06 horn while backing

[Empire]

Dodge really messed up on this one! On my 06 2500 auto, does anyone know "if" and "how" the annoying "horn while backing with drivers door open" can be bypassed or turned off? Seems to me I saw this somewhere but cant remember where. I don't have this problem on my manual trans 06 but the auto trans 06 does. Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

[HBarlow]

That is one of the most ill-conceived wrong-headed features ever put on a modern automobile thanks to ambulance chasing lawyers and our enemies in the federal government.

I have never heard of a way to disable it. It is activated by an ECM/PCM flash.

I was an RV transporter when I owned an '06, constantly backing up to and hooking up to trailers, getting out to make sure my ball was under the coupler, and getting out again to unhook them. Hundreds of times I cursed that feature. It is still aggravating to remember it!

 

[AWise]

Use a toggle switch to disable the horn when you are backing up. Not the ideal solution but it sure beats the horn blaring and people staring at you while you are trying to hook up a trailer. Oo.

 

[ABarry]

That horn thing is a nice feature especially at the campground early in the morning.

 

[JExum]

in the drivers side seatbelt buckel from the floor to the seatbelt latch there are 2 wires just solder them together and the seatbelt chime, seatbelt light on dash and horn will not come on with the door opened or the seatbelt not fastened

 

[MChildress]

That horn thing is a nice feature especially at the campground early in the morning.

Exactly or backing down the boat ramp at 4:30 in the morning.

 

[13MWZ]

I spliced a wire between the two wires for the driver's side seatbelt. Basicly makes the truck think the seatbelt is always on, so like JExum said, the seatbelt light, chime and back up horn will not be an issue. I've heard that it doesnt work on every truck though. For a quick test to see if it will work on yours click the seatbelt on, put it in reverse, and open the door. If it dont honk then go ahead and do it.

 

[brods]

The search option is a beautiful thing: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/search.php?searchid=939459



Harvey, you're on a roll today . Not to burst your bubble, but in this case it is Dodge's lame band aid to correct for a poorly designed detent lever and and shift linkage. https://www.turbodieselregister.com...read-false-park-nhtsa-report.html#post1730278

 

[HBarlow]

The search option is a beautiful thing: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/search.php?searchid=939459

Harvey, you're on a roll today . Not to burst your bubble, but in this case it is Dodge's lame band aid to correct for a poorly designed detent lever and and shift linkage. https://www.turbodieselregister.com...read-false-park-nhtsa-report.html#post1730278

... ... which was triggered by ambulance chasing attorneys hired by folks unable to take personal responsibility for not properly ensuring their truck was in the park position before getting out. Similar to the bogus claims by small Ferd SUV owners who didn't properly inflate their tires, blew a tire, rolled the car, and then blamed Ferd and got an ignorant south Texas jury with racial loyalty to the owner/driver to award them a judgement. Also similar to the responsibility-avoiding whiners back in the '70s who sued GM, I think it was, because they pressed the accelerator to the floor and ran over their own child or through their garage.

Ambulance chasing attorneys and lawsuit happy folks with an entitlement attitude filing bogus lawsuits drive many bad decisions like that.

I don't think I ever heard of the seatbelt jumper. If I did I forgot about it already. It does sound like a cheap and simple solution to a very aggravating problem.

 

[Motorhead]

Wasn't there a reflash or something that the dealer was doing? My friends '05 does the same thing.

 

[HBarlow]

After the Dodge reverse/seatbelt interlock came out on '06s we read on TDR of several who owned earlier trucks ('04/'05?) that received the reflash without the owner's permission when they took their truck to a dealer for other service.

 

[brods]

That was the E17 recall. It is a flash of the instrument cluster computer and once done it cannot be undone. A few guys reported that the dealer fried the instrument cluster during the reflash requiring a replacement cluster.



To the OP of this thread, there are many old threads on both the '06 and up factory equipped trucks and those with the E17 recall. Iirc the E17 functions slightly differently from the factory programming, so the work-a-rounds may be different.

 

[Wingate]

AMEN HARVEY!!!... . I completely agree!!!... People wouldn't have their vehicles roll away if they would use the PARKING BRAKE!!!!!. .

I absolutely hate the back up, horn honk retard, software that my truck has on it. I have found that with my truck, I can have the drivers door open, seat belt UNBUCKLED, and trans in reverse and the horn will NOT honk if I keep enough pedal pressure on the brakes to keep the brake lights lit up. If I let off the brake pedal , the horn goes to honking!!.

One of these days, i'm going to attempt to apply auxillary power to the brake lights and see if it will fool the software into staying quiet!.

 

[Jefff929]

:-laf



Or you guys could learn to backup with mirrors with all your body parts in the vehicle. Darwin awards come to mind.



HBarlow, you should be ashamed, being almost a professional driver and all.



You guys in the CG or at the boat ramp, if you knew what you were doing you wouldn't look so stupid.



just my $0. 02 worth less every day.



if my stick poking hurts, maybe it gives you all something to think about.

 

[HBarlow]

Cute, Jeff.

I have never in my life attempted to back with a door open if that is what you are wrongly assuming.

The problem I experienced was from being in a hurrry and jamming the shifter in park as I pulled the driver's door handle to exit or jumped back in to move back another inch or two pulling the shifter into reverse again before the door latched or didn't get the door latched completely.

Are you claiming (pretending) you can back the ball under the coupler everytime w/o getting out to check?

Your signature doesn't show ownership of an '06 Ram so my guess is you haven't experienced the '06 w/reverse alarm so don't know what you are talking about.

I'd estimate the value of your post at something less than your $0. 02 estimate.

 

[Jefff929]

Oh, you are so right.

I have seen it in action on the SILs 07, we found out how to make it work with out waking the half the CG... I've no idea what I'm talking about. never backed or had a trailer or driven a honda car even.

 

[brods]

I’m glad you have no idea what you’re talking about either, lol. SILs? CG? Is that slang used for text messaging or tweeting or something?



While I disagree with Harvey on who deserves the credit (ie blame) for the horn honking/lights flashing patch, I do agree with him that it is an unholy abomination. Dodge did it as an easy out rather than fix the root cause.



Dodge even goes as far as to blame us older... um... more experienced operators for having learned behaviors from using other automatic column shifters and speculates we miss-shift because of it. Hummm... ... interesting, we’ll get back to that.



What Dodge did is to design a cable shifter system that allows the operator to shift into a middle zone between park and reverse. The shifter will stay in this limbo position and the pressure in the valve body gradually builds over several seconds before shifting into reverse. Because it does not immediately shift into reverse, this fools the operator into thinking its in park. No matter how you look at it, engineering wise, that is a poor design and could easily have been avoided.



So back to us more experienced operators. What Dodge is really saying is that because we are used to operating properly designed shifters, which cannot get placed in this limbo position, we are likely to screw up while shifting into park with their half azzed cable shifter system. Pretty lame excuse to justify a bad design.



Yes people should take responsibility for their actions, use their parking brake and make doubly sure it is in park before getting out. That said, the shifter system is still a poor design that should have been changed, at the very least for the ‘06 and up models, rather than patched with a lame alarm.

 

[Motorhead]

Oh, you are so right.

I have seen it in action on the SILs 07, we found out how to make it work with out waking the half the CG... I've no idea what I'm talking about. never backed or had a trailer or driven a honda car even.

I think you have been smoking too much wacky tabaky..... I think you should stay with the second gen topics ONLY! #@$%!

 

[ABarry]

:-laf



Or you guys could learn to backup with mirrors with all your body parts in the vehicle. Darwin awards come to mind.



HBarlow, you should be ashamed, being almost a professional driver and all.



You guys in the CG or at the boat ramp, if you knew what you were doing you wouldn't look so stupid.



just my $0. 02 worth less every day.



if my stick poking hurts, maybe it gives you all something to think about.

I would guess you are not perfect every time and at some point you may have to get out and check and then move the truck back a foot or so. Hence the 06 horn in reverse thing. It will get even the best at some time or another.

just my . 02cents.

 

[mwilson]

Backing up 1" to take the strain off the hitch so I can unhook is when it happens to me. Hurrying around to get set up and I forget just about every freakin' time. It is just a stupid, stupid feature.