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Are automakers like Chevrolet taking this safety thing too far?
If you own a newer General Motors vehicle like the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, you know that you have to buckle up your seat belt before you can shift the truck out of the Park position on the gear shift lever.
General Motors has put the new feature on many of its vehicles, and the Silverado is the next in the automaker's lineup to get it. But many owners don't like it. Rico Watkins is one of them.
As Rico Watkins (@ricowatkins215) sits in the driver's seat of a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado, he shows how he can't shift the gear lever in the TikTok video.
Rico tries to move the shift lever repeatedly, but the gear shift lever will not engage.
Rico says, "My brand new 2024 Chevy Silverado truck has a message on the dash. It says I have to buckle the seat belt in order to shift out of Park. How crazy is that? "It's insane."
He turns in the seat, grabs the belt buckle, pulls it over his lap, and buckles it.
"All right, let's see what we got. Welcome to seatbelt. There you go. Now I can drive the truck. It's insane."
While Watkins may have been surprised by this feature, it is something that General Motors said they would implement in their cars and trucks starting with the 2021 model year.
Safety features like the new "Buckle To Drive," as GM calls it, are becoming more common on new vehicles like the Silverado pickup.
More new safety tech is coming that customers may find suspicious.
I recently reported that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) strongly encourages automakers to adopt another new technology. Louder seat belt chimes. Yes, they will get more annoying. Check out my report here.
The IIHS, a non-profit organization that evaluates vehicle safety, works to reduce the number of injuries, deaths, and property damage from car crashes. However, to get the highest IIHS test scores, automakers must meet the new safety tech standards.
The louder seat belt chimes are its next target.
The IIHS says, "Automakers have moved quickly to install louder, more persistent seat belt reminders since we began rating the features in 2022."
A look at recent posts on Reddit reveals you don't like the new longer and louder 2024 Crosstrek seat belt warning reminder.
"Hi all, I get that the warning chime is necessary, and I don't want to turn it off… but wow, it's loud! Has anyone found a way to turn it down?"
Another reader writes,
"Yeah, the first time I heard it while checking my parking placement, I almost hit the gas."
It's so annoying that many on Reddit are asking how to turn off the seat belt warning chime. One customer had the front passenger seatbelt warning go off, and no one was sitting in the seat.
"I don't know how it happened, but the passenger seatbelt chime started to go off when I drove. There's no person in the passenger seat. It's driving me nuts. How do I disable it in a 2024 Crosstrek?"
Louder and longer seat belt warnings like the "Buckle To Drive" feature from GM are coming to more and more vehicles.
Expanding Buckle To Drive
General Motors initially launched the Buckle to Drive feature for select 2021 Chevrolet models. These vehicles included the Chevrolet Traverse, Chevrolet Malibu, and Chevrolet Colorado.
Now, Buckle to Drive will be expanded to the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Canyon, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Blazer, Cadillac CT4, Cadillac CT5, and several others.
GM says the feature is becoming standard on all its full-size trucks and SUVs. Chevrolet has planned a wider implementation for 2025 at Chevy dealers.
Even though the louder seat belt chimes and Buckle to Drive features are annoying, they save lives, according to the IIHS.
The IIHS report says that failure to buckle up significantly affects crash deaths. In 2022, about 92% of front-seat occupants and 82% of rear-seat occupants were belted in the government's on-road observational survey of seat belt use.
But a much smaller percentage of the vehicle occupants killed in crashes — half of those in the front seat and a quarter of those in the back — were belted during the crashes that killed them.
An IIHS study found that a persistent reminder was much more effective at getting part-time users to buckle up than a minimal reminder and just as effective as a speed-limiting interlock that kept the vehicle speed under 15 mph unless the driver was buckled in.
The IIHS says," Automakers can boost a vehicle's performance in this test with just some small software changes," IIHS President David Harkey said. "These easy tweaks can have a big impact on safety."
Unfortunately, louder and longer seat belt warnings and Buckle to Drive features on the Chevrolet Silverado are here to stay because automakers want to get better safety ratings from the IIHS.
What's your stance on this issue? Your opinion matters.
What's your perspective on the new safety features in the Chevrolet Silverado and other models? Do you find them intrusive? We want to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation by clicking the red 'Add new comment' link below .
Check out this Chevy Silverado story.
I Bought a New Chevy Silverado, 4 Months In, the Bank Wants $35K From Me On My Old Truck, the GMC Dealer Never Paid It Off. Read David's incredible story here.
I am Denis Flierl, a Senior Torque News Reporter since 2012. My 30+ year tenure in the automotive industry, initially in a consulting role with every major car brand and later as a freelance journalist test-driving new vehicles, has equipped me with a wealth of knowledge. I specialize in reporting the latest automotive news and providing expert analysis on Subaru, which you'll find here, ensuring that you, as a reader, are always well-informed and up-to-date. Follow me on my X SubaruReport, All Subaru, WRXSTI, @DenisFlierl, Facebook, and Instagram.
Photo credit: Denis Flierl via Chevrolet
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