I recently discovered one of the most annoying switches in the entire history of the auto industry.It’s on my central control stack, and its presence pisses me off to the point where I want to murder everyone involved in the creation of my vehicle, smashing their bodies and turning their bones into illegible car buttons.
But before I fly to Germany for a killing spree, allow me to explain the conversion in question — and my problem.Once I do, I’m sure you’ll all agree that my murderous spree legally qualifies as justifiable homicide.
First, I should note that the switches that make me angry are mostly limited to BMW products.In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing it in a non-BMW product, presumably because other automakers have at least some wisdom.”We could make a transmission as long as a butterfly metamorphosis,” the Chrysler engineer said. “But at least we don’t have that stupid switch.”
Well, here’s the deal: In my car, I have dual-zone automatic climate control.This is a signature feature of many premium and would-be premium vehicles.You set one side to 74.Set the other side to 69.Press “Auto”.Then the air blows out at the perfect temperature to create a 74 degree experience on one side and a 69 degree experience on the other and everyone is happy and you can go back and fight over the ordinary rich stuff if you see the minority Members move through your community, what should you do.
When you have switches, what happens is, you set one side to whatever temperature you want and the other side to the other temperature you want, and everything seems to be fine.But it turns out that this has no effect on the actual temperature.In order to affect the actual air temperature, you must change the switch to blue or red, depending on the type of air you want to be released from the vents, even if you have set the temperature.
Now, here’s why this pisses me off: Because it defeats the whole purpose of automatic climate control.When I first set up my climate control, I was telling the system what temperature I wanted.So why is the entire climate control system at the mercy of some omniscient switch that decides whether to blow hot or cold air?NEWSLETTER, CLIMATE CONTROL: If I choose “84″ for the climate control temp and it’s 2 degrees outside, I’ll want HOT AIR, regardless of whether the damn switch is on blue or red.
To further explain why it annoys me, allow me to provide you with a real-world example of my frustration.Let’s say it’s the middle of winter and somehow the switch has unexpectedly turned “blue” which means cold.Here’s what happened: even though I set the temperature to 75 degrees and it was automatic, the air blown out was not warm.The air coming out was cold because it was some random orientation of the STUPID SWITCH and it completely overrode every setting in my climate control system.
I should also take this opportunity to mention that the switch didn’t come on, which means I don’t know how much temp it will be at night.
Now, if that doesn’t sound so bad, allow me to give you a different example that I think will further illustrate the point.
Let’s say you live in a really nice mansion with a really nice bathroom and these really nice towels and you have a really nice tub where you can set the exact water temperature.you want 84?Press 84.you want 83?Press 83, the water is just a hair cooler, satisfying your delicate feeling.Well, guess what?If this tub was made by BMW and you set it to 83, the damn water would flow out of the ICE FREAKIN COLD unless you also moved some random dials located elsewhere on the tub control panel.
What makes me so pissed is that the climate control system in this car is clearly designed for sophisticated, sophisticated rich people, except for this switch.You can change it from 69 to 70 if you think it’s too cold.You can turn on the air, send it to your feet, turn it up, send it to the windshield, turn it down, blast it, lower it, whatever.There are 10 different climate control buttons and four air vents.However, the entire complex system is subject to this random 1970s temperature switch.
Interestingly, the point of this column is not to complain about my climate control switch.This might surprise you, considering I did exactly that in the last 850 words, but I actually have a different purpose: my purpose today is to find out if anyone at TTAC has any weird ideas , why would they include this switch in the vehicle considering they already have other buttons to control the temperature.I haven’t been able to figure it out, I’m hoping for an explanation, gosh, I think you guys might get it.
But while I’d love to hear the switch explained, don’t try to justify it.Because then you will be the target of my brutality.
Doug, generally enjoy your work, either here or on other sites.Hummers and Skylines are especially interesting.
But lately, your articles have been read like this: “I really really really really really [insert some other non-sentences] need to make the word count important.”
It’s best to go mad at the stupid combo red turn signal.This topic is totally worth it.However, this only affects people who buy certain BMWs.
“This, however, only affects people who buy certain BMWs”, except the picture above is not a BMW.
Except the Range Rover of that era (the LR322 model, built in ’02-12 and given facelifts along the way) is actually very BMW-like because they designed and developed the Rover when they owned it (’94-’06).It shares most of the electronics and HVAC with the 5-Series from that era.Although by the time Doug’s was built, they were sold out to Ford, who transferred most of the electronics in the later LR322 to this generation to share with the Jaguar and developed the next generation (aluminum) that also had the Jaguar engine.Even my ’01 Range Rover had some BMW influence in the Bosch Motronic engine management system, although still using the old (ex-Buick) Rover V8 engine instead of the BMW engine.The diesels of my generation are equipped with BMW diesels.
That’s why this photo and Doug’s rant baffles me – it’s kind of like a BMW, but not like any sedan.I think it might be some version of X5 or something.I totally forgot he owned a Rover.I made fun of him on Jalopnik because the boy asked the dealer to replace the bulb for him and then complained about the cost even though he had a super duper CarMax warranty to pay for it.
I also don’t know what this switch is actually used for – I’m always confused by it on my E39.
Thanks!Q: Where do you put the switch?Have you used it?I generally just put it in the middle, but sometimes I look down and see it’s somehow all red or all blue and I’m going to want to kill.
I also agree it’s the dumbest climate control solution ever.Especially when your wife likes the cold and you like the heat, you tend to change who drives during the week.It took me about a month to own this car before I fully understood the importance of this switch.I did notice that newer models now have two of these switches, exactly to fix that, but I haven’t driven one to test it.
My BMW has a roller switch in there, which is great because it lets you adjust the relative temperature of your feet and your face.In winter, I want warm air on my always cold feet, but I want cooler air on my face.There’s nothing I hate more than a car that can’t do that.My old Saab and VW did it too, although it was either heated or just outside air, not continuously variable like the BMW.Or just cool the air in the summer.On my car, if you leave the rollers in the middle, the upper vent will be exactly the same temperature as the lower vent.
I can see how this particular setup could be annoying if it can’t actually go over the limit.But I also think it’s like a Saab/VW setup – you either get hot air or fresh air, better than nothing.I think setting it to hot just gets you whatever the other vents get.
It’s a Range Rover, but the switch is on a ton of modern BMWs, so it doesn’t really matter what specific vehicle it is.
Well, I don’t do a BMW-era Range Rover – too much for me.Unfortunately, my old P38 could only adjust the temperature left and right.Then again, the heater is kind of bad anyway.:-)
But, based on the rest of my comments, does it make sense now?I don’t understand why this confuses so many people, but it’s a very common question on BMW forums.Whether it’s off/on or continuously variable, you don’t know that.
Wow.I used to own an e90 but never thought about it.It might actually solve the climate control problem for me.I usually don’t like the fact that I can’t control the ventilation temperature directly and prefer manual control.
“My BMW has a roller switch there, which is great because it lets you adjust the relative temperature of your feet and your face”
I’ve always had this scroll wheel switch on my bmw too.I love it and find it very useful too.
Well, our humble Dodgers do it, they’ve done it for years.In the 70′s and 80′s, although it wasn’t adjustable, if you set the airflow to vent and floor, the floor air would heat proportionally, leaving cool air for your upper body in the sun and cool air for your feet warm air.Read it in the owner’s manual for Dad’s 1978 Dodge Maxi-Van.
Doug, you misunderstood the switch.This is my favorite BMW feature.It allows you to do some great things because when it’s blue it brings in fresh outside air through the vents.even in winter.Set the heat and mode for your feet, and to keep them warm, as the heat rises, it chokes on your face…not a switch.Ah…cool the outside air on top of your breath and heat the air below.It only affects the dash vents.If it’s red and you have heating mode on the floor…it does nothing.
Oh, that’s what it does?Astonishing.A friend had this feeling in his ’89 Acura saga, and I thought it was great.I don’t know it’s still in other cars.
what!Yes, I had it in the ’88 saga and love it.Never saw it again until I got my E90 BMW.I’ll be changing my car soon and that’s the thing I miss the most.
What are you waiting for?If I set the heating mode to my feet and then switch the dial to blue… does it send in cool air?Even with the heat on?
Even if that’s what the switch is for – I would ask why it’s horizontal and not vertical and why it’s a switch with a different setting and not just a button that says “outdoor air” or something – then how does it work when Would you explain it when I set the watch face to “auto”?Like what I do 99% of the time in a car with automatic climate control?So what exactly should I do?!All I want is the automatic temperature I choose Damn
I think you’re getting clicks a bit deliberately at this point (obviously it’s working).If you just want to set the temperature, just put it in the middle.The whole reason to spend money on a better car is these sweet little details.
This is nothing new – as I mentioned, many European cars had this capability since at least the ’70s.Hot air blows to your feet and cold air to your face, keeping you awake and warm at the same time.
As for why the door unlock button in the center console?Also totally logical.Any passenger can get to it, you just need a button, and in the days before bus-based electronics, there were fewer wires running through the door hinges.I’ve never understood why you wouldn’t want a window switch in the console also – totally logical in my opinion.The less trash on the door panels, the better.My old Land Rover also had better mirror switches on the center console, and the lock button on the front door doubles as a lock/unlock for all doors.Why do you need a separate switch?Same as modern BMW turn signal levers – no mechanical cancellation to break, you can cancel in either direction and the lever is always in the correct position.
I don’t mean to be cheeky – I really believe this feature is useless on a vehicle with automatic climate control.The purpose of automatic climate control is to automatically adjust the temperature.right?
My point is – why do I have to leave it anywhere?I want to set the temperature because I already registered the set temperature when I set the damn temperature!!!!!!!!!!
However, I now see what this switch is for – it controls the temperature of the vents individually, so you can have hotter air coming out of the other vents and cooler air coming out of the top vent.I personally don’t see the purpose of this, but I understand why some would if you have manual climate control.But automatically… uh…
Obviously, you like air that is the same temperature on your face and feet.Many of us don’t, hence the purpose of this switch.It’s still automatic, with the system regulating the temperature of the two sets of vents.It just allows you to change the balance between them.Wouldn’t you be happier if they put in a third digital display so you could choose a number for the ventilation temperature?Does this make you feel like it’s more “automatic”?This is essentially a 3 zone automatic HVAC system.
Likewise, fan speed control is automatic, but it allows you to change the relative speed of the fans.
BTW – on the Rover is it actually not lit or the bulb is burnt out?I’ve never seen this kind of non-lighting on any other BMW product I can remember.You might be able to have CarMax pay to fix it!
As krhodes1 explained, not all of us live in Cali, where temperatures are moderate to warm all year round.
In Ottawa, Canada, where outdoor temperatures can be -25C or colder in winter, once the engine is warmed up, the automatic climate control system pumps out superheated air, bringing it to +20C in the cabin.It’s not always pleasant to spray this hot air at you, so this great rotary control allows you to mix the cooler outside air into a mix that’s just for the dash vents…so instead of starting from With 35C air coming out of the windshield defrost vents and floor vents, I can get a pleasant 20C out of the dash vents.
I think your point is that this can’t be adjusted to a specific temperature, it’s set to the comfort of the driver.But have we really become that lazy?IMHO, people who don’t want to be confused about this can leave it in the middle; those of us can customize our heating (or cooling) experience.
Almost forgot – why is it mutable?Because here in the kingdom of God sometimes the outside temperature is -10F and the outside air is too cold.I prefer cooler air on my face than a frostbitten nose.
Works great in summer too – sometimes I want to warm up the cold air on my feet and not get my hands frostbitten on the steering wheel.
Post time: Apr-14-2022
