2022 CHEVROLET SILVERADO AND GMC SIERRA CAN’T BE DRIVEN UNLESS YOU BUCKLE UP

Some people may not like this, but the new 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 will come standard with a “Buckle to Drive” safety feature will require you to fasten your safety belt before you can put your GM truck in gear. Per GM-Trucks.com, the vehicles will not shift from Park unless drivers do so.

It is a proven fact that safety belts save lives, but not everyone seems to care. Some people might even be willing to take a traffic ticket before they buckle up. Or put up with a nonstop chiming sound.

2022 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra Mandate Buckling Up

As some of you may already know, starting back in 2019, some General Motors vehicles already came with “Teen Driver Mode.” When implemented, vehicles like the Chevrolet Impala and the Traverse had parameters that parents could set for when their kids were driving, including Buckle to Drive, speed control, cell phone monitoring, radio volume monitoring, and more. All things that would drive a teen nuts when finally driving parent-free in a new GM vehicle.

It all begs the question: was this just the start of what is to become adult monitoring?

The biggest complaint about Buckle to Drive will probably come from people who drive a vehicle, but never actually get on a public road. Auto technicians have to constantly move vehicles in and out of the dealership buildings, sometimes never reaching speeds of over 5 MPH.

There’s a way to shut it off, however. Per the GM Techlink website:

The driver cannot shift out of Park until the driver’s seat belt is bucked. If the seat belt remains unbuckled, the vehicle can be shifted out of Park once the feature times out and the DIC message is no longer displayed. The feature will remind driver’s to buckle up once during each ignition cycle.

Buckle to Drive can be turned off through the Settings menu on the infotainment screen; go to Settings > Vehicle > Buckle to Drive. On vehicles that include the feature as part of Teen Driver Mode, go to Settings > Vehicle > Teen Driver. The vehicle may need to be restarted to register the setting change.

While the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup trucks will mandate that only the driver buckle up at first, the scope the Buckle to Drive feature is excepted to demand the same thing from front seat passengers by 2023.

This is the first safety feature of its kind for GM trucks, but this has already been made standard on other General Motors vehicles like the 2021 Cadillac CT4 and CT5, Chevrolet Malibu, C8 Corvette, and Buick Envision. The feature will also come standard in 2022 on the Traverse, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Hummer, and Escalade, as well as your 2022 GMC Sierra and 2022 Chevrolet Silverado.

The biggest complaint will probably come from people who drive a vehicle, but never actually get on a public road. Auto technicians have to constantly move vehicles in and out of the dealership buildings, sometimes never reaching speeds of over 5 MPH.