Hi everyone, I used to have a Scottie non-turbo and then a red vis (which went to Liverpool).

I now have a Grande Punto t-jet 1.4 turbo. Same engine as the Alfa Romeo Mito I think. The garage I bought it from turned out to be a shower of shite, not to put too fine a point on it!

The car has several annoying problemos (sorry about the Pidgin Italian there!). The original garage I bought it from was supposed to fix these under guarantee but they didn't. They charged £180 just for fitting a new catch on the glove compartment, and I had supplied the part! They kept the car for 3 weeks and the courtesy car they gave me was a nightmare to drive.

The most annoying problem with the Punto is a loud bing bong bing bong all up the road because it thinks my seat belt is not plugged in.

Basically I wrecked the electrics in the driver's seat trying to make it less uncomfortable. I cut some kind of heated seat wiring beneath the driver's seat and wrapped insulation tape around the bare wires.

Oddly, it started to run better after this. But the airbag light is on, and the seat belt alarm constantly bings and bongs for about two minutes after setting off on a journey. Before you ask, yes, I have tried turning up the stereo, but it has to be so loud that it's distorted and quite deafening. Consequently I am driving around my hometown with David Bowie blaring at max volume. It's either that or listen to the bings and bongs, which drive you mental.

After a couple of near misses on the road the police suggested I get a dashcam. I can't tell you how unhelpful my local branch of HALFORDS has been over this, charging me £80 TWICE and the job still not done. The local branch manager actually banned me for swearing at him. Then he decided he would fit my new number plate, but not very securely. They also broke the driver's window on the Punto and kept it for over a week, a few days later the under tray fell off at speed and I almost died on the A4 - I have photographs of the Punto with the under tray hanging off. Same thing happened in my red VIS too, a month previously.

Funny old life, eh?

Any road up, I would love to know how to temporarily fix the seat belt alarm just to silence it, and, has anybody got a couple of front seats which would fit a Grande Punto? Preferably going cheap (cheep!) but not bing! bong! bing! bong!

All the best
Anne

If you know for sure those two wires are just for the seat belt, I'd try wrapping the bare wires together and then wrapping insulation tape around them, that way it should think your selt belt is always plugged in?

I didn't think the Punto had an option for airbags in the seat, but it's possible I guess (can you check?) but I wonder if you cut any wires related to that also, or did the airbag light come on anyway beforehand?

I can't imagine why Halfords would need to disturb the undertray to fit a number plate, but anything is possible I suppose. I fitted a dashcam (ie: semi-permanently wired it in, using one of those pigg-back fuse things) to my son's Punto Evo, it's not difficultt.

Hi Annie

Sorry to hear about the problem’s you’ve been having. For the seatbelt, you should be able to buy a dongle that plugs straight into the OBD2 plug and there are apps that allow you to customise the car’s features. I have turned off the seatbelt warning on my Golf. All from a smart phone. It’s really easy. No more Bowie!

The T-Jet Punto doesn’t have heated seats - I reckon you’ve cut through the seatbelt sensor wire, which is why you’re getting the alarm - just re-connect the wires and it should go away

On the money, but I'd also suggest it needs fixing before it's driven again. It's not uncommon for modern cars to integrate signals such as that from the seat belt buckle, to decide how the car behaves in a crash.

If you're belted up, but the car thinks not, then I don't think you can have confidence that the car will behave correctly

Very good point - the seatbelt pre-tensioners may not fire if the car thinks the seatbelts aren't done up