Why the heck did Honda make the fan switch like that???

[jerrydelrey]

I've own many Hondas and all of them had very good climate controls. I had a CRV, S2000, and NSX. All of them had a fan speed control that goes up and down.

Why the heck did they put one switch to control the fan speed. What's so freaking hard with putting a knob, or toggle to control the speed!!!

I don't know about you guys, but it really pisses me off everytime i push it to cycle up, and it's already up and it goes low. then i have to look down at it to make sure it's back at max.

I just had to blow off some steam. It rally irritates me.

[boogetyboogety]

Yes, it is a minor irritant, and I'm sincerely glad you have a good, comfortable life, that something of this magnitude is one of your biggest worries...

On the Odyssey, sometimes my verbal command "Climate control, Fan speed five" tunes my radio to the XM '50s Oldies station. Other than that, it performs flawlessly. Knobs, slides, voice activation, push-buttons... I'm sure Honda used one of the many fan control options available to it on the Insight without malice towards us. I much prefer an unstepped rheostat to an indexed knob, but that's hard to find in vehicle fans...

[MN Driver]

I've considered rewiring mine to have a switch to keep the A/C from turning on when I want the vent to go to the windshield only but there is no option, it kicks the A/C on no matter what when much of the time I only need a little airflow to prevent the fog.

I'm also bugged by the temperature knob and fan speeds. I'd rather control the mix myself. When using air conditioning in a car, I'd like it to control its fan speed based on temperature but not add HEAT to my cooled air. Ideally the most efficient setup would be if it cycled fresh air with A/C on to get good fresh air in that is cooled and then recirculate and shut off the compressor until the temperature drops down a little and then reengage with fresh air again. Instead you get heat added to air conditioned air in an inefficient way. I rarely use my A/C, in fact I only used it for one road trip since I got the car. If I ever for some reason get another Insight I'll get it without the air conditioning because it actually has up and down fan speed buttons and a temperature knob that actually controls the mix actuator.

...rant end. boogetyboogety, yes good comfortable life. Sometimes minor things feel like bigger things when they seem to be engineered in a way that is annoying and you know you'll be dealing with it for the next 10 years of car ownership.

[jerrydelrey]

Hah yeah, i use the fan speed to control the temperature, and that's why it irritates me. Using the temp control is inefficient.

Yeah, It's a comfy life in hawaii. It won't be sunny this week, and we had storm warnings, it's still 70-80. I kinda wish it would just rain hard right now. It's been a long time since there was a good down pour.

[aisbell]

Originally Posted by MN Driver

I've considered rewiring mine to have a switch to keep the A/C from turning on when I want the vent to go to the windshield only but there is no option, it kicks the A/C on no matter what when much of the time I only need a little airflow to prevent the fog.

I believe that there are two modes that blow air on the windshield. The defog/defrost button that directs air to the windshield will turn on the A/C which is necessary in very humid conditions.

One mode switch option will direct air to the windshield as well as from the dashboard vents, if I recall correctly. In this mode, you can turn off the A/C manually. I used this mode extensively while on a highway trip through Norway this summer. It worked well unless the air was so humid that it needed drying to defog the windshield. Then I would just press the A/C On button for a few seconds to dry the air and then turn it back off.

I consider the Insight climate control user interface to be pretty awful.

[jerrydelrey]

I was reading my post, and I have to add.

All the cars i recall at this moment have/had a fan speed control that goes up and down.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Art is correct -- though the mode is for windshield and floor vent. That's the mode I use all the time when I want to defrost the windshield and never have to worry about the AC.

[RobertSmalls]

I'm confused. My car was never equipped with A/C, and I have one button to raise the fan speed, and another to lower it. What do you guys have?

I guess I'd prefer a knob over buttons. But aside from the fact that you can't change which vents are open without first turning the fan on, it's just fine with me. Even the fact that the climate control can inhibit auto stop doesn't bother me, since I never auto stop.

For those of you without FAS, you should be able to hack the ECU-to-climate-control signal so the climate control panel never inhibits auto stop.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Robert, perhaps you do not have an Econ button? There is a single fan speed button on the AC equipped models -- it acts like your raise fan speed button but wraps around to the bottom the next button press after reaching full fan speed.

[02insight]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I'm confused. My car was never equipped with A/C, and I have one button to raise the fan speed, and another to lower it. What do you guys have?

Cars with A/C have the control panel below, and without A/C have the one above.

How do you turn off the fan completely since without A/C doesnt have a fan off button. Does pressing the down button a couple of times turn it off all the way?