I am convinced that Automatic Climate Control (a.k.a. Automatic Temperature Control) is one of the greatest automotive inventions. You set the temperature you want and press the “Auto” button, and the system handles everything else: Fan speed, A/C compressor engagement, hot/cold air blend, and even the direction of airflow. While mechanical ATC systems of the 60s and 70s were kind of wonky, modern computerized systems do their job remarkably well.
Automatic Climate Control seems to be one of the most misunderstood automotive features. Allow me, then, to pick a particular nit of mine: While most cars anymore have some form of automated temperature control, almost inevitably while riding in someone else’s car so equipped, the temperature, blower, and air directions are all overridden to manual settings.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve sweltered in someone’s car because they had the temperature set all the way to “HI,” or frozen because someone manually set the blower speed to a ridiculously low setting. It is all I can do in these situations to resist reaching over and pressing the “Auto” button to set things right.
I suspect that there are numerous causes for people overriding their ATC using the manual controls. On cold days, most ATC systems will disengage the blower until the water temperature has reached a certain point, to avoid blowing cold air on already cold occupants. However, some people (especially those unfamiliar with the operation of ATC) may misinterpret this to mean that the system is switched off, or they think they may get some heat a little sooner by manually increasing the fan speed.
The other bit of psychology I suspect is going on here is people thinking the car will heat up faster if you turn the temperature setting up higher. I’ve seen this thinking applied to other settings, such as warm conference rooms that people think will cool down more quickly if the thermostat is turned all the way down. But again, unless you are dealing with multi-stage heating and cooling systems (which most cars and homes do not have), this thinking is false: Most ATC systems will run the heat (or A/C) at full blast until it gets near the set temperature. Turning the temperature beyond the set temperature won’t make the heater output any more heat, or get to the set temperature faster.
I’m not sure whether it is a matter of people failing to understand how automatic climate control is supposed to work (pick your temperature and press auto), or if people make a conscious choice to override the automatic settings (hence the purpose of this question). So I’ll put it to the crowd:
Are you a control freak, constantly fiddling with the temperature and fan settings, or are you an auto-pilot like me, pressing the “Auto” button and letting the ATC system do its job? And what is the reason for your choice?
I love ATC but it does not take into account rain, mist, extreme sun, light snow, slush, cloudiness, wet carpets,etc. I find I usually run mine on semi auto. For example, with sun and semi slushy roads, in auto mode, the defrost is adding heat to your windshield drying all the salt onto your windshield. If you manually redirect that heat that doesn’t happen.
My wife hates it in her Fiat Panda, and never uses it, I always have it on in the Tesla Model S I drive for work and love it. First Climate Control I had in a car was in a 1974 Caprice Classic, somewhere around 1987! can’t remember how well that did work.
Best ATC I ever had was my 1st gen Sequoia. 2 zones – front and rear – both with full automatic control, plus the ability to control the rear from the front. No drafts either.
The new to me Prius (3rd gen) seems ok, except that it never wants to select the windshield/footwell vent setting in very cold winter weather, choosing footwell only, and leading to fogging windows.
I must confess that I rarely use ATC in my Acura not because it doesn’t work well (it does), but because it somehow just doesn’t seem right to have the compressor running constantly, even in winter. I feel it adds wear to the system and hurts mileage. An archaic belief perhaps, and I’m open to be persuaded otherwise. Are my concerns unfounded?
I agree with you. But occasionally running the AC compressor, even in winter, helps keep the system lubricated to prevent leaks.
Well on most modern cars the compressor will run, as needed, when Def or on some cars Def/Floor if the temp is above ~40. It works to dehumidify the incoming air to clear the windows quicker, and to keep them that way.
My first auto climate control was in my 2005 Mazda 6 company car. Big dials and buttons, easy to use but I never used it on the automatic setting as it kicked the fan onto maximum speed, which was so noisy it drowned out the radio. You’d expect this if the interior was hot after sitting in the sun all day and you chose 18°C, but if the interior was 21° and you chose 21°, the fan would still roar away on full blast. So I operated that system entirely manually.
The most annoying system I’ve used is in our 2006 Peugeot 307. The auto function itself works well, being generally not too noisy, but it has separate temperature controls for the driver and passenger, and no way to sync them…
In complete contradiction, the best system I’ve used is in our other Peugeot, a 2016 508 RXH. Its a four-zone system, and the auto function is so subtle and so refined, you hardly know it’s operating most of the time.
My 2018 Challenger has the auto climate controls and I rarely use any manual settings. I normally leave it at 71 degrees, all year round, with the fan as high as it gets before it gets obnoxious. When there is snow and/or ice, like tonight. I remote started the car, and when I got in, I turned up the temp to 75 degrees on each side, and put the front defroster on, which is unpleasant to me, both for the noise the blower makes, but also because of the hot air that hits my face. While it’s melting the snow/ice, I get out and remove as much as I can stand to remove, and get back in and shut off the front defrost and get moving.
But I occasionally ride fairly long distances with a friend, who has always run his heat up to “cook your legs” level. I had hoped that with his new Sierra 1500, with all the toys, that would at least be backed off a little. Nope. A couple of weeks ago, he picks me up, and it was 25 degrees out, and as soon as I opened the passenger door, the hot air hit me. I didn’t say anything, all it does is get him angry, and complain that his 3 grown sons complain about it when they are with him too. I used to always ask him, “Are you and especially your legs that damn cold?”, which would get him going, but this last time, I kept quiet and took off my coat and gloves. I was still cooking by the time we got to our destination, 45 minutes away, and when I got out of the truck, the wind hit my pants and I realized I was soaking wet with sweat. I had just gotten out of the shower about an hour before he picked me up. I guess I shouldn’t have bothered. When we left to go back to Toledo, I told him, “I got soaked with sweat coming up here, just set the temp and forget about it, please?”. He grumbled about it and set it for (IMHO) a too hot 75. But even that wasn’t enough, about halfway back, he cranked it back up and I cooked again for about 20 minutes or so. If he wasn’t like this his entire life, I’ve known him since he was 6 and I was 5, I would think something is seriously wrong with him. He just never could tolerate cold, but in the summer, he actually has it too cold, so I think it’s some sort of psychological issue.
My only problem with automatic climate control is a strange quirk in my Kia. It absolutely will not turn on the AC compressor unless the temperature is set to the lowest setting. And then when I inevitably start freezing I just manually override it anyway so what’s the point?
Count me as not a fan, I’m more partial to the manual controls in my S2K and Rodeo. Perhaps is because I’m in the mechanical trades, but it always seems I want something an automatic system can’t give me. Try un-tempered 100% outside air when is cooler outside – no AC compressor, no heat, low fan speed. I figure our homes have thermostats so we don’t have to get up and make adjustments (though seems I still do). How hard is it to nudge the temperature slider or fan speed switch back and forth?