I don't think the steps in the owners manual are 100% correct, but it might just be my interpretation of the steps, seems to be the same as my 2017 Escape. I did it just to test, I don't have any reason to actually disable it.
The steps are in the section for the warning chime for Belt-Minder.
The steps are in the section for the warning chime for Belt-Minder.
- start with whatever belt you are doing this with unbuckled
- with the park brake on, vehicle in park, turn the key to on but don't start it
- wait approximately 1 minute for the seat belt light in the left pod to go out
- wait 5 more seconds (you have 60 seconds to perform the following, slowish is better)
- buckle the belt, wait a few seconds, unbuckle the belt
- wait a few seconds, then repeat step 5 two more times until the seat belt light comes back on (I think I had to do more than 3 cycles)
- once the light is back on, buckle and unbuckle it again
- if the seat belt light is flashing, you have toggled the state (if it was on, it is now off)
