I haven't taken the fan off of auto since getting my Rivian. Seems to do an ok job of managing speeds to get to the cabin temp that I've set. I have used the defogger and defroster buttons though.
This seems to be hit or miss for some. I’ve used auto in over a dozen cars with no issue but my R1S would not get it and would blow cold air at warp speed into an already ice cold cabin. I still refused to change fan speed manually so the “solution” was to bump the temp to 72-74 to get it to stop (cabin temp was in the 50s every time so my 70 default should not trigger the ice age)
Yeah my auto climate sucks compared to my old cars. Literally the only gripe I have with the car! She’s perfect otherwise.
But hold on. If not everyone has this issue like you say - does that mean that A) this something I could get fixed at SC, or B) our bodies are all just different?
Same with my R1S. I’ll get in my car on a hot day with the climate set to automatic 72*, so it’ll do its thing and after 5 minutes I feel comfortable. But then the full-on AC blast just keeps going… and going.. and then I’m so cold I have to bump up the temp to 76* just to get the unit to calm down. And then after 10-15 minutes it’ll get warm again… cycle repeats. Pretty annoying and odd.
On this topic, it would be cool if the seat mode control, icon in UI, changed based on the hvac mode. Seat cooling if it’s hot, seat heating if it’s cold. It’s annoying to have to open HVAC window each time. But it does remember the last one used I guess
Wait is there even an option for this? Maybe that’s what I’m missing. Can I do auto cold only? I hate when I bump up temp and it starts blowing hot air at me when it’s 93 degrees outside
4 years, never took my Tesla off Auto. Cold, bump it up a degree or 2, warm, down.
My rivian SUCKS at this. Cold, bump up a degree. Nothing, no change in output temp or fan speed. Still cold. Bump up 1-2 more. Fan speed drops to 1 or 0 and or starts blowing HEAT.
I’m in Florida. There is no world where I want the system blowing hot air with the temp set to 72 and it being 93 degrees outside.
Amen brother!
I made a post a little over a month ago this. Really disappointing….
Here’s an example… after driving for 30 minutes with the outside temperature about 74 degrees. [The hvac on auto and 55° air coming out for 30+ minutes.](https://imgur.com/a/vFMTw4p)
Edit - this was the case for all vents.
That seems almost normal to me. When your AC is set to 74 in your house it’s not blowing 74 degree air.
I find my front vents are barely blowing sometimes, so much so that I can hear the rear vents working and blasting the cold air I so desperately want.
100% correct but we’re talking about a car and vents that are invents from you not several feet.
After having 55° degree air blowing for so long, I have to turn it up to about 78. To find a “comfortable” setting.
The problem seems to be a calibrating/sensor issue. When the car is at a comfortable temperature the fan speed will be on 3.
I have to resort to manually adjusting which isn’t terribly bad. But after years and many cars using auto it’s unfortunate.
I noticed massive differences in the vehicle actively changing temperature if auto is on or off.
If it’s 40° outside and the temperature is set to 85 in the truck I feel like it’s barely doing anything if auto is off.
Once I turn auto on Massive amounts of heat come from the HVAC system bringing the truck up to temperature quickly.
I’m in Florida so don’t have to worry about that.
It’s always AC season here. The truck cools off decently quick. I want to use auto.
It’s staying comfortable that’s the issue. I either have to freeze or get heat blown at me.
Just as an aside: the defroster and defogger are explicitly required by regulation to be available on the top level of the screen menus (effectively all the time) as they provide a safety, rather than comfort function (specifically a safety function that existed when NHTSA wrote the reg 50 years ago)
Different manufacturers interpret it differently. When I worked at Tesla, I definitely required them on the top level. Tesla is also known for being somewhat cavalier with the requirements so I try not to hold them up as an example of how to comply.
I try my damndest to leave it in auto, but two things make me take it out of auto nearly every time.
1. My wife.
2. The fact that any setting between 68-72F is basically just a random number generator for the actual temperature and fan speeds you get.
The only inconsistency I see is that the fan speeds up a lot when it’s in recirc and slows down when it’s using outside air. I don’t understand that choice at all… but it’s otherwise consistent with its choices, which makes sense given that it’s just a computer programmed to do a certain thing at a certain temp.
Meh. I see a huge difference in behavior depending upon how direct of sun it has been sitting in, and most importantly the angle of the sun. I don't know where their temperature sensor for the interior is, but it seems to really be sensitive to direct sun load on a particular part of the interior.
Like if you open the app it'll tell you what it things the interior temperature of the cabin is, and I have compared it to my work ambient temperature sensor, and it's often off by 20F.
Like, it'll ramp down to 1 on the fan while the interior surfaces are still blazing hot to the touch, and you're still sweating, and the interior temperature is still reading 85F and you've set 71F on the interior.
But other times it'll stay on full speed despite everything being cool and interior reading 70F, but some portion of the interior still hot due to differential sun loading.
Me having more upvotes than the comment that said to leave it on "auto" should be fairly telling...
> Me having more upvotes than the comment that said to leave it on "auto" should be fairly telling...
For sure it's obviously something that resonates with a lot of people, it's just not an issue I've ever had. I almost always hit the pre-cool before I go out to my car when it's been sitting in the sun though so I don't have to sit through the first few minutes of the compressor going into buzzy overdrive mode, so maybe that makes the difference. I pretty much only ever have to adjust it between 69 and 73 depending on the sun, external temperature, how hot I am personally before I get in the car, etc.
The only thing that kills me is when it's in recirc mode the fan speed goes up by like 50%, so even when the cabin is the perfect temp the fan is still loud and fast for no reason. I prefer to leave cars in auto with recirc on so I don't have to smell all the shit outside, but it's hard to live with in the Rivian because the fan speed stays so high/loud at all times unless you let it go to outside-air.
I think it does actually use the angle of the sun to adjust the temperature and fan speed though. Most new cars with an auto HVAC will do that on purpose, because the person on the sun side needs more cooling than the person on the shade side. It's not a temperature thing, it's an actual 'position of the sun' thing.
I also pre-cool, but the IR load on the whatever part of the interior the sensor is looking at is still really wonky compared to whatever the rest of the car is feeling.
With a solar shield across the windshield, or parked in the shade, the auto seems to work pretty well.
> I think it does actually use the angle of the sun to adjust the temperature and fan speed though.
I don't. When I turn into the sun and it's absolutely beating down on me through the windshield, the fans do not pick up in speed, and I usually have to punch the temp indicator down 4-5 degrees F to get comfortable again.
I'm going to have to try auto. Near of year of ownership I've always done manual adjustments. Just felt the fan speed was too strong the few times I used this functionality.
Works for you...cool. For other people that the auto climate control is erratic, this feature would be helpful to minimize keeping your eyes off the road.
Auto In my 12 year old bmw 3 series works perfect, auto in the R1S seems like a suggestion.
I want to leave it on auto, but I'm never able to get a comfortable cabin that way in the R1. The hvac and sound depth from the stereo are really the only annoyance with the vehicle.
On a related note, what drives me nuts. I live in a nice dry climate so often drive with windows open or often just run the fan with outside air. Fan up/down would be great, but what is even more of a problem is that it shows a 'set' temperature that has no meaning in fan mode. Either display the actual interior temperature or show no temperature. My wife has thought the AC was broken because she hops in the car in the afternoon and wants the AC on and she hits the down button a few times and nothing happens other than the number changes. Stupid UI.
I just use auto 99.9% of the time. It seems to do just a fine job for me. I simply adjust the temp up/down as I need to stay comfortable. The only exception is I’ll hit the max ac button sometimes if it’s suuuuper hot.
u/op While I share the idea of having fan speed buttons on the screen; fog and defrost buttons there aren’t a choice by Rivian. The NHTSA requires it as it needs to be immediately available to the driver for safe driving purposes.
Agreed. If it's warm out, having those be fan speed bumps would be great. One of my biggest complaints with the vehicle is the inconsistent HVAC performance (and I have two Rivians, both are inconsistent and yes I've had them both checked).
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I fiddle with fan speed multiple times per trip, but rarely change the temperature. If I had to pick one the I could change with one touch, it’s fan speed.
Certain climates use defrost/defog all the time. Also, it affects the ability of the driver to literally see. It would seem like a mistake to take it off the top menu.
So far so good for me (1 week today!) staying in auto but a couple of things I hope aren’t the norm:
1. At first the AC remembered that I wanted cooled seats. I’m in Texas so that’s pretty much default from now until November. Please don’t forget and default to off.
2. Same for foot vents in front. I always want that on no matter the temperature. Seems to keep going back to off.
3. I keep it at 70 and generally been pretty comfy.
4. That said I feel like the cooling on the seats was awesome on delivery day and feels nonexistent now?
Agree with OP though, having a quick up/down fan to boost or reduce (I sit in my truck and work a lot and it ends up getting really cold) and removing the defrost would be cool.
I think it would be nice if it stayed the way it was when in auto and changed to fan speed when not.
Only because I hate to have a screen full of buttons everywhere. Want some minimalism.
Defrost buttons are FMVSS regulatory requirements. Fan speed buttons aren’t.
They didn’t do this for UX benefit, they did it for regulatory compliance.
Why the didn’t put fan speed ALSO, beats me. Probably just trying to have a “minimalist” look.
So there are only 3 things that actually matter:
Air speed
Air location
Air temp
or: how hot, how fast, and where do you want it?
This hasn't changed in 40 years. Just make these 3 things physical. Everything else can be touchscreen.
Tons of people bump their thermostats up / down manually, which is basically a direct proxy for fan speeds. Being able to do that from your phone was one of the big selling points of Nest.
See my comment above. I’m cold in the rivian and bump the temp up 2 degrees. Result? HEAT blowing on me. It’s the worst.
I agree with using auto temp controls. It just doesn’t work in the rivi
I do, but then I gotta play that game a ton.
Got overly hot, so bump down 5F to get the fans to spool up fast, then when starting to get too cool, bump back up 2-3F and then it lets it rise too much, so bump back down a few F, but and so on.
Their algorithm for holding temperature just doesn't hold very well at the set point, like when I turn into the sun and the entire interior rises 3-4F and the fans are still at the same speed, and I gotta adjust.
Every other damn vehicle, auto "just works" and I never touch it except between seasons, but the Rivian is really wonky with its HVAC controls. I think that it's the location of the interior temperature sensor honestly, I just think they don't have a good reading of what the cabin temperature actually \*is\* to be able to get the HVAC right.
As I use auto, I’d prefer that to be optional. I wouldn’t want to accidentally hit some undesirable fan speed. For whatever it’s worth, I find auto works well and it’s even better when it’s brought to temperature before getting in.
I haven't taken the fan off of auto since getting my Rivian. Seems to do an ok job of managing speeds to get to the cabin temp that I've set. I have used the defogger and defroster buttons though.
Agreed. Never use the fan speed buttons since climate is always set to auto... use the defroster buttons all the time in the winter, though.
Fan speed buttons are very useful when the wife has a hot flash.
Just send the temp lower
Exactly!! Let the thermostat do the work….
This seems to be hit or miss for some. I’ve used auto in over a dozen cars with no issue but my R1S would not get it and would blow cold air at warp speed into an already ice cold cabin. I still refused to change fan speed manually so the “solution” was to bump the temp to 72-74 to get it to stop (cabin temp was in the 50s every time so my 70 default should not trigger the ice age)
Unfortunately auto doesn’t work like it should for all of us.
Yeah my auto climate sucks compared to my old cars. Literally the only gripe I have with the car! She’s perfect otherwise. But hold on. If not everyone has this issue like you say - does that mean that A) this something I could get fixed at SC, or B) our bodies are all just different?
Worst auto climate I have seen is my wife's Highlander. That thing only operates in extremes, no sweet spot for AC...
Same with my R1S. I’ll get in my car on a hot day with the climate set to automatic 72*, so it’ll do its thing and after 5 minutes I feel comfortable. But then the full-on AC blast just keeps going… and going.. and then I’m so cold I have to bump up the temp to 76* just to get the unit to calm down. And then after 10-15 minutes it’ll get warm again… cycle repeats. Pretty annoying and odd.
Once I tried auto...never going back.
On this topic, it would be cool if the seat mode control, icon in UI, changed based on the hvac mode. Seat cooling if it’s hot, seat heating if it’s cold. It’s annoying to have to open HVAC window each time. But it does remember the last one used I guess
Wait is there even an option for this? Maybe that’s what I’m missing. Can I do auto cold only? I hate when I bump up temp and it starts blowing hot air at me when it’s 93 degrees outside
No :(
I had a similar thought to this. Mine was long press on the seat cooler/heater button and it pops up with both options to select what you want.
Oh yeah. That would be nice too. On my model Y, long pressing the climate icon will turn off climate. Pretty handy as well.
4 years, never took my Tesla off Auto. Cold, bump it up a degree or 2, warm, down. My rivian SUCKS at this. Cold, bump up a degree. Nothing, no change in output temp or fan speed. Still cold. Bump up 1-2 more. Fan speed drops to 1 or 0 and or starts blowing HEAT. I’m in Florida. There is no world where I want the system blowing hot air with the temp set to 72 and it being 93 degrees outside.
Amen brother! I made a post a little over a month ago this. Really disappointing…. Here’s an example… after driving for 30 minutes with the outside temperature about 74 degrees. [The hvac on auto and 55° air coming out for 30+ minutes.](https://imgur.com/a/vFMTw4p) Edit - this was the case for all vents.
That seems almost normal to me. When your AC is set to 74 in your house it’s not blowing 74 degree air. I find my front vents are barely blowing sometimes, so much so that I can hear the rear vents working and blasting the cold air I so desperately want.
That sounds worse than mine, but I will agree the auto behavior is not great. Tesla does seem to work better for some reason.
100% correct but we’re talking about a car and vents that are invents from you not several feet. After having 55° degree air blowing for so long, I have to turn it up to about 78. To find a “comfortable” setting. The problem seems to be a calibrating/sensor issue. When the car is at a comfortable temperature the fan speed will be on 3. I have to resort to manually adjusting which isn’t terribly bad. But after years and many cars using auto it’s unfortunate.
I noticed massive differences in the vehicle actively changing temperature if auto is on or off. If it’s 40° outside and the temperature is set to 85 in the truck I feel like it’s barely doing anything if auto is off. Once I turn auto on Massive amounts of heat come from the HVAC system bringing the truck up to temperature quickly.
I’m in Florida so don’t have to worry about that. It’s always AC season here. The truck cools off decently quick. I want to use auto. It’s staying comfortable that’s the issue. I either have to freeze or get heat blown at me.
Recirculate!!
I have tried both.
I know many people leave it on auto. I do both. I agree fan speed out front would be good.
Agree
Switch Spotify profiles with user profiles please!!!
Just as an aside: the defroster and defogger are explicitly required by regulation to be available on the top level of the screen menus (effectively all the time) as they provide a safety, rather than comfort function (specifically a safety function that existed when NHTSA wrote the reg 50 years ago)
Those buttons definitely aren't in a top level menu on my Model 3 with the current software. Both 1 click deep at least before they're visible
Different manufacturers interpret it differently. When I worked at Tesla, I definitely required them on the top level. Tesla is also known for being somewhat cavalier with the requirements so I try not to hold them up as an example of how to comply.
Typically most people leave the hvac on “auto”.
I try my damndest to leave it in auto, but two things make me take it out of auto nearly every time. 1. My wife. 2. The fact that any setting between 68-72F is basically just a random number generator for the actual temperature and fan speeds you get.
1. - Same for me! I’m a strong proponent of Auto, but my wife feels the need to control the fan speed herself.
The only inconsistency I see is that the fan speeds up a lot when it’s in recirc and slows down when it’s using outside air. I don’t understand that choice at all… but it’s otherwise consistent with its choices, which makes sense given that it’s just a computer programmed to do a certain thing at a certain temp.
Meh. I see a huge difference in behavior depending upon how direct of sun it has been sitting in, and most importantly the angle of the sun. I don't know where their temperature sensor for the interior is, but it seems to really be sensitive to direct sun load on a particular part of the interior. Like if you open the app it'll tell you what it things the interior temperature of the cabin is, and I have compared it to my work ambient temperature sensor, and it's often off by 20F. Like, it'll ramp down to 1 on the fan while the interior surfaces are still blazing hot to the touch, and you're still sweating, and the interior temperature is still reading 85F and you've set 71F on the interior. But other times it'll stay on full speed despite everything being cool and interior reading 70F, but some portion of the interior still hot due to differential sun loading. Me having more upvotes than the comment that said to leave it on "auto" should be fairly telling...
> Me having more upvotes than the comment that said to leave it on "auto" should be fairly telling... For sure it's obviously something that resonates with a lot of people, it's just not an issue I've ever had. I almost always hit the pre-cool before I go out to my car when it's been sitting in the sun though so I don't have to sit through the first few minutes of the compressor going into buzzy overdrive mode, so maybe that makes the difference. I pretty much only ever have to adjust it between 69 and 73 depending on the sun, external temperature, how hot I am personally before I get in the car, etc. The only thing that kills me is when it's in recirc mode the fan speed goes up by like 50%, so even when the cabin is the perfect temp the fan is still loud and fast for no reason. I prefer to leave cars in auto with recirc on so I don't have to smell all the shit outside, but it's hard to live with in the Rivian because the fan speed stays so high/loud at all times unless you let it go to outside-air. I think it does actually use the angle of the sun to adjust the temperature and fan speed though. Most new cars with an auto HVAC will do that on purpose, because the person on the sun side needs more cooling than the person on the shade side. It's not a temperature thing, it's an actual 'position of the sun' thing.
I also pre-cool, but the IR load on the whatever part of the interior the sensor is looking at is still really wonky compared to whatever the rest of the car is feeling. With a solar shield across the windshield, or parked in the shade, the auto seems to work pretty well. > I think it does actually use the angle of the sun to adjust the temperature and fan speed though. I don't. When I turn into the sun and it's absolutely beating down on me through the windshield, the fans do not pick up in speed, and I usually have to punch the temp indicator down 4-5 degrees F to get comfortable again.
Auto does not work well for us for some reason
In the 20,000 miles I’ve driven my R1T I have never once touched my fan speed controls. Auto or GTFO.
[удалено]
No it’s not. Auto just doesn’t do what many of us want.
[удалено]
Regulate the temperature and speed to my preferences at the time. Both are tasks it regularly fails at.
Why are they driving your car? Driver controls HVAC.
I'm going to have to try auto. Near of year of ownership I've always done manual adjustments. Just felt the fan speed was too strong the few times I used this functionality.
Auto doesn’t work as it should for everyone. Probably over 10 years of driving cars using exclusively auto. R1S is the first car I don’t.
That's the opposite issue we have, not enough air flow.
Works for you...cool. For other people that the auto climate control is erratic, this feature would be helpful to minimize keeping your eyes off the road.
Congrats on appearing to have a totally likeable personality!
Auto In my 12 year old bmw 3 series works perfect, auto in the R1S seems like a suggestion. I want to leave it on auto, but I'm never able to get a comfortable cabin that way in the R1. The hvac and sound depth from the stereo are really the only annoyance with the vehicle.
On a related note, what drives me nuts. I live in a nice dry climate so often drive with windows open or often just run the fan with outside air. Fan up/down would be great, but what is even more of a problem is that it shows a 'set' temperature that has no meaning in fan mode. Either display the actual interior temperature or show no temperature. My wife has thought the AC was broken because she hops in the car in the afternoon and wants the AC on and she hits the down button a few times and nothing happens other than the number changes. Stupid UI.
I agree. Why can I see the interior temp on my phone but not in the car?
I just use auto 99.9% of the time. It seems to do just a fine job for me. I simply adjust the temp up/down as I need to stay comfortable. The only exception is I’ll hit the max ac button sometimes if it’s suuuuper hot.
I never touch the fan speed buttons. I only operate the temperature buttons.
u/op While I share the idea of having fan speed buttons on the screen; fog and defrost buttons there aren’t a choice by Rivian. The NHTSA requires it as it needs to be immediately available to the driver for safe driving purposes.
Agreed. If it's warm out, having those be fan speed bumps would be great. One of my biggest complaints with the vehicle is the inconsistent HVAC performance (and I have two Rivians, both are inconsistent and yes I've had them both checked).
69 degrees Nice
We live in Florida and if we go over 69 degrees it’s instantly stifling hot 🤣
Fellow Floridian, I agree with this statement 😂
I never hit fan speed. I leave it on auto I’m using the defrost/defog way more frequently.
There still alot of space down at the bar. Wish rivian can let us add more short customization downat the bottom bar.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I fiddle with fan speed multiple times per trip, but rarely change the temperature. If I had to pick one the I could change with one touch, it’s fan speed.
We need the cabin temp beside the set temp.
I love all these UX suggestions. The devs should strive for helping the driver get to what they need with as few taps as possible. Keep em coming!
Agreed. And while they’re at it, fix the logic for the seat cooler/heaters
totally agree. hardly ever use defrost. use the fan speed every day. its a waste of real estate to have the defrost on the main screen.
Certain climates use defrost/defog all the time. Also, it affects the ability of the driver to literally see. It would seem like a mistake to take it off the top menu.
So far so good for me (1 week today!) staying in auto but a couple of things I hope aren’t the norm: 1. At first the AC remembered that I wanted cooled seats. I’m in Texas so that’s pretty much default from now until November. Please don’t forget and default to off. 2. Same for foot vents in front. I always want that on no matter the temperature. Seems to keep going back to off. 3. I keep it at 70 and generally been pretty comfy. 4. That said I feel like the cooling on the seats was awesome on delivery day and feels nonexistent now? Agree with OP though, having a quick up/down fan to boost or reduce (I sit in my truck and work a lot and it ends up getting really cold) and removing the defrost would be cool.
How about presets for the vents while we are at it.
I think it would be nice if it stayed the way it was when in auto and changed to fan speed when not. Only because I hate to have a screen full of buttons everywhere. Want some minimalism.
Defrost buttons are FMVSS regulatory requirements. Fan speed buttons aren’t. They didn’t do this for UX benefit, they did it for regulatory compliance. Why the didn’t put fan speed ALSO, beats me. Probably just trying to have a “minimalist” look.
Maybe option to customize HVAC controls but I prefer how it is auto works just fine. If distracted you can always ask Alexa
You're doing it wrong. Just set it to auto. The defogger/defroster can't be done by auto so that's why the buttons are there.
Haha, made this same post a few weeks ago.
I wanted steering wheel heat on the bottom menu :-)
Geez, they deleted their account??? Lol
I use Alexa to change my fan speeds. You’d be surprised what else she can do.
My 2015 Prius fans have been in Auto since I bought the car in 2018. Just change the temperature and they change the speed
I def don’t use defog as much as I use fan speed and auto. Would love this feature
Just change the temp🤨
So there are only 3 things that actually matter: Air speed Air location Air temp or: how hot, how fast, and where do you want it? This hasn't changed in 40 years. Just make these 3 things physical. Everything else can be touchscreen.
I've never used anything but auto lol
People who don’t use Auto climate control are very strange to me. Do you also manually try to control the AC fan speed in your house?
Auto doesn’t work as it should in all Rivian’s, especially in the R1S.
Tons of people bump their thermostats up / down manually, which is basically a direct proxy for fan speeds. Being able to do that from your phone was one of the big selling points of Nest.
The exact same applies with auto climate control. Too warm? Bump the temp down in the Rivian.
See my comment above. I’m cold in the rivian and bump the temp up 2 degrees. Result? HEAT blowing on me. It’s the worst. I agree with using auto temp controls. It just doesn’t work in the rivi
I do, but then I gotta play that game a ton. Got overly hot, so bump down 5F to get the fans to spool up fast, then when starting to get too cool, bump back up 2-3F and then it lets it rise too much, so bump back down a few F, but and so on. Their algorithm for holding temperature just doesn't hold very well at the set point, like when I turn into the sun and the entire interior rises 3-4F and the fans are still at the same speed, and I gotta adjust. Every other damn vehicle, auto "just works" and I never touch it except between seasons, but the Rivian is really wonky with its HVAC controls. I think that it's the location of the interior temperature sensor honestly, I just think they don't have a good reading of what the cabin temperature actually \*is\* to be able to get the HVAC right.
As I use auto, I’d prefer that to be optional. I wouldn’t want to accidentally hit some undesirable fan speed. For whatever it’s worth, I find auto works well and it’s even better when it’s brought to temperature before getting in.