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Unknown chime while driving

74K views 58 replies 41 participants last post by  AvidHiker  
#1 ·
Have a 2016 outback w eyesight. Been hearing a lot of chimes/dings. Sounds exactly like the fasten seatbelt chime in an airplane. It's a single chime and occurs randomly. It's not related to lane keep assist. Is there a listing of sounds somewhere or does anyone know what this is? I take the same route to work but it seems fairly random to me.

Also not the snow/ice indicator.
 
#6 ·
I think I know exactly what you are talking about. Even though you may not be on the navigation screen, the Nav is still on and will give you an alert in the background. If you have a setting to alert you for some category (i.e. school zone, intersections etc.) it will produce this sound. Go into the settings and I'd bet you have that option check/on.
 
#9 ·
It's a single chime and occurs randomly.
If you have ACC engaged, by default you will hear a single chime when EyeSight acquires (i.e. locks onto) a leading vehicle, and a single chime when it loses lock on a leading vehicle.

If you have NAV (you didn't say), it may be the default hazard notification, which chimes when you approach known hazards ... e.g. school crosswalks, sharp curves, etc. The clue here would be that the chimes always occur in the same locations.
 
#12 ·
I actually just figured this out the other day, and i think its exactly what you're confused about.
If you are driving with Lane Keep Assist (the button on your steering wheel next to ACC), and it is assisting you (lit up green) and loses the lane (indicated by the appropriate bar disappearing in the ACC window), then it will Chime (like the airplane fasten seatbelt one) to let you know that it has lost the lane. Its hard to replicate it and im still not 100% sure, but it seems to be linked. Next time youre driving with LKA on and feel it assisting you, and then hear the chime, look down to see if it still "sees" the lane it was just assisting you with.
 
#20 ·
Mine makes the tone everyday, at the same geographic location, and it mildly annoys me each time. But threads like this are entertaining enough that I choose not to defeat the seemingly useless feature. Beep/chirp/chime/ding. It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru. That, and some wheel bearings and head gaskets.
 
#21 ·
BOINK! boink, boink!

We are getting a seemingly random, loud - "BOINK". Not a chime at all!

On roads often traveled, it happens in the same place, every time. It happens in the middle of rural areas with not another car in sight, just corn fields; it happens on major toll roads 2/3 lanes going in the same direction (but not at toll booths); it happens in village centers & neighborhoods. Nothing shows up on any screens.

At first we were concerned, now we just ignore it, except it bugs us and we want to know "What? Why?" If it is meaningless and we can turn it off, that would be nice.

It would be useful if it was telling us we are being fixated on some police radar!

The other day at dealer, waiting for a service, one of us got talking to another in the waiting area - she was getting it too, and service dept also was mystified. ???

Any ideas? TIA
 
#28 ·
We are getting a seemingly random, loud - "BOINK". Not a chime at all!

On roads often traveled, it happens in the same place, every time. It happens in the middle of rural areas with not another car in sight, just corn fields; it happens on major toll roads 2/3 lanes going in the same direction (but not at toll booths); it happens in village centers & neighborhoods. Nothing shows up on any screens.

At first we were concerned, now we just ignore it, except it bugs us and we want to know "What? Why?" If it is meaningless and we can turn it off, that would be nice.

It would be useful if it was telling us we are being fixated on some police radar!

The other day at dealer, waiting for a service, one of us got talking to another in the waiting area - she was getting it too, and service dept also was mystified. ???

Any ideas? TIA
I had this and it turned out to be the low washer fluid alert tripping when cornering or on a hill. Took me a while to figure it out, but the alert should also show on the cluster display (at least briefly).
 
#24 ·
Single chime. I had that. Easy fix. In nav. Map. Notifications. There is one there for "driver notifications" it goes off at curve signs, speed limit changes, traffic light ahead and school I believe. Seems like a Cooke thing but it just goes one chime with no indication of what it is for. I turned mine off.


Bill 2016 Outback Limited 2.5 Silver
 
#37 ·
The other day I had a chime because the car in front of me at a light pulled away and seems I was too slow for my Outback's liking. It told me the car had pulled away. The notification showed up on the screen in front of me as well as a tone. Kind of a built in back seat driver. This is something that would seem random.
 
#39 ·
Mine did this when I first had the car. I guess Subaru defaults it to be on to drive us nuts! You said you have Sat/Nav. It's the warning dinger for all the crap like going over the listed speed limit, tight curve ahead, school zone, Church, Hospital, old folks home, deer crossing, cat crossing, dog crossing, hamster crossing, etc...
You'll have to go into the Sat/Nav settings and turn it off, or at least turn the ones you don't want to be warned of...
 
#43 ·
I'm driving a 2016 Legacy while our '15 Outback is in the shop..

And today while me and the wife were traveling I got this "chime" a few times. No info on the screen, no nothing. Just a single chime. Didn't have NAV on, LKA was off. Two times out on a straight rural road. No other cars around.

No idea what it was for. Just a random single "chime" (not the normal "ding").