Should cars nag you about rear seat passengers buckling up?

You mean like spare tires that car manufacturers don't seem to believe we'd ever need?

 

I used my v as a cargo carrier rather than a passenger carrier, so I got used to the seatbelt warning. But defeating it leads to real passengers being less safe, so I never silenced it.

If my back seats would go off when folded down, THAT would be a pain. So long as they only went off when configured to seat people, i would be fine.

 

I've had the front passenger alarm go off from a small suitcase and dog. So I see the manufacturers point. They would likely have to add a camera that could recognize humans in order for the rear warning to not go off for other things.

 

On the Gen 4, the rear seat belt alert light show when nobody is back there. If somebody is seated & belted, that light noes not show but the others do.
Are we supposed to drive with the empty seats buckled?

 

Two thoughts:

1. Dot.gov is always struggling furiously to thwart the beneficial side-effects of natural selection. The reason for this is obvious. There are 535 legislators, and thousands upon thousands of apple polishers and horse holders who are attempting to do the work of about a dozen people in the real world.
Usually?
Darwin is messy.
However......since you have to be taller than a dwarf not to be required to be belted AND in a kid seat or a booster, then this form of natural selection is actually pretty clean.
People who are taller than 4'5" (1.35 meters) - or what Merriam Webster.com considers to be "non-dwarf" usually have developed enough walking around sense to know that seat belts are beneficial.......however (comma!) in the United States they hedged their bets a little and require all people under 4 feet 9 inches (1.45 meters...ish) to be belted and in a booster.

2. I just checked.
THE LEAST EXPENSIVE new car for sale in the USofA is now (2018 MSRP) a Nissan Versa Sedan, which has an MSRP of $12,200-ish.
If you think that Car and Driver bags on Priuses.......go and check out what they have to say about the VERSA.
So....
If it weren't for all of the nanny-state gizmos (TPMS, trunk handles, ESC, rear camera, air bags, etc.....) then one could still get a new car for under $10,000 in the USA.


2.5. On the other hand?
If you think that Darwin is a messy, heartless sonofagun, then consider what life would be like on the highways and byways of America if dot.gov just let the manufacturers decide what to put onto or into cars.
While it is true that many automotive safety innovations have occurred through pure capitolism (greed) it's also true that automobile manufacturers have fought every federally mandated safety gizmo since the rear-view mirror.

Still.....
If the automobile continues on the current trajectory of innovate, then mandate.......the 2030 version of the Nissan Versa will probably cost $32,000 and it will STILL be a soulless transportation appliance that people will ONLY buy if they just want THE cheapest car.

I just hope that they still have steering wheels, throttles and brakes and that the 535 congress critters and their leg-humpers will still allow us to actually drive somewhere all by ourselves......wherever we want and whenever we want.

For any reason....or no reason at all!!

YMMV

 

Tell that to my neighbor who is a retired NYC police officer & firefighter. He insists on having the belt buckled behind him. He has survived to 80 years old.

 

Apparently only the US needs lights to warn non-existent passengers to buckle up.

 

A little light isn't a problem. The issue seems to be that some groups want a buzzer like for the driver and front passenger has for the rear seats.

 

2017 trim two.

Hmm. Added for 2017?

2016:



2017:

 

No

It's the drivers responsibility.

jp

 

Yes, Max...

 

I know I've already said this.....but I very often think that the Mayans were right, and we're all just living on a 3,000 year rounding error.....

 

I'd argue the light is a problem. Nissan applied an ECU update to my Leaf without my permission to "fix" this. It used to be it would beep and chirp for the seatbelt reminder with a flashing light then it disappeared leaving just the little "airbag not on light" for the passenger which was fine. Now it illuminates the main malfunction indicator on the instrument cluster AND the "seatbelt unbuckled light" flashes AND the passenger airbag off light is illuminated. Now the entire time the car is driving I have a malfunction indicator and a flashing light in my face because the messenger bag I use for my plural laptops and supplies (~60lbs) is seated on the passenger seat next to me and not on the ground in the dirty weathermats. Stupid lights...

 

A number of years ago they thought we were smart enough to know when a seat belt was not needed and could disable the passenger airbag with a key switch. My 2000 Tundra still has this.

Sometime later a lawmaker thought we were as dumb as they are and removed that feature.