Has anyone else been rather annoyed by the repeated "warning dinging" that the Highlander makes when there's someone sitting in the front on the passenger side without their seatbelt fastened? The "dinging" starts mildly annoying then quickly becomes really irritating as the frequency of "dings" increases to a feverish crescendo.

Give me a break.

Does anyone know if these "warning dings" can be disabled? Or at least modified to eliminate the really irritating increase in frequency?? Thx.

One way would be to have the passenger use the seatbelt. Another way would be to plug the seatbelt in and have the passenger sit in front of it.

I suggest the first option if you realy care about the passenger.

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I'm glad someone else said it first, but this does seem to be the obvious answer. Last I checked, wearing seat belts was the law (not to mention the only sane thing to do).

The beeping was annoying once, though, when I had a somewhat heavy box sitting on the front seat. Apparently the Highlander thought it was heavy enough to be a person.

Actually, I agree with the originator of this thread. That dinging is horrendous. Do I not care for my passengers? That's not it at all; they all wear their seatbelts. However, even an object as light as my briefcase on the passenger seat, with a 6-pack of bubbly water on top (my standard bring-to-work items) sets this thing going. So yes, I would like to find a way to alter or disable this.

As long as nobody uses this idea with a person in the passenger seat...

Actually, it's pretty simple. If you're traveling with something heavy enough to be detected as a person in the front seat...just latch the seatbelt and the car will happily not ding.

Actually, the annoying dinging only lasts for about 30 seconds and then shuts off for that trip.

I noticed that this happens when, during a trip, my wife has to unbuckle herself to attend to my daughter in the back booster seat.

I will look on my Highlander, but there is bound to be a switch in the seatbelt latch side that sends a signal that the seatbelt is buckled. So one might find a connector under the seat that goes to the seatbelt that could be disconnected or jumpered to always appear buckled electrically.

I too have to place my briefcase on the passenger seat for easy access. This "weight" (just a normal case) sets off the seat belt alarm which is annoying for a good 30 seconds. I do attach the seat belt to avoid this but still this seat sensor is TOO sensitive! There is also a problem when getting out of the car - I cannot lock the doors without unlatching said passenger seat belt or I get a major alarm going off. It is inconvenient to say the least and for the price of the vehicle I would expect some way to fix this. Anyone know of anything? I tried ALL the methods suggested for other Toyota vehicles - pressing and holding the ODO button, fastening and unfastening the seat belt, etc. TO no avail. In fact NO "b-on" or "b-off" symbol appeared.

That all said I love my vehicle. I have converted the back to a work area for surveying equipment - all seats down. Am getting 27- 29 mpg on mostly highway driving. Fun!

Found this on the ToyotaNation site several months ago, but don't remember the link. It worked on my 07 non-NAV Highlander, don't know whether it's valid on the 08 or any NAV equipped models. ALLCAPs entries are steps not usually included in directions provided in forums.
1. Turn the ignition on. Do not start the engine (leave your foot off the brake). Cycle odo/trip reset knob until display reads ODO only (no Trip A or B shown). Turn the ignition back off. Wait a couple of seconds.
2. MAKE SURE THE DRIVER'S SEATBELT IS NOT FASTENED.
3. Turn the ignition back on. Do not start the car (no ready light, leave your foot off the brake). As soon as you see everything light up, press and hold the odo/trip reset knob and do a long 12 second count.
4. Keep pushing the odo/reset knob in WHILE FASTENING THE DRIVER'S SEATBELT (awkward, but possible-I hooked the belt over the armrest beforehand). As soon as you fasten the seatbelt, the ODO display should change from XXXX miles to "Seat belt buzzer on". Take your finger off the odo/trip reset knob. Display should cycle to "Seat belt buzzer off". Turn the ignition off and unfasten driver's seat belt. That should do it...