Am I the only one with recent Climate Control problems?

[CHG-ON]

I find the climate control very hard to manipulate and I am always fiddling with it. It gets stuffy, hot, cold...I could go on. But I must say that I have never found an auto climate control that works for me. I would kill for a simple knob that I could just set and adjust once in a while. Computers simply don't know what I want at any given moment. Yes, I am a PIA!

 

[mknox]

I find the climate control very hard to manipulate and I am always fiddling with it. It gets stuffy, hot, cold...I could go on. But I must say that I have never found an auto climate control that works for me. I would kill for a simple knob that I could just set and adjust once in a while. Computers simply don't know what I want at any given moment. Yes, I am a PIA!

Having figured the temperature thing out (my car seems to be about 5 degrees warmer than the set point), my biggest beef is that the fan speed on Auto is very often too low. It will be at 1 or 2 and that's just not enough to keep the air moving and the stuffiness out. I often have to over-ride it and bump it up.

 

[markb1]

Newer cars have some holes around where the USB ports are and a fan to give a more instant temperature reading.

Has anyone asked to have this retrofitted? I wonder how much it helps?

 

[mknox]

Has anyone asked to have this retrofitted? I wonder how much it helps?

I was told it can't be done due to wiring harness locations and such. I was also told that my internal temp sensor (older car) is behind the dash near the steering column. Anyone else confirm or deny this?

 

[finout]

More info and some background

Thanks for all of your comments on this. To respond to some of the comments and update a bit:

1) Regional service manager said that the climate control temperature sensor (which in my very early Model S is above and in front of the driver's knee) cannot be relocated. I don't understand why- but if he believes that's not an option, it isn't.
2) I have some great IOS screenshots from when this happened 8 months ago:

4:56 PM: Temp set to 66, cabin temp is 71. Blue and Red Arrows, I believe, indicate that both AC and heat are being blown out.
5:01 PM (5 minutes later): Temp still set to 66, but cabin temp has gone up 4 degrees to 75. Red and blue arrows still indicating AC and heat blowing. Clearly heat is winning here.

When it behaves like this (on cold days) the only options I have are to

• Open the window (cold face, hot body) or
• Set CC to "LO" (and then set it back up 5 minutes later when the temp drops into 60s) or
• Sweat it out in the car as the temp reaches the mid-80s.

On the next 25-35 degree day, I am pretty confident I could take a couple more Model S App screenshots that look very similar.

 

[john01]

I have had many complaints to the service center with nothing done. Last winter, plenty of heat - no problem. Summer is a different story. Vents turned off for the rear seats - no help. Temp set to 64 or 66 actual temp 75-77 by app. The sensor has to be bad. It's always worse on a sunny day. I have a glass panoramic roof.

 

[CHG-ON]

I live in the SF bay area where we are very temperate. Every car I have had seems to have a problem with modulating the temp when it is approx 50-70. When it gets higher or lower, it seems to work better. I have found the same in the MS. I totally agree that when I set a temp that is near the exterior temp, the fan is too low and I don't get enough air flow. The other odd thing that I find is that my feet are almost always cold when the air temp is in the 50-65 range. I try the seat heaters, but they don't help, obviously. And when I move the air temp up, with the floor vents, it gets hot and stuffy in the cabin, recirc or not, AC or not. I have never had cold feet in a car. Poor vent positioning on the floor?

 

[jerry33]

Blue and Red Arrows, I believe, indicate that both AC and heat are being blown out.

No, they changed the graphic from blue or red to a combination. It now just indicates that the climate control is active. No idea why they changed it.

 

[CHG-ON]

I've got a question: I noted in an earlier post that my legs and feet always seem to be cold. So I checked the airflow while changing the vent control to each position. When I have it set to floor, I have very little air coming out down below and lots of air coming out of the defrost vents, none from the dash vents. All settings but floor seems to send all the air through the selected setting. I am thinking that the diverter is not working correctly. Or is it the default setting to keep the windscreen clear when selecting floor (which makes some sense)? I'm going in to have the CCI installed in a week or so and I will ask. But I wanted to check the forum buds to see if anybody has noticed this.

Thanks.

 

[jerry33]

I've got a question: I noted in an earlier post that my legs and feet always seem to be cold. So I checked the airflow while changing the vent control to each position. When I have it set to floor, I have very little air coming out down below and lots of air coming out of the defrost vents, none from the dash vents. All settings but floor seems to send all the air through the selected setting. I am thinking that the diverter is not working correctly. Or is it the default setting to keep the windscreen clear when selecting floor (which makes some sense)? I'm going in to have the CCI installed in a week or so and I will ask. But I wanted to check the forum buds to see if anybody has noticed this..

The floor vents in most cars are large so the flow of air seems lower than the face or defrost vents. That's not to say you don't have a problem with your car because if you have it set to floor there should be little air going to the defrost.

 

[Mark Bloomston]

I seem to have the opposite problem in cold weather. Once the cabin warms to the programmed temp, it tends to blow cooler air then eventually warm air again. The result is that I have to keep increasing the cabin temp setting.

 

[John Vig]

I have a recent vintage Model S, delivered at end of May 2014. My rear passengers have complained about the lack of heat in the back. I was unable to get hot air to blow from the rear vents, not even when I set the temperature to 80 deg. (I have an appointment with Tesla Service in early January.)

A somewhat related question... I can see two different displays of the outside temperature on the dashboard but not the inside (cabin) temperature. Is there a way to display the inside temperature?

 

[jerry33]

I have a recent vintage Model S, delivered at end of May 2014. My rear passengers have complained about the lack of heat in the back. I was unable to get hot air to blow from the rear vents, not even when I set the temperature to 80 deg. (I have an appointment with Tesla Service in early January.)

A somewhat related question... I can see two different displays of the outside temperature on the dashboard but not the inside (cabin) temperature. Is there a way to display the inside temperature?

This is going to sound silly, but make sure the vent is actually open. It took me a couple of hours to twig to the fact that the vents were closed. If that's not the problem contact service because air should be blowing through them just fine.

There isn't any way to display the inside temperature aside from the App.

 

[mknox]

This is going to sound silly, but make sure the vent is actually open.

Excellent point. Most cars I've owned have had a separate control to open or close the vents... usually a thumb wheel right below the vent. On the Model S, moving the airflow fully to either the left or right (forget which) actually closes the flap and shuts the vent off. I bumped in to this fact the hard way myself.

 

[finout]

I have a recent vintage Model S, delivered at end of May 2014. My rear passengers have complained about the lack of heat in the back. I was unable to get hot air to blow from the rear vents, not even when I set the temperature to 80 deg. (I have an appointment with Tesla Service in early January.)

A somewhat related question... I can see two different displays of the outside temperature on the dashboard but not the inside (cabin) temperature. Is there a way to display the inside temperature?

John, the only way I know of to see the inside temperature is via the API. In particular, though, I took screenshots of my iphone Model S App, which, on the climate tab, shows the interior cabin temperature alongside the temperature you set it to. When I showed the interior temp at 75, and the temp set to 66, and the climate control still sending hot air into the cabin, the Tesla support people were forced to take my gripes seriously.

On one of the pages of this forum topic you can see my pic: