circuit and is as if the switch is not there.

You can also just cut the wires and splice them together - removing the connector.

Both methods work to eliminate the light.

The gen 8 seatbelt switch apparently fails too often and bother too many people. Had I not stuffed mine into storage I would have totally mod that part of the car to have it trigger on the buckle, not on how much you pulled it out.

The gen 8 seatbelt switch apparently fails too often and bother too many people. Had I not stuffed mine into storage I would have totally mod that part of the car to have it trigger on the buckle, not on how much you pulled it out.

Maybe you will have to do that after you get it out of storage?