I am a new CTD owner, have about 400 miles on it so far, been working everyday since I bought it so haven't had much time to put too many miles yet. When I start it there is a bell/ding that sounds just after it is started, the only light I see that's on when I hear the bell is the ABS light, but then it goes right out. Is this bell associated with the ABS light doing some sort of self check. I looked in the owners manual and it says the light will come on when the ignition key is turned to ON position and may stay on for five seconds. Not concerned about it, just wondering if it is associated with the ABS or not and if there is a way to turn off the bell. Thanks

Eric

 

Sound to me like it's the bell reminding you to buckle you seat belt. Is you seat belt buckled while this bell is going off?

 

American car manufacturers just haven't figured out yet how annoying seat belt reminders are. We are smart enough to be able to afford a $40k truck, you'd think they'd realize we're smart enough to operate a seat belt. Mercedes has figured this out, as have many other german auto manufacturers. They realize not to annoy their customers. I can't stand it on american cars when you take off your seatbelt a quarter mile from home that a big red light comes up on the dash, or an annoying bell....arghhhh >

 

I thought of that after I posted the question, so I went out and buckled up, closed the door, turned off radio, blower motor, everything I could think of, turned the key to ON, everything still quiet, then I started the truck, and heard the bell. It's no big deal, I;m just curious more than anything. Thanks guys.

 

You might want your dealer to check this TSB. 08-004-03

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2003/08-004-03.htm

 

Mine also will chime when it wants to. Usually on start up. Now with the cooler weather I can't just jump in and crank it I gotta wait for the grid heaters it does not chime. I dunno I am just the driver...
Have you seen the check gauges lite flash?? It'll drive ya nuts driving at night....

 

My check gauges light will flash periodically. I'm not too worried about it though. It's just a hassle to take it to the dealer.

 

Of course if this what most Americans are really doing, we aren't too smart after all.

My wife does this sometimes and I chastise her strongly for it. Not only is it stupid to assume that some idiot isn't going to be going 90, driving drunk, or both right in front of our house (and it's a country dirt road), it's sending a bad message to our children.

 

[quote author=Berak link=board=17;threadid=20569;start=0#msg193361 date=1065451063]
Of course if this what most Americans are really doing, we aren't too smart after all.

My wife does this sometimes and I chastise her strongly for it. Not only is it stupid to assume that some idiot isn't going to be going 90, driving drunk, or both right in front of our house (and it's a country dirt road), it's sending a bad message to our children.

[/quote]

I agree. Isn't it a proven statistic that most accidents occur within a mile from home? Not to mention all of the people nowadays who love to tear through shopping center parking lots.

 

YEA... If you really loved your wife you would have her wait untill you where 1.5 miles from home..

 

I shouldn't have said a quarter mile from home because I knew someone would take it too literally : The point is that its annoying that there's a bell and light for the seat belt. We are going to take it off when we want to regardless of the annoying light. By the way, that statistic that most accidents happen within a few miles from home is worthless because most of the trips people take in their cars are just a few miles from home...

 

eswartz - Mine does the identical thing - usually. But, every once in a while, it doesn't do it. I tried the seat belt thing, then the emergency brake thing, but couldn't ever find anything that made sense. In the end, I thought maybe the ABS was acting up. So I finally took it to the dealer last week hoping they could check and see if any codes were being set. He played around with the ignition key, then figured out how to make it do it by just jiggling the key in a certain position. He said sometimes the ignition switch is 'loose', so he replaced it. :-

Guess what - it STILL does it, but maybe not quite as often??? :P Time will tell. At least I can no longer get it to do it by jiggling the key! Anyway, I called the dealer back and told him it still does it, and his response was they may have to switch out the entire steering column. I don't think so!

 

It might also be a chime self check. Sort of like the idiot lite self check.

 

Here's something kinda funny. My benz does a little chime when you first start it up too . It doesn't make any noise or light for seat belts though, when you take them off, etc etc. I think these auto manufacturers are all trying to tell us SOMETHING. We just don't get it

 

Thanks for all the responses.

T6Man, I'll let it go along time before anyone replaces the whole steering column too. Like I've said before, it's really no big deal, I was just wondering.

I agree with Spots, I think it might be just some sort of a self check thing.

Thanks again.

P.S. Almost up to 500 miles on my new baby, man I gotta put some miles on this thing.