Passenger Seatbelt Light Confused - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Pooka · 05-16-2006, 08:24 AM

I did a search but everyone wants to turn their seatbelt light off. Mine is confused - when you have the seatbelt ON, the light flashes. Take your seatbelt OFF, it goes out. So it's bass ackwards!!!! The sensor is in the seatbelt reel as the connector has no wires in it. You can make the light go out by simply putting the seatbelt all the way in or pulling it all the way out. Very strange. Any ideas?

Oh, this is a 99 Sienna LE, no leather seats, with the VIP alarm under passenger's seat.

SiennaCruza · 06-04-2006, 10:05 AM

I too have a '99 Sienna XLE with all the options except wood trim and 6 disc cd changer and possibly a navigation system if that was ever available. The SeatBelt like is always on and I dont know why? I've tried putting the seatbelt and taking it out. I dunno how that is a solution because it never worked for me.

SiennaSC98 · 06-04-2006, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiennaCruza

I too have a '99 Sienna XLE with all the options except wood trim and 6 disc cd changer and possibly a navigation system if that was ever available. The SeatBelt like is always on and I dont know why? I've tried putting the seatbelt and taking it out. I dunno how that is a solution because it never worked for me.

I think the retractor switch/sensor is worn out over the years of pulling/releasing the seat belts. Replacing the seat belt assembly (driver & passenger sides) fixed the problem.

By the way, you can install the Toyota OEM Navigation unit on your Sienna. I got mine from oemvalue.com, it's a pullout from a 2005 Camry (Navigation model # E7003). You need to replaced the OEM Sienna amplifer (16-pin molex connector) with a 20-pin molex connector amplifier (from a Tundra or Tacoma). You can also add an Ipod (Vaistech.com adapter for NAVI), a backup camera (Eclipse BEC 105) and view the image on the NAVI unit.

Pooka · 06-05-2006, 04:01 PM

I think I must have electrical gremilins! The other day when the wife was getting in the van I had the driver's side door open (car running, warning bells chiming). When she got in the van, the light began to blink. I said "put your seatbelt on" and the light went out! Don't ask me how or why that would "fix" it but for some reason it did. It's been good for a week now. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

ELCelica · 07-29-2006, 08:32 PM

my family has a 1998 Sienna LE that did exactly that for a while, the warning light came on when belted. it was odd, especially cuz it did that for a few months and then quit.

nduke · 07-31-2006, 07:47 PM

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with this issue. The seatbelt light on our 2000 Sienna started coming on periodically about 18 months ago.

We've been joking about it and making fun of the van, but a thought occurred to me. I just got a 2006 Camry and it has a feature that disables the passenger air bag if there's weight in that seat but the seatbelt is off (i.e. if I place something heavy on that seat).

That may be an advanced feature for a 6-7 year old Sienna, but will the seatbelt light issue prevent the airbag from deploying in an accident?

When that thought occurred to me this problem went from an annoying quirk to one I might need to take care of.

Any thoughts?

Toolate · 01-10-2007, 06:28 PM

Our 2000 Sienna has done this on both drivers and psngr sides...until the Driver's side bulb burned out. I just stuck a small piece of black elec. tape over it until it went out. Psngr side still blinks but is far enough out of my view that it is not bothersome. It'll go out soon. Right now a more pressing concern is the dash panel lights...both far corners have now gone out and I'm told you don't want a dealer in there messing around with all the components that are near/in the dash assbly. And, I'm not going to mess around in there when there are airbag sensors aboard.
tl