Functionality of air vent controls

[ohmman]

Most people adjust vents. And at the risk of sounding sexist, my experience has been that females are more sensitive to temperature variation than men. As soon as my wife, mother, and mother-in-law get in a car in the summer, they aim every vent away from them. Alternatively, I aim them directly at myself until I'm cool at which point I'll adjust. Gender related or not, people have different preferences on temperature and airflow. I am surprised to hear that some people set them and forget them.

 

[0ptions]

I mean, I just asked four people I've interacted with in my office so far how frequently they adjust their vents and so far:
3 - Once when they purchased their vehicle with some fine tuning shortly after
1 - Once seasonal, so twice a year.

But yeah, I must be nuts to leave my vents oriented in the same direction all of the time.

 

[slipnslider]

In fact air vents can be adjusted much more easily with a single touch/swipe compared to fiddling with two separate vents (one in the middle and one in the left of driver).

It's still a touchscreen which you have to look at vs physical vents you can adjust without looking.

 

[0ptions]

Most people adjust vents. And at the risk of sounding sexist, my experience has been that females are more sensitive to temperature variation than men. As soon as my wife, mother, and mother-in-law get in a car in the summer, they aim every vent away from them. Alternatively, I aim them directly at myself until I'm cool at which point I'll adjust. Gender related or not, people have different preferences on temperature and airflow. I am surprised to hear that some people set them and forget them.

I think it's not knowing how to properly adjust the temperature and airflow of the system so most users go the easy route and just point the vents away. I know in my car, since it's my DD, what temperature and air speed I need to set it to in order to maintain a comfortable temperature in my vehicle.
If I need to warm my hands, I hold them directly in front of the vent.

On a typical winter day, I start me car and I turn my heat on after the engine has warmed up some (I don't like cold air blasting on me when it's already cold!!) and usually hold my hands in front of the vents, one at a time to warm them. Once the ambient temperature in the vehicle is comfortable, I decrease the fan speed and lower the temperature to where I know it will hold (this is actually AUTOMATICALLY done for you with climate control in the 3.. wish my Cruze had it), so in the 3, no knobs required as it's climate controlled.

It's hilarious how concerned some of us are on the air vents. FFS... Maybe it's that bad that you won't go through with your order so I can get mine sooner. Fingers crossed!!!

Edit: I forgot to mention that when my cabin gets to temp, I also switch it to foot area ONLY. I find that least intrusive and still maintains a comfortable level in the cabin.

 

[ohmman]

On a typical winter day, I start me car and I turn my heat on after the engine has warmed up some (I don't like cold air blasting on me when it's already cold!!) and usually hold my hands in front of the vents, one at a time to warm them. Once the ambient temperature in the vehicle is comfortable, I decrease the fan speed and lower the temperature to where I know it will hold (this is actually AUTOMATICALLY done for you with climate control in the 3.. wish my Cruze had it), so in the 3, no knobs required as it's climate controlled.

Auto climate generally puts heat on defrost and floor vents, sometimes including the window side vents. Cooling, on the other hand, directs most air through the passenger facing vents. Since auto climate control will blow harder if the sun is coming through the windshield, it's common for me to have to direct the vents away from myself during that time. But if I get into a hot car, I want all the cold on me. I don't want it glancing off of my body.

I live in a part of California where I can easily run the heat and AC in the same day. Winter or summer. I can wake up to 40 degrees and have it be 90 by afternoon. Everyone has different needs. I think everyone's just asking that you accept that.

Good news for you is that I'm not executing on my Model 3 reservations anyway. I've decided to keep my S for another couple of years. It's too awesome to trade in, and it has these great physical air vents (kidding!).

 

[DarthPierce]

I mean, I just asked four people I've interacted with in my office so far how frequently they adjust their vents and so far:
3 - Once when they purchased their vehicle with some fine tuning shortly after
1 - Once seasonal, so twice a year.

But yeah, I must be nuts to leave my vents oriented in the same direction all of the time.

I'm guessing you aren't married/don't ever need to share your car.

My experience mirrors ohmman's -
Every time my wife sits in a car she points vents away/turns them off/turns off "auto mode" etc.

Consequently every time I occupy a seat formerly occupied by her I need to turn on and redirect the vents (and if she's not in the car put it back in "auto" and set the temperature back to something much closer to earth average temperature)

Dual zones has helped the temperature variances between us (as do heated seats and steering wheels if she's driving) but it doesn't address her hatred of airflow unless that air is over 90 degrees. I'm hopeful but not confident that the driver profiles will help in the 3.

 

[nvx1977]

I tend to set it and forget it. There are a few exceptions though.

For heat, I have foot well vents open, since heat rises. I also like vents on my hands because my hands are icy cold in the winter.

For AC, I like having the top vents blow around my head and upwards, because cool air sinks.

These are the most efficient settings to condition the cabin.

However, there are times where I'm already super hot, and I want the AC to blow right on my face. And when I'm comfy again, I'll want to point them back to where I usually point them. In general, I might adjust a vent between once a week or once a month.

My view on the screen is that we choose when we allow ourselves to be distracted by it. Evaluate whether your current driving situation allows you a bit of distraction first. I have shut up in mid sentence when I needed to focus 100% on the driving situation. Same deal with the screen. Don't engage it if you're approaching a tricky intersection or need to switch lanes on a freeway.

In practice, now having driven the Model 3 for 2 months, I can say that for me, I barely need to use the screen. I'm never constantly fiddling with it or digging thru menus. It's just not necessary.

So take reviews of screen distraction with a grain of salt. Chances are, most of us are already way more distracted on our phones than this screen will ever be.

 

[0ptions]

Good news for you is that I'm not executing on my Model 3 reservations anyway. I've decided to keep my S for another couple of years. It's too awesome to trade in, and it has these great physical air vents (kidding!).

Apologies, that comment was meant for Voip.

 

[0ptions]

I'm guessing you aren't married/don't ever need to share your car.

My experience mirrors ohmman's -
Every time my wife sits in a car she points vents away/turns them off/turns off "auto mode" etc.

Consequently every time I occupy a seat formerly occupied by her I need to turn on and redirect the vents (and if she's not in the car put it back in "auto" and set the temperature back to something much closer to earth average temperature)

Dual zones has helped the temperature variances between us (as do heated seats and steering wheels if she's driving) but it doesn't address her hatred of airflow unless that air is over 90 degrees. I'm hopeful but not confident that the driver profiles will help in the 3.

Changing drivers doesn't apply to Voip's argument. Their argument was changing the settings while driving. You should have adjusted the vents prior to driving, just like seat, mirrors and steering wheel. But yeah, that is a reason to adjust them; just not while driving.

 

[favo]

I've had the impression that (some?) cars with modern temperature control do smart things like favor the upper vents when cooling starts, and then as the temperature approaches the set point, shift to lower/defrost vents. So the airflow is on your body initially and then shifts away as the cabin cools off. Heating would be similar.

Tesla could take that even further, since they can actually aim the air vents. You could even have vent profiles analagous to the seat profiles. There could be a base vent configuration (e.g., not aimed directly at you), but also a startup configuration (e.g., aimed at body/face). Startup config would be in effect until set point is reached (or maybe some offset from set point). That would be cool (pun intended ).

ETA: Taking it further still, you could have named vent/temperature configurations that could be called for via voice command. Or an oscillating mode that sweeps the airflow up and down your body.

 

[richrootes]

Tesla may need to consider two versions of the control system - traditional and advanced - as there is clearly a group of people that is very resistant to change

Either that, or someone 3D prints a physical overlay for a portion of the touch screen, so that the traditionalists have some knobs to fiddle with.......

 

[Az_Rael]

In practice, now having driven the Model 3 for 2 months, I can say that for me, I barely need to use the screen. I'm never constantly fiddling with it or digging thru menus. It's just not necessary

Having driven mine nearly 10K miles now, I find myself fiddling with the screen more than I would like. Adjusting the temperature, switching music sources/favorites, adjusting the vents, occasionally diving into the climate menu to up the fan speed if the auto system isn't cutting it, folding the mirrors as I pull in and out of my garage, etc.

I am hopeful that many of these items get added to the voice command menu over time. Then I could just say "Temperature 72" or "Fan Speed 4" or "Front Defrost ON" or whatever when I want to adjust something without looking down. Since they have been tweaking the UI as they go, I think they will get there eventually.

 

[ohmman]

I am hopeful that many of these items get added to the voice command menu over time. Then I could just say "Temperature 72" or "Fan Speed 4" or "Front Defrost ON" or whatever when I want to adjust something without looking down. Since they have been tweaking the UI as they go, I think they will get there eventually.

I certainly hope so, but I'd temper my expectations if I were you. The voice control on the S and X is quite limited considering what it could do, as you know. They haven't really expanded it as much as many of us would have liked. It does work well for the functionality it has, though.

 

[nvx1977]

fwiw, I've never been a fan of touchscreen interaction. It certainly has the advantage of presenting unlimited UI options, but the complete lack of tactile feedback feels so awful. I can certainly empathize with those of you saying you're prefer a volume knob or a vent louvre that you can feel for without looking for it.

But even with traditional buttons, the design and layout of those buttons matter very much. My Hyundai Sonata's physical buttons are awful and very distracting. The menus are disorganized and very layered. There's very little I can do that allow me to keep my eyes forward. Despite my annoyance with touching glass, I do find that I'm less distracted by the controls than in my previous car and in some cars I've rented in the past.

 

[Az_Rael]

females are more sensitive to temperature variation than men.

I resemble that remark Actually, I think its more that I (and other women?) are more sensitive to COLD. My husband will aim all the vents straight at him at full blast for much longer than I need to for feeling cool. So, since the fan speed isn't dual zoned, I end up having to adjust my vents away so that I don't freeze out while he is still cooling off. And during the winter, I am often feeling chillier in the car than him (good thing there are seat heaters).

 

[mwenn1]

My experience so far is that the only thing I use the touchscreen for most often is the radio, switching between stations. The rest I have pretty much setup when I got the car and haven't changed. I haven't touched the steering wheel, mirrors, vents since I originally set them up. The only thing related to the vents I have changed is the temp, an adjustment up or down but that's it.

 

[slipnslider]

Changing drivers doesn't apply to Voip's argument. Their argument was changing the settings while driving. You should have adjusted the vents prior to driving, just like seat, mirrors and steering wheel. But yeah, that is a reason to adjust them; just not while driving.

Your repeated argument seems to be: If everyone did things like ME, no one would have a problem. People change airflow settings often. During a trip. Maybe NOT YOU, but OTHER PEOPLE DO. And a touchscreen is a less safe and less ergonomic way to do this than physical controls. End of story.

 

[slipnslider]

Tesla may need to consider two versions of the control system - traditional and advanced - as there is clearly a group of people that is very resistant to change

Either that, or someone 3D prints a physical overlay for a portion of the touch screen, so that the traditionalists have some knobs to fiddle with.......

Nothing like telling ELECTRIC CAR BUYERS that they're afraid of change.

Many of us just want GOOD change, not BAD change just to seem new and different.

 

[North75]

Nothing like telling ELECTRIC CAR BUYERS that they're afraid of change.

Many of us just want GOOD change, not BAD change just to seem new and different.

The whole design of the car is a system and involves a series of trade-offs though. I'm not sure that the vent design that they went with would be able to be controlled manually. Maybe it could.. who knows, but lets assume it needs to be controlled electronically. The thin profile vent design helps them to have the really low dashboard and excellent visibility. All the reviews I have read or seen seem to rave about the forward visibility. I think it looks great as well.
You have to take it all together. I'd like to think that I'd be willing to put with some minor annoyance in adjusting the vents for the overall benefit of the design. Assuming it even is an annoyance, I haven't taken delivery yet, so I don't know. I'm also in the rarely adjusts vents camp, so I have that going for me.

 

[alseTrick]

In fact air vents can be adjusted much more easily with a single touch/swipe compared to fiddling with two separate vents (one in the middle and one in the left of driver).

No way.

You don't even need to look at standard air vents to adjust them. You can keep your eyes on the road and adjust them by feel.

My hope is that Tesla would allow most features to be adjusted via the button things on the steering wheel. But I also would've hoped that that would've already been implemented once deliveries started.