V11 and climate menu: just as simple as a swipe up

[AustinP]

I’ve read quite a lot of threads since v11 came out, awaiting my turn to install it.
It arrived a moment ago and after some hesitation, due to all the drama all over the place, I went for it.

About the seat heaters and defrost icons, now moved out of the bottom bar, I noticed that the climate menu can be opened by a simple swipe up from anywhere starting from the bottom row.
So no need to click specifically on the vent like before or a specific point on the screen: just put your finger anywhere at the bottom of the screen and swipe up.

So this is much better as this swipe does not require me to take my eyes off the road, and then I have nice large buttons to activate the seat heaters that are actually closer to be reached.

Yes indeed, it’s now winter and it’s an additional gesture, but in reality, I don’t need those heaters 6+ months of the year, so yes, make sense to move them, and provide a not so bad way to access them.

But that’s me, ymmv

 

[Sotto Voce]

I disagree that access through a swipe up is easy, or easier than before. I regularly used the seat heater icons, both of them, as well as the two defroster icons. These should all be on the main page, or available as preferences on the main page, rather than arcade, jukebox or any of the other "entertainment while parked" icons. Also, making the wheels on the steering wheels programmable for some of this heads up functionality (like hvac) would be a good idea, allowing functional vehicle control to take priority over other features.

 

[Todd Burch]

Aside from having the common controls now buried, it seems you also can't adjust the seat heat settings without the car turning A/C or heat on for you. (Seems no matter how you get to the climate menu, the A/C is automatically turned on). Only way to do it without turning on the A/C is to use voice control.

I've been a head UI/UX person at my software company for about 6 years, and this update was definitely a UX failure. Whoever led the software team for this ought to be demoted.

 

[Mediocrates]

Aside from having the common controls now buried, it seems you also can't adjust the seat heat settings without the car turning A/C or heat on for you. (Seems no matter how you get to the climate menu, the A/C is automatically turned on). Only way to do it without turning on the A/C is to use voice control.

Curious, I haven't had that problem accessing the climate settings via the up-swipe or by pressing on the temperature number. A/C has never been activated just by accessing the climate panel, and I can control the seat settings without anything else changing.

Perhaps a reboot is in order?

 

[Baluchi]

Curious, I haven't had that problem accessing the climate settings via the up-swipe or by pressing on the temperature number. A/C has never been activated just by accessing the climate panel, and I can control the seat settings without anything else changing.

Perhaps a reboot is in order?

My HVAC turns on every time I touch it. You might not notice this behavior if you always keep your climate activated. But I don't think there's a way to access the climate controls without turning it on.

 

[Mediocrates]

My HVAC turns on every time I touch it. You might not notice this behavior if you always keep your climate activated. But I don't think there's a way to access the climate controls without turning it on.

Yes, I realized later it was meant that, if the fan-based cabin climate control is off, accessing it (via swipe or pressing on the temperature) turns on the climate control. I initially misunderstood the statement to be that the climate settings changed when accessing the climate panel.

I can confirm this behavior as reported, from both the swipe and pressing on the temperature, which does seem unnecessarily presumptive.