HELP!! the chiming is driving me CRAZY!!

My 2002 NB tdi has decided that I must be driving down the highway with the driver’s side door open and tells me about it by setting off an annoying little chime. It’s drivin me NUTS!! Any little bump in the road sets it off and it lasts anywhere from 1 second to as long as 30 seconds. The reason I think it is the driver’s side door is the red light in the door panel comes on and the interior lights come on along with the incessant chiming. I think it’s a sensor out of adjustment or on the way out but I have no idea where it is or how to adjust it. My beetle is still under warranty(42K) but I can't take it in until a week from this Friday. I don't know if I will last that long since I have a 64 mile daily commute littered with bumps and cracks just waiting to set it off. If I could just disable the chime until I can get it in to the stealership I would be a happy camper.
I have a vagcom but haven’t had time to learn how to use it yet. Please help me save my sanity!! DEEZEL

Do you have a vagcom? If so, use it to set the instrument cluster to think it's in England. This will disable the door-open-while-engine is running chime. It will also put your clock into the 24hour mode.

Read the OBD scanner section for how to make your clock 24hour. This will take care of the chime. Plus the clock!

It sounds like you have a bad door switch. It located in the door latch and is a pain to change. There is a thread somewhere in here about changing it with a non-VW switch. Since the switch is an integral part of the latch, VW only sells the latch and not the switch seperately. I'd take it to the dealer since it's still under warranty.

Thanks for the replies!! I didn't have time last night to play with the vagcom maybe tonight. I scheduled time with VW to fix this under warranty on my next day off. I did discover that when the chime goes off if I unlock and relock the doors (power locks) it stops the chime. (Quick Fix) I also noticed last night after I peeked into the garage to make sure the door was closed that all the interior lights in the bug were on. After slamming the driver’s side door a couple of times the lights went off. I have since manually turned all the interior lights off until final resolution of this issue. Again thanks for the input. DEEZEL

A dealer told me that there is a switch in the ignition key whole. When the key is inserted it depresses a switch which "tells" the car it is operating so the chime will do its stuff. Problem is that the switch wears out anfd you are stuck with the noise for 30-40 seconds. Replacement is prohibitve about $600. Does this make sense? I like the door switch theory better -how much would that cost at a dealer? Also what vagcom code are we talking? I like to try that first.

2001 NB

It is the door latch man. Just had this happen on my 2001 Jetta. If its under warranty, just take it to the dealer. You can fix the latch yourself, but its not worth it if its still under warranty.

Jason