2022 Silverado & GMC Sierra to Come Standard with ‘Buckle to Drive’

While GM’s ‘Buckle to Drive’ feature treats everyone like a teenager, we all know that technology is not 100 percent fool-proof.

Statics will show that it is safer to wear your seatbelt while driving. In the vast majority of crashes, you have a better chance to survive if you are wearing the seatbelt. There are now laws on the books that require you to buckle up. And for years manufacturers included warning chimes to remind unbelted vehicle occupants to buckle up.

A couple years ago Chevy introduced a suite of safety features geared towards protecting inexperienced teen drivers. One such feature was the Buckle to Drive technology that prevents the vehicle from being shifted out of park until the seatbelt is fastened. This is now going to be standard on the 2022 Silverado and Sierra 1500 pickup trucks. Apparently GM feels that we should all be treated like teens. Do you feel a zit coming on?

The folks at Muscle Cars and Trucks have reported that before you can put your new 2022 GM pickup truck in gear, you must first click that seatbelt. There is no word on if the annoying seatbelt chime will remain but it likely will. So now we get to listen to that and be forced to buckle up before we can drive. Look, we are all for safety and the seatbelt is a very important safety device.

However, this seems like a bit of a heavy-handed approach to get folks to wear the seatbelt. And we all know that technology is not 100 percent fool-proof. So what happens when the sensor goes on the fritz and you are stuck with the gear lever in park even if you are buckled in. This technology does introduce another potential failure point.

While the Buckle to Drive feature may be standard, it is reported that it can be turned off. If you go into the infotainment screen you will find the feature under the Settings/Vehicle/Buckle to Drive menu. If you want to keep it enabled, and still want to drive without your seatbelt for some reason, you can still do that. After 20 seconds of waiting for you to buckle up, the truck will allow you to shift into gear and drive off.

This feature will be new to GM trucks, but it already exists on some GM model cars. You will find it on the 2021 Cadillac CT4 and CT5, Chevrolet Malibu, C8 Corvette, and Buick Envision. And in addition to the Silverado and Sierra this feature will be rolled out to several other GM products in 2022. The Traverse, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Hummer, and Escalade are all expected to come with Buckle to Drive. We are all for safety but there are times when the seatbelt is a hassle.

For example, if you are just moving your truck in your own driveway. Or maybe just driving it on your property clearing branches and debris from your grounds. You know, using it like a truck. No matter what you think of the feature it is here and we are likely to see more driver controls becoming mandatory in the future.

Photos: GM.com

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Joe Kucinski

Joe has been obsessed with cars since he got his very first Matchbox toy in the ‘70s. In 2003, he found a new obsession in track days that led to obtaining his SCCA competition license in 2015. In 2019, he became a certified driving instructor for the National Auto Sport Association. His love for all things four wheels has never wavered, whether it's driving some of the best cars in the world on the racetrack, tackling 2,000-mile road trips in 2-seat sports cars or being winched off the side of a mountaintop in a Jeep. Writing for the suite of Internet Brands Auto Communities sites, including Rennlist.com, Ford Truck Enthusiasts, 6 Speed and more allows him to share that knowledge and passion with others.