You need to be off the seat when doing the bucking-unbuckling (apparently - I've never tried it, because seatbelts are mandatory here)

 

I cant explain why, but the belt warning stopped going off.

I typically drive off and buckle the seatbelt as Im driving out of my sub.

Today no annoying chime!

 

Todays drivers are either less trained or are just plane lazy. As we see in the newer cars things like lane warning , collision detection , hands off parking feature and somewhere between 10 to 20 airbags. Then there are built in roll cages and I suspect sometime in the future you'll have a 4 point harness. I suspect all of this is driven by the insurance industry to reduce cost out lays due to accidents. The days of making your own mind up on these features are waning. Some states still don't have helmet laws for bikes but yet kids on a bicycles need to wear a helmet. Time are changing where people don't obey a large amount of traffic laws nor are they trained in proper driving methods and rules. So buckle up or pay the revenue man. By the way how many people under the age of 30 know how to drive a 3 peddle car.

 

I feel sort of naked if I don't buckle up, been using the seatbelts since my first car. But maybe its due to the fact that cars didn't have them when I was a kid, and my head broke the windshield in an accident, sort of drives home those laws of physics, about a body in motion.
My wife on the other hand hates seatbelts, and rarely uses it in her car (older model that doesn't annoy you constantly about it). When I bought the XK, I bought one of those 'cheaters' (like in the link in an earlier post in this thread) and gave it to her. It still sits in the glove box, and she uses the seatbelt when the XK chimes at her. Guess you can 'teach an ol....', ok guess I won't go there...
Oh its definitely driven by the insurance industry. But I've got to say, as I get older, some of those options do sound useful, and I think my next non-XK car will have the lane change alert, and cross traffic alert when backing up.
The point about bikes and helmets... I don't agree with forcing them on adult drivers (passengers maybe). If an adult doesn't care about losing his brains on the highway, why should I? But kids? They do stupid stuff, and need the extra precaution. I say that only because when I was a kid, a close friend lost his younger brother when the kid flipped his bike while crossing some railroad tracks and landed on his head. I wasn't there when it happened, but as a kid, attending the funeral for another kid, is pretty sobering.

 

It's possible the change doesn't activate until the car has done a complete power-down and power-up. You're the second person to report "It didn't work" and later "Yes, it did!", so it looks like there's something that needs to happen after you do the buckling-unbuckling thing. My money is on it only taking effect when the car starts from low-power state, i.e. has been locked & left, probably because that's when the module that controls the warning loads its configuration files.

 

I'm a fan of seatbelts - they've saved my face (if not my life) twice. That was in pre-airbag cars, but even with airbags, a seatbelt will still reduce injury. I have a belt cutter where I can reach it, so no chance of getting trapped by a stuck belt.

I know this stuff can all appear a bit 'nanny state', but look at how the rate of road fatalities has come down as cars get ever-increasing levels of safety kit. That has to be a good thing.

 

I'd prefer to be thrown clear of the burning wreckage than die trapped in it .. saw this on a bathroom wall at a NASCAR race....

 

Then you're a fool.
Great way to post a first post.