One of the features that you’ll find in countless cars today and in a lot of higher-end vehicles from the past is automatic climate control. All you have to do is set a desired temperature, and your car’s climate control system will intelligently keep your car at that temperature. Depending on your vehicle, the system will have the ability to automatically regulate the temperature of the air, the fan speed, and where the air goes. For most people, this probably works brilliantly, but for the rest of us, it’s annoying.
We asked you about the futuristic car features that impressed you the least when you finally used them. Dan Roth:
Auto climate control. I forgot that one.
Get in. Set vent temp to what I want.
~ SOME TIME LATER ~
WHY IS THIS THING BLOWING COLD AIR ON MY HANDS WHEN IT’S 12 DEGREES OUT?
Sigh. It’s not a house. The knob is right there. If I get warm, I will adjust it.
The servo loop is such a parlor trick.
Bags:
*A sunny day happens after a week of brutal cold*
“hey, I noticed that you probably want the AC blasting in your face. It’s a hot one!”
The version of this that gets me is when I turn on the air-conditioner and all of a sudden it blows warm. For a brief moment, I forget that the automatic climate control mode is on, and I get sad, thinking that my air-con just died. I suppose that’s a consequence of driving cars that may break down at any moment.
Jason wrote about how there’s an infusion pump that looks like a generic SUV. Trust Doesn’t Rust says what many of you were feeling:
I’m just sincerely glad Jason isn’t writing this because he’s in the hospital and hooked up to this device.
Grey alien in a beige sedan:
Gotta imagine the banter at the taillight bar over the weekend went wild with this one.
Spikersaurusrex:
But does it have amber turn indicators?
Crab People:
Only in Europe.
Finally, Jason wrote about the most miserable ‘feature’ on the Polestar 4, a feature that’s somehow not the lack of a rear window. DialMforMiata:
So not having an actual rear window is somehow not the most annoying aspect of this thing. That’s pretty impressive.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Man, now I’m wondering what kind of auto climate control some of you folks are using. My BMW is a mostly set it and forget it affair.. it has different “intesity” levels to choose from and depending on how intense you set it, it will ramp up quickly to get to target temp or stay pretty much out of the way. I’ve always found the logic in direct sun, cold weather, etc to be pretty great.
Long, long ago I had an odd little German car that had heat vents for the feet and manual vents atop the dash that let in cool air. That was perfect, but nobody makes cars like that now. So I settle for dual auto climate control. In cold weather, I set the left dash vents about 10 degrees warmer than the right side vents. I manually aim the left dash vents to blow warm air on my hands, and the colder right side vents are aimed at head level. So I get a warm body, but I keep a cool head.
The only thing I don’t like abut auto climate control is how it defaults to air conditioning too often, in order to remove moisture from the interior. Colorado has no moisture in the air (or anywhere this year), so that’s not needed, and it wastes fuel.
Agreed, AND since the early ’90’s Civics, no one will sell my perennially-motion sick sister a car that can blow cold fresh air in her face and hot air on her feet. Why did they give up on simple climate control?
I hated the automatic climate control systems because they always wanted to blast the A/C. 5 degree difference? Max A/C Max blower!
Want to use the window blower? MAX AC!
I love automatic climate control in my Ford, but I ONLY let it control the hot/cold blend. I control the fan speed and defrost/vent/foot distribution.
I find the trick with any type of air temperature control whether automatic or manual is to make sure the air does not hit you directly.
If you use the incoming air to heat or cool the cabin air rather than you directly it works a lot better.
For me, dual zone auto climate control is the best. I’m happy, and my wife is happy, just don’t blast the air on me lol.