Today while I was working on my 1974 comet I found a switch under the hood right next to the windshield washer bottle. It was labeled Emergency interlock override . so I went to my owners manual and sure enough it says this vehicle must have the seat belt hooked up or the starter wont work and you can use the switch in case of a system failure . My Comet is still under construction and I haven't got to the point of firing it up yet But I have never ever heard of such a system on any other car that old what gives! . Am I the only one with this system !has any one else got a similar Maverick or Comet ??? I gotta figure out how get ride of this feature !
Yes that was a standard feature on 74's and some early 75's. It is pretty easy to bypass. Just unplug the harness going to the switch and either make a jumper wire with male ends on it, or slice the plug off and solder them together. There is also a plastic box with a connector going to it under the center of the dash which is another part of the system. It is likely either yellow or gray. You can remove that after bypassing the switch. You will find wires going up under your seat on either side also, ran under the carpet. You can do what you want with those.
does the ignigtion moduel run through it as well? i mean would you still have spark if the seat belt was unbuckled after you stared the car with it buckled?
I've never seen a fully operational system, seems most of them have had one component or another in the system go bad over time, but my '74 Grabber did have a partially working system when I got it. I believe if you unplug the seatbelt while the car is running, the "Fasten Seatbelts" light in the instrument cluster would light up and a buzzer would go off in the dash until you buckle back up, but the car would stay running. If you try to start the car with no seatbelt, the same thing happens, when you turn the key to start the car, the Fasten Seatbelts light would come on and the buzzer would go off, the engine would not turn over. There were two buzzers under the dash, one that goes off when you leave the key in the ignition and open the door, and the other was for the seatbelt interlock system and had a slightly higher pitched buzz to it. Another common problem was, if you had a box or something heavy sitting on the passenger seat, the system would think someone was sitting there. So you would have to buckle up the passenger seat belt for your package or whatever you had sitting on the seat.
Thanks for the info everyone . I think a little rewiring is in order. Just as soon as I get this rig up and running .
I know that GM cars had a sensor strip built into the seat cushions. Put weight on it and it makes contact. It is likely your car has that too. Disconnect the sensor and the system doesn't know anyone is on the seat. The connectors are probably between the seat bottom and the carpet. This was a pretty common thing to do back in the day ... This is just the quick solution. For peace of mind, I would bypass all of it and get it out of the car. Wouldn't want something else there to fail and not be able to start the car.
I agree the whole systm should go for piece of mind . Besides I think the switch that they have mounted in the engine compartment would make a gerat remote engine start switch. . The kind that mechanic's use when checking compression and such . Today is looking like nice weather so I think I will get my brake lines installed . One day closer to getting it up and running Yippiii !!!!!
The Comet is more photographic then me, and has less wear and tear on it then I have. So More then likely It should be front and center in the photo . LOL !
