Was on a trail yesterday in 2wd and got the ding. Granted I was going up a steep hill at over 11,000 ft. Switched over to 4wd low (which I should have been in the first place) and the dinger left me alone the rest of the day. I'm wondering if it's a combo of temp and RPM's.

 

There could be many reasons for the random ding. In my case, it is independent of right seat occupancy. It did it the other day and I looked at the cluster immediately. This time I am sure there was no brief light like I have seen on past dings.
The mystery continues.

 

I'm assuming you had your seatbelt on right? It will ding if you belt is off. Maybe it's a faulty seatbelt sensor?

 

The passenger seat does have a sensor in it and will turn off the passenger airbag if a certain weight is on it. There is a light next to the hazard lights switch on the center console below the radio. It will come on when the weight is right. If you go out to your Jeep and turn it on push down on the passenger seat bottom a little bit you should see it come on. Your owners manual should have the weights for it. Maybe your girlfriend was raising up out of her seat a little but just enough to make the light come on. Hope that helps.

 

Yeah, I always wear my seatbelt. I'll have to check that light out tomorrow.

 

Here is a possible source of the "Mystery Ding" we have heard:

ANTILOCK BRAKES
The ABS brake system performs several self-tests every time the ignition switch is turned on and the vehicle is driven. The CAB monitors the system's input and output circuits to verify the system is operating correctly. If the on board diagnostic system senses that a circuit is malfunctioning the system will set a trouble code in its memory.

NOTE: An audible noise may be heard during the self-test. This noise should be considered normal.

The audible noise may be the mystery ding.
I have heard it at varying times after starting and driving. Could be random testing.
And it says MAY be heard, implying it doesn't always create the noise.

 

For the OP, this is definitely not the case. The OP has an 08. The 08 and newer versions do not have the same passenger airbag cut off system and light. There has been a long thread on here discussing it, and the 08 and newer doesn't have it.

 

afoulk: Were your tires aired down any at all? Was the TPMS light on in the dash panel? I have had a tire at a borderline pressure and for a short bit it would ding and light be on, then drive a ways and light go off, then ding and come back on. Just a thought.

 

I had the mystery ding once. While out on the trails it just randomly dinged on 3 seperate occasions so I assumed it was the tranny running hot. How can you tell your tranny temp?

Hasn't done it since.

Definately a mystery.

 

I've had this happen to me once while climbing slowly in 4lo. One ding while engine was running, no lights, has not happened since. The error code was P0018 but I haven't been able to find what this stands for.