Yahoo Autos There's Only One Thing I Hate About My Supercharged Miata
My 2016 supercharged MX-5 Miata is undeniably the best car I've ever owned. It lands on the top by sheer virtue of being less than 15 years old and not visibly broken in some way. The world-beating dynamics and open-top thrills just make it better. But there's still one flaw that drives me mad: the seat belt chime.
Because I am an adult capable of even cursory risk assessments, I never have to worry about hearing the chime in any other cars. If by some lapse I forget to put on my seatbelt initially, one ding of the chime and I'll satisfy it in a second. I never have to be told twice. Despite this, in my Miata I've heard it enough that the sound activates something primal in me. Because, in a car so thoughtfully considered, it is the one thing Mazda overlooked.
The problem is not the chime itself, but the sensor that activates it. Like most cars, the car is programmed to chime if it detects an unbuckled occupant in the driver or passenger seat. Detection is handled by a weight sensor, which will also disable the passenger airbag for lightweight passengers for whom airbags are not designed. The precise weight, however, never seems to influence the computer that activates the chime. Instead, if it detects weight—seemingly any weight that can reliably put noticeable pressure on a seat—the chime goes off. That means any item on the passenger seat is likely to trigger it.
This would not be a problem if there were other places to put things within easy reach, like in most cars and even some Miatas. For the NC generation, Mazda experimented with lavish accouterments like fixed cupholders and even a glove box. The firm quickly realized that such opulent touches were seen as gratuitous, and so eliminated both from the ND's cabin. There is a phone-width indent ahead of the shifter that is about half a phone deep, a "center console" that neither my wallet nor phone fit in, door pockets about the size of an AirPods case, and two movable cupholders that can be swapped between two positions. Neither position can reliably restrain a phone during normal, around-town driving.
I despise driving with things in my pockets, as they usually fall out, so I put my wallet in the door pocket and my keys in the phone-shaped indent. That leaves nowhere for the phone, so I throw it on the seat. Chime.
I put my phone in the door card that isn't big enough to prevent it from flying across the cabin when cornering and drop my wallet on the seat. Chime. Usually, but sometimes not. A bag of fast food or a protein bar occasionally slips under its radar, but a book, bottle of soda, or sunscreen bottle will almost always trigger it. Getting away with a backpack or a pizza in an unbuckled seat is an absurd fantasy.
No other car I've driven recently comes with such an overeager chime. It is so sensitive that, while I'm sure testing cars with stuff on the seats is not official policy, it is incredible that Mazda did not stumble upon this flaw by accident and adjust it. As it sits, the ND1 Miata—both mine and the 2018 press car I had—is incessant with its beeping unless you give in and dry around with the seatbelt buckled across the passenger-less seat. Then, when you pick up a passenger, you can assure they deal with an unnecessary annoyance, too.
This is, of course, a minor complaint. But I'm not the only one who hates it. Multiple people across Miata.net and Reddit have pointed out this issue. The only solution anyone offers is to buckle the seat even when it's empty or buy a chime-defeating insert to cram in the seatbelt slot, blocking passengers from being able to actually buckle the seat without removing it.
That this appears to be the biggest oversight in the ND1 Miata's design process speaks volumes about how good Mazda's team is. And should you doubt their commitment to making the perfect sports car after reading this, I have good news that may bring you back. According to my ND2-owning sources, Mazda fixed the chime for the Miata's mid-cycle refresh.
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