[Engineer]

Not an owner, but in the market. Had a weird experience and was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or insight into this problem.

We test drove 2019 LX and EX CRVs today and liked them, but one surprising disappointment was the automatic climate control. The climate control had a range from ~58-80F as well as Lo and Hi options. The problem was that the AC essentially refused to do anything when set to a temperature between ~58-68F; the AC was barely noticeable at these settings. When set at Lo, the AC blew cold and strong so it had the capability to do so, but when moved to 58F, 59F, 60F, 61F, etc. it was essentially off. When set to around 70F the AC would kick up and blow cool and then warm if set to higher temps. It was 40F outside and approximately 75F inside.

We tried all sorts of combinations of settings but the problem persisted in both the LX and the EX models. The salesman spent 10-15 minutes with us trying to get it to work but seemed to have no idea about what was going on. We tried a variety of troubleshoots, for example in the EX, when setting the driver side to 65F and the passenger side to 75F, the AC would actively start working on the passenger side but not on the driver's side and then when syncing up the AC at 65F it would turn off again.

What's going on here? Is there some sort of button combination I am missing? Am I just supposed to set the climate control to Lo and/or adjust fan speed when I want to maintain a cool temperature?

 

[jim256]

I'm not seeing what you describe, 19 CR-V Touring. Was it cold outside? 40 or below? If so, the compressor may not operate, as in most cars. Also was it in Auto (green light)? If the Climate Button (hard button, not touch screen) was pressed, was the A/C showing "On" or that neither On or Off was highlighted? If so the compressor was not disabled. If the fan speed button was pressed while in Auto, the fan would stay at the speed indicated until Auto was pressed again. Same with other manual settings. We had some warmer sunny weather recently and the A/C performed as expected set to 66, fan speed went up then down, no issues and it operates just as other cars have done. I was actually testing the A/C function since the car was brand new.

 

[Tigris99]

Not an owner, but in the market. Had a weird experience and was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or insight into this problem.

We test drove 2019 LX and EX CRVs today and liked them, but one surprising disappointment was the automatic climate control. The climate control had a range from ~58-80F as well as Lo and Hi options. The problem was that the AC essentially refused to do anything when set to a temperature between ~58-68F; the AC was barely noticeable at these settings. When set at Lo, the AC blew cold and strong so it had the capability to do so, but when moved to 58F, 59F, 60F, 61F, etc. it was essentially off. When set to around 70F the AC would kick up and blow cool and then warm if set to higher temps. It was 40F outside and approximately 75F inside.

We tried all sorts of combinations of settings but the problem persisted in both the LX and the EX models. The salesman spent 10-15 minutes with us trying to get it to work but seemed to have no idea about what was going on. We tried a variety of troubleshoots, for example in the EX, when setting the driver side to 65F and the passenger side to 75F, the AC would actively start working on the passenger side but not on the driver's side and then when syncing up the AC at 65F it would turn off again.

What's going on here? Is there some sort of button combination I am missing? Am I just supposed to set the climate control to Lo and/or adjust fan speed when I want to maintain a cool temperature?

It was 40 degrees out side, THAT was your problem. AC is not designed to work in those temperatures beyond helping defrost the windows. And obviously seeing how the climate control was reacting, it was NOT 75 inside. Some parts that were sitting in the sun may have hit that temp but the interior was not that warm overall.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Engineer]

I'm not seeing what you describe, 19 CR-V Touring. Was it cold outside? 40 or below? If so, the compressor may not operate, as in most cars. Also was it in Auto (green light)? If the Climate Button (hard button, not touch screen) was pressed, was the A/C showing "On" or that neither On or Off was highlighted? If so the compressor was not disabled. If the fan speed button was pressed while in Auto, the fan would stay at the speed indicated until Auto was pressed again. Same with other manual settings. We had some warmer sunny weather recently and the A/C performed as expected set to 66, fan speed went up then down, no issues and it operates just as other cars have done. I was actually testing the A/C function since the car was brand new.

Approximately 40F outside, maybe as low as 38F. Mid-atlantic, car is for daughter who lives in northeast so it was pretty concerning, the Tahoe we drove to the dealership runs the compressor no matter the outside temperature.

We ran through a bunch of different settings so I'm not sure on the specifics but I think when Auto was selected, it would force AC to not be shown as on. Likewise if AC was showing as on it would force Auto to be off. I can't remember if neither on nor off was shown or if it was off, but I don't think it was on if auto was selected. Not sure on that, though. Auto wouldn't modulate fan speeds but when doing that manually the air wasn't chilled.

One thing I do not remember trying was adjusting air direction. I'm actually not sure if any of the directions were pressed so maybe that could be a possible reason. I was observing the front dashboard vents and the rear console vents. Does the AC not run if no direction is selected - will it even let you select no direction while still allowing Auto to be on? Would be curious if anyone could try in similar circumstances to 40F outdoors and 65F climate setting.

 

[Engineer]

It was 40 degrees out side, THAT was your problem. AC is not designed to work in those temperatures beyond helping defrost the windows. And obviously seeing how the climate control was reacting, it was NOT 75 inside. Some parts that were sitting in the sun may have hit that temp but the interior was not that warm overall.

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That just seems odd to me, I live in mid-atlantic and its <40F 4-5 months out of the year and my other vehicles with auto climate, a Tahoe and two Bimmers are set to 65F year round and never have problems running the AC. My other vehicles have not had auto climate so maybe I am used to either no auto climate or premium auto climate and this is just how auto climate is in an average car.

As a clarification, the finagling with the AC was done back at the dealership after a 20 minute test drive with auto climate set in the high 70s. We were too warm in the vehicle. AC would run and blow cold at settings ~68-72F, would blow but not noticeably cool at ~75F, and would blow warm around ~78F. So that's my roundabout way of believing the vehicle was around 75F on the inside after doors were being opened and it cooled down a bit from the high 70s settings it was set at on the test drive.

 

[rudyrov]

I think that AC is designed to cool as a function of differential temperature, that is an AC system will cool between 15 and 20 degrees lower that the intake air. If thee air outside is 100 degrees F* then the air inside would be about 80 D.F* in a best case scenario.

 

[Tbvabch]

I have a new 2020 CR-V and have the same problem. The only way I’ve found to get the car fan to increase speed is to put the temp all the way down on low. I had a 2015 Pilot and never had this problem. If the vehicle got warm at 70 degrees you turned the temp down to 67-68 and it would immediately cool the vehicle down if you were cold you turned the temp up and it warmed the vehicle just like any thermostat and system should work. To make all these excuses that the AC wont operate below 40 is absurd. Climate Control worked just fine in The pilot at any temp. It tells me the on board computer software that controls climate control is improperly functioning and needs to be reprogrammed but getting Honda to do that would be impossible.

 

[SnakeCharmer]

The climate control system on these modern Hondas is different, no doubt. I have a feeling that outside temps play a part in how the system functions, as though the system is taking the outside temp reading into account. My system will not adjust temps if the vehicle is at a standstill. It barely even blows air. But once I get moving, it starts to do it's job and at that point, it does it's job rather well. So, I wonder if there just isn't any climate control while the car is stopped or in Park? That could certainly be an issue for anyone living in a climate with extremes. Luckily, that's not an issue in my region.

 

[Tbvabch]

The climate control system on these modern Hondas is different, no doubt. I have a feeling that outside temps play a part in how the system functions, as though the system is taking the outside temp reading into account. My system will not adjust temps if the vehicle is at a standstill. It barely even blows air. But once I get moving, it starts to do it's job and at that point, it does it's job rather well. So, I wonder if there just isn't any climate control while the car is stopped or in Park? That could certainly be an issue for anyone living in a climate with extremes. Luckily, that's not an issue in my region.

That is a possibility but according to the manual this only happens when the vehicle is in ECONOMY mode. If this was the case then even turning the temp control down when climate control is on to low should not speed the fan up. The fan speed should increase the further you turn the the temperature control up or down the further you get from the inside vehicle temp.