At 09:10 AM 7/22/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Er, this seems a good spot to segue into the coda to my dashboard
>installation story.
* * *
>wires. While I was in there, I noticed a little round black buzzer, and
>decided to remove it too (since it never has done anything). I figured
>it was part of the stupid seat belt warning system. It was connected to
>a largish black box on the BACK side of the center support sheetmetal,
>so I removed that too.
* * *
>Well, some of you may be anticipating this, but it turns out that the
>little black box I removed (I'm glad I threw it behind the seat and not
>into the garbage can) is the control box for the sequential seat belt
>warning system, and the starter solenoid is wired directly through it!
* * *
>Todd Mullins
>Todd.Mullins@nrlssc.navy.mil On the lovely Mississippi (USA) Coast
>
>'74 MGB Tourer that needs a new battery
>
===Reply===
Actually, what you have encountered is a remnant from a little-remembered
"safety" device, used ONLY on 1974 model year cars sold in the U.S.: the
seat belt-ignition interlock. This irritating little device prevented a car
from being started unless the seat belts were fastened first, and was also
wired into a buzzer that sounded any time the ignition was in the "run"
position and the seat belt unfastened (no timer as on newer cars, it would
just buzz and buzz and buzz). Public outcry was so tremendous, the Feds
rescinded the regulation for '75, and (as I recall) made it so it is not
illegal to disable or bypass this particular piece of idiocy. If your car
is original, you'll find a weight sensor in the seats, and two plugs from
the wiring harness under the seats that will tie the seat sensors into the
wiring for the interlock system.
You may also run across another portion of this system under the hood on the
firewall, in the form of a little box with a button on it; this was the
interlock-override switch - if pressed it was supposed to give you about 15
seconds to start the car in case the interlock system failed and wouldn't
let you start the car even if the belts were fastened. I've always been
fascinated by the thought of how much fun a Lucas seatbelt-interlock system
would be.
I worked in the Sears automotive department for a couple of years in the
early '80s while putting myself through college, and there were just enough
of those d*mn*d '74s running around to make life miserable, because you'd
never bother with the seatbelts when you were just going to pull the car
into the garage, which of course would make you crazy when you kept turning
the key and getting nothing but the seat-belt buzzer. Aaaargh!
Mark Moburg
MarkMoburg@mindspring.com
New York, New York
|