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!
The climate control in my old M235i was great, never a moment of discussion and the top vents themselves had a separate dial for temperature. Worked awesome in the frozen winter as well, never had foggy windows, no issues with temperature. Often I didn’t need to even manually toggle the windscreen vents.
The 10th gen Civic I had for whatever reason when you turned the windscreen vents on it would turn off the air-conditioning, thereby significantly reducing the ability to take humidity out of the cabin air. You had to manually toggle it back on every time.
My partner’s current CX5 works alright, though the rear passenger vents could use some more oomph.
I used to hate auto climate control, but it’s grown on me, when well executed. Had a nissan rogue rental a few years ago that had a fairly loud blower compounded by always running at a higher fan speed than needed. Once I reach temperature stasis I want the HVAC to be invisible! I do hate that my early for subaru (’05 legacy) auto controls doesn’t have a way to sync between driver and passenger, kind of stupid but in my head its maybe putting more wear and tear on some deep in the dash blend gate if I use dual zone more than absolutely needed.
I think maybe the reason auto grew on me was moving from somewhere that had some pretty large temp extremes (montana) to somewhere very temperate (washington).
I was surprised I kinda missed auto climate in my 2018 GTI SE after having it in my 2 cars prior. Certainly not a need, but realized after the fact I did like it and appreciated having it back in later cars. And that’s with using it manually in the winter months most of the time because they tend to run A/C when I don’t really need it.
It is vehicle dependent though. Even within brands over time: my ’07 Accord was fine, my ’24 Civic annoyed me some because it wasn’t flexible with some of its settings in auto mode.
It operates the A/C in the winter to pull moisture out of the air.
I’ve had five cars with climate control (Leaf, IS300, Golf, Focus, and EV6), and only the EV6 needs to be adjusted in cold weather (colder than expected). The other three, left them at 70degF, and the temp was fine.
I am late to this conversation. I’m still salty about our custom keys for our luxury car that supposedly cost $800 because “they have the computing power of your phone!”
Seriously? All it stores is my seat position. It does NOT remember the following useful, personalized driving features: heated steering wheel or seat controls, preferred bluetooth device, preferred drive mode, preferred music, etc.
Seriously! The number of features I need to change when I get into the car! And why does it grab my wife’s phone signal and block mine until I drive out of range of the house?
This is not rocket science. Just program the damn chip that you already have on my key!!!
They shouldn’t have to program any of those into the key. The car should save those profile settings and just use the key as an identifier as to what profile to load.
Exactly! It welcomes me by name, but then blasts me with all of my spouse’s preferences. It’s like it doesn’t really know me at all.
I had a 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth with the regular heater/AC and the top 2 blower speeds were unbearably load and coarse sounding. I unfortunately wrecked that car but ended up with another 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth with the climate control. It’s wonderfully quiet and it must have a PWM controlling the fan because it slowly ramps up and down in speed so you don’t get sudden blasts.
I would never get another one of those cars with the standard controls again.
As with many features, it’s really dependent on the car.
Both the 2008 Corvette and 2017 Chevy SS would blast you with the loudest possible fan speeds in the summer. I think the SS had a setting for max fan speed, at least. Overall, I found myself fiddling with the controls too often.
2018 VW GTI and 2018 Honda Odyssey – It worked pretty well.
In the Tesla Model 3 & X, the climate just works. I very rarely mess with the controls except adjusting the temp. Bonus points for the automatic seat heating, which starts at 3 bacons and gradually reduces.
My Volvo S60 ACC is pretty solid overall. Full points for a two bacon setup on the seat and steering wheel automatically when it’s below 50. I’m in Texas, so I don’t know if it goes full bacons if it’s colder.
The few times I’ve used Auto Climate Control was with vehicles whose cabins were too big for it to properly work, in my opinion. They could never get to the temperature I wanted them at.
In a smaller vehicle, I’d likely enjoy it. Not having to adjust temperature and fan speed constantly all the time would be nice.
I drive a Fiesta and it still don’t work as advertised.
TIL Fiesta’s had them.
Well, alrighty then. Maybe I won’t then lol
I didn’t realize it either when I bought the car. I just wanted light hatchback with torque. There are still manual controls but I am constantly futzing with them.
It’s actually pretty solid in the Z4. My issue is that *I* tend to heat up after more than 30 minutes of driving, and want a cooler temperature after a bit. But I genuinely believe that to be a me thing – it was like that in the Sentra and is like that in the F-150. Eventually I’m going to want it to be 62 degrees, because that’s what I always want.
I’m quite happy with the implementation of the ones I’ve had. Pretty much the only time I adjust it is when I need max defrost. Otherwise it does a good job of waiting until there is heat in the system or the compressor has ran long enough to produce some cold. It then ramps the fan speed up and back down as appropriate. The newer cars will even give you the option of a maximum fan speed. When the phone is connected and you take a call it automatically ramps the fan speed down to keep things quieter.
Like so many things it is all about the implementation and I’m sure there are really poor implementations out there and maybe if I was saddled with a bad system I wouldn’t like it but I do love the ones we have.
Nissan’s automatic climate control suxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They didn;t use a regular blower motor/resistor. They used some kind of amplifier instead, and that shit is big buxxxxxxxx when it goes bad, and then you have air blowing at all times on your feet, and it’s always the wrong temp too
A LOT of cars use this type of fan speed control – it’s pulse width modulation motor control.
Are they generally known to have problems?
I dunno, what probably dies is the output drivers; MOSFETs or some other kind of power transistor.
But nobody’s gonna diagnose and repair at the component level.
I’ll admit the dual-zone is nice sometimes because wife.
But miss completely manual climate control. I miss having a little cool air blow in with the fans off if I want it. I miss adjusting the temp coming from the vents so it’s juuuuuust right. And I miss changing the fan speed without having to look down, from the knob that’s perfectly placed in front of my shifter.
FWIW, some bigger GM cars of the 2000s had dual zone manual climate control
Yeah, I use auto 100% of the time now because I can’t navigating a fucking screen menu while driving.
But mine works pretty well. It doesn’t start blowing air until it’s close to the right temp and it keeps me comfortable.
The fact that it waits until there is heat available or the air has cooled is a great feature – no complaints there.
It just seems like it works great at 30 degrees and at 80 degrees, but at 50 it has no idea what it’s supposed to be doing.
I must be lucky – between my wife and I we’ve had 5 vehicles from 4 unrelated manufacturers with automatic climate control, and I have zero gripes about any of them.
When they go bad, they really go bad. I had a ’93 climate module which would randomly drop air conditioning and blast hot engine air into the cabin for the rest of the trip. Only an overnight cooldown would reset it.
The auto climate control in my 2002 Volvo V70 and 2016 Volvo V60 were virtually set and forget. My 2023 Corolla hatch as also quite good.
But Subaru cannot get them right at all. My ’05 Outback and my current whip a ’23 WRX have terrible auto climate systems.
In my car, when you turn off the auto climate control, the temp display still shows a range of degrees for the level at which it’s set, instead of a blue to red gradient. That’s like VW-level “we can do all the windows with one switch” cost cutting.
OTOH, I’m old enough to still miss the old school sliders and switches, though I never quite figured out bi-level.
I LOATHE modern electric HVAC controls. I like to defrost my window with recirc. Yes it’s slower, but with the A/C on, it still clears the windshield quickly. Both my current vehicles will not allow me to defrost with recirc on, so I have to inhale diesel exhaust smell and a rather unpleasant landfill I drive past on the way to work.
My previous car turned off recirc when activating defrost, but I could punch the button to turn it back on. No dice with Mazda. They know best and screw the person operating the vehicle.
My Volvo doesn’t even tell me how much gas is in the tank. It tells me how many miles I have left. Of course, this is an estimate and the range is constantly bouncing up and down (we’re talking jumps of 70 miles). I’m an adult. Tell me how much gas is left and I will determine when to fill up.
I have a fairly new car built on an ancient architecture. It brings joy to my heart when I rotate the temp knob and I can hear and feel the cable move the mechanism deep in the dash. There is no automatic climate control here, just a man driving a car, adjusting the temperature mechanically as needed. I smile as I think of the joy some future great grand child will experience sitting in this rusty old car abandoned in the woods and cranking that knob back and forth, wondering what magic exists that allows it to still work without a touchscreen or an app.
I feel like the auto CC is wildly manufacturer dependent.
Kia’s implementation in both my wife’s Optima and my Sorento is very good. Other than occasionally forcing defrost, I mostly just adjust the temp a couple degrees and it does the rest very well.
Hell, even my ’86 w126’s auto CC was stellar, and that’s a 40 year old system!
If they are saying the knob is right there and easy to adjust, what’s the complaint? With ACC, I rarely have to touch it. In the winter it’s always set at like 66, in the summer it’s always set at like 70. In the crossover months I have to adjust it every once in a while.
If you find yourself constantly getting blasted with AC and are thus cold in the winter, you have it set too cold. Adjust it up a degree or two and see if it improves, and if it does, you likely won’t have to touch it tomorrow.
It’s like my father-in-law who starts his truck up in the winter and then cranks the ACC to the hottest setting (which is like 80F) and then 20 minutes later, complains he’s roasting. Not matter how many times I’ve told him that doing that doesn’t make it heat up any faster, he doesn’t listen. He does the effective reverse in the summer; sets it at the lowest temperature and then complains he’s cold.
That being said, my biggest complaint with ACC (well, almost all modern car climate control systems) is that there’s no setting to just let in outside air. Don’t heat it or cool it, just blow or even let it passively flow in from driving. Heck, I miss kick panel vent flaps.
For that, I’ll just open a window or two.
That’s louder, precipitation dependent, and still not as effective.
So let me get this straight.
I should need to adjust the extra-cost option that’s supposed to be “automatic” so that it doesn’t chase its set point by blasting me with unwelcome cold or hot air?
No thank you, sir.
If it’s set reasonably, it should be designed to taper its adjustments to retain comfort. You know, how I would do with a manual system….manually?
I don’t ever WANT it, anyway, it’s just how things come now.
I have found that I dislike most automatic stuff, while many are absolutely delighted by it. Like a talking doll.
Is it really that much more expensive?
And if you pick the correct temperature, it does exactly what you want. It is simply trying to get to the temperature you pick… you can’t figure out how to work that to your desires? You not being able to out-smart it I think speaks more about you than it does its capabilities.
Plus, like I said, the adjusting is way fewer times than you’d adjust a manual system… so if you hate adjusting, doesn’t that mean you’d like ACC more? If it requires more adjusting on your part, I circle back around to my previous statement…
Wow, man, we’re talking about HVAC on a car nerd site.
It costs more. It’s bundled with stuff. I dislike that I’m forced to accept it, actually. But mostly, my issue is I don’t want it and I don’t like how it operates.
“If you pick the right temperature” – what is this a fucking casino?
Of course I can adjust it. That’s what I do. I set it to 72, and then it’s doing all sorts of weird stuff, even in manual mode. So I nudge the temp up to maintain the blend. And a few miles later, it’s once again blowing cold. So I adjust it up some more.
I have to futz with it WAY MORE than I ever did with manual systems.
How is that better than setting the blend I want and having it stay the same until I decide to change it?
I don’t hate adjusting. I hate the machine doing things I don’t expect or want.
In all of mine as long as you haven’t manually selected defrost/max defrost you can hit the “A/C” button to turn off the compressor, adjust the temp accordingly and get ambient temp air.
Except when it is cold outside, and I want auto climate control, but I don’t want the compressor robbing HP from my 4 cylinder NA engine, it doesn’t offer me that option. The ‘auto’ light turns off when I turn off the ‘AC’. Go figure.
Once the temp is cold enough, (30-35 degrees) the compressor won’t run, even if the light is on. Implementation does matter and it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to have it kill auto mode just because you don’t want to run the compressor.
(these people just like to complain about things)
They’re purists, man.
I’m marginally internet famous now for getting on the COTD page again. Oh yoy.
People were pointing and staring at me in the street this morning. Surely this is the reason, right? RIGHT???
“Yeah, hey… you’re that one dude who got COTD on that rando car site back in 2026, right?”
Yep… the one and only.
I always figure it’s cause I forgot my pants again
We should do an autograph signing.
Us extraterrestrials don’t do autographs… instead, we just use severe psychic impressioning.
It’s a home thermostat in your car. It’s better than using your hand crank to start the car. Full stop.
Climate control in my old car rockets the temp well past the set point before ultimately settling in. For short drives you’re either broiling or frosty.
Current car, it’s set and long forgotten. I only adjust the defrost and fan speed.
Agree, manual mode only. Shut off the so called lane keeper assistant too.
Always have, and always will, hate auto climate control. I want to be in control of my air at all times, dammit! Auto control can’t sense when my partner just cut a beer/egg fart!!! My 80 Coupe De Ville had that shit, always, always hated it! Otherwise, loved that Caddy. BTW, quit cooking my hubby eggs……He still gets beer, though. Afterall, I’m not a TOTAL bitch LOL! Plus, beer eyes make me look better!!!! Takes off 20 years and 20# with every sip!
It’s at this point that climate control isn’t the culprit, but that you can’t open the windows fast enough.
My 99 Accord auto climate worked great, almost entirely no-touch. And all the manual controls are still there if you want them. Maybe the problem is poor implementation in some vehicles. Oblivious engineers have had 27 years to forget how to do it right and screw things up in modern software cars.
Exactly what I was thinking. Some cars get it right, and others get it wrong. My default preference if I’m looking at cars is for manual climate control, just to circumvent the problem entirely, but if I know that a certain model has good automatic climate control, then yeah, sign me up!
There is definately a programming aspect that some manufactureres are screwing up.
When it’s very cold or very warm, it works great. No complaints.
It’s the in-between temps – blasting the AC when it’s 45 out because the hot sun is hitting the dash. Or Blasting the heat because it’s 66 degrees out and the temp is set for 68. I know the car knows the outside temp, but apparently it’s not telling the climate control.
I missed that the first go around, but i HATE automatic climate control. Fan too fast or too slow, temp coming out of the event always chasing the preset so too hot or too cold. I want a consistent temp coming out of the vents. My newest vehicle (2019) struggles with this even with ACC off.
My car’s fan has seven speeds, but the increment between six and seven is bigger than some of the other increments. It needs a 6.5. I even thought something was wrong with it but nope. I always keep the temp at the coldest setting and adjust the fan speed.
I am auto climate, and I, only I, can decide when you can have heat when it’s frickin 20 degrees outside.
It shocks me how often it just feels wrong. I set my ACC to 66 and it’ll blast me with heat at the weirdest times, like it would rather overshoot and cool back down.
I hate it controlling my fan speed, but love it regulating the temperature. Luckily in my Focus ST the override settings stay, so every time I start the car the fan and defrost/vent/foot settings are exactly how I left them.
Thank you to Crab People. Without your response, my comment was just kind of snarky.