1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

PP Climate — no fan control when directing flow down

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by Rieuk, Feb 11, 2020.

  1. Rieuk

    Rieuk Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2018
    103
    53
    0
    Location:
    Pasadena
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    When I direct the airflow down to the foot well, the fan speed seems to be controlled by the computer. No matter what I set it to, the computer seems to be calculating what it should be independently. I have the fan speed maxed out so when I have it directed up to passengers, it blows at high speed, but turn it down to the foot well, and it just stops or blows very slowly. Further, this speed changes when I adjust the temperature. In addition, the heating/cooling doesn't turn off when I turn off the 'AC' option in the display.

    The climate control in this car has really been botched, I mean seriously. If the entune BS wasn't so bad it would be manageable. Bring back the manual control knobs.
     
    bisco likes this.
  2. Bob Comer

    Bob Comer Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2010
    708
    454
    0
    Location:
    South Carolina low country
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I love the heating and cooling in my Prime, but I always use Auto and set temperature accordingly. (and defrosters as needed.)
     
  3. Toyo_Tom

    Toyo_Tom Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2019
    13
    6
    0
    Location:
    Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    I like to use auto pretty much all the time as well, but I am disappointed that in cold weather, the auto setting normally chooses the floor vents only. I suppose that this is to spare us from having hot, dry air blowing directly on us, but even with the seat heater on, I still would like to have some warm air blowing directly on me. If it gets bad, I will just manually direct the air, but I still feel like it would be nice if it initially started with the vent/floor mix and switched over to floor only after the cabin warms up somewhat.
     
    Pdog808 likes this.
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,861
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    r u sure ur not in auto?
     
  5. Rieuk

    Rieuk Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2018
    103
    53
    0
    Location:
    Pasadena
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    100% sure.
     
    bisco likes this.
  6. Pdog808

    Pdog808 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2017
    411
    271
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    Yeah, I really think Toyota messed up the programming on the climate "Auto" setting. It drives me crazy when I try to change the heater zone from "floor" to "face and floor" and it immediately takes the system out of Auto.

    I mean did anyone actually beta-test these settings before putting it into production?
     
    Toyo_Tom likes this.
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,767
    16,014
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    To be in full manual mode, you need to adjust both the MODE and FAN settings.

    So after you adjust to foot, adjust the fan speed too.
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,767
    16,014
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Research has found that people tend to feel warmer than they are if their feet are warm.

    By product, warm air rises so heating the floor first, slowly warms up the cabin. If you blow directly above, then you’ll have striation of air temperature with you being warm at the face and upper body but cold or cool at the legs.

    I find it doesn’t switch to foot/head until the temperature difference between the inside and outside is smaller.

    That makes sense to me. You adjusted something manually so the computer is no longer fully automatic (however the other things that you didn’t touch will be automatic).
     
    jerrymildred and Raytheeagle like this.
  9. Rieuk

    Rieuk Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2018
    103
    53
    0
    Location:
    Pasadena
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    No, it doesn't make sense actually. It makes sense to automatically control the outlet temperature while retaining manual control of the air flow direction and speed. This is how it has been and is done in most cars. Why is it all or nothing?

    Yes, I take off 'auto' first. Then I put it to foot and I adjust the fan speed to maximum. And still I get very little airflow down there. If I adjust the temperature setting I can hear the fan speed changing also. This is all the while the thing is set to completely manual.
     
    Pdog808 likes this.
  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    10,958
    8,836
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Humm, I have to try that. I use manual settings, but I have never put fan speed high while air direction to foot.
     
  11. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    10,958
    8,836
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Well, I checked it while driving my PRIME during morning commute. The ambient temp was around 20F. The climate settings were AUTO OFF, A/C OFF, Temp set 70F, ECO Mode, Driver priority S-flow, manually selecting the air flow direction and fan speed. If I put the air direction to the floor and push the fan speed to max, I can definitely hear the blower fan is louder and feel max amount of air is coming out of the lower vent. If I lower the fan speed, correspondingly the sound and air flow are lower. I confirmed the same thing in all four air directions.

    Conclusion, during manual control of the climate control I can change air flow direction and fan speed from minimal to max. Nothing is controlled automatically except set temperature. I am not observing other things that I did not touch to be in automatic as @Tideland Prius commented. As soon as I am out of AUTO mode, everything is manually controlled, initially set at the last setting they were on. And, when I am in manual mode, I do have a full control of fan speed even in air flow direction to floor, unlike @Rieuk is experiencing on his car.
     
    #11 Salamander_King, Feb 12, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2020
    P.Neophyte and Tideland Prius like this.
  12. Toyo_Tom

    Toyo_Tom Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2019
    13
    6
    0
    Location:
    Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    This does make sense, so it is nice to know the reasoning behind the choice. However, in very cold weather, it is simply not enough, particularly when it comes to gripping the steering wheel (I don't have the heated wheel option). I still find myself turning on the panel air, at least for a little while.
    This also makes sense, but I wonder if this could be avoided by only doing this as I described above: only in very cold temperatures, and only for a little while. They seem to be very adept at detecting and using environmental information.
    I have found this to be true as well, and by that time this issue is basically moot. Thank you for your explanation of the reasoning.