Just to clarify...I have no problem with the above, and actually I consider that to be a convenience as it does save me the step of turning on the A/C myself when I need some defogging action. But... I do have a problem with the A/C continuing to cycle no matter what setting I choose after I'm finished defogging. A slightly lesser evil is that I can't choose to heat the floor without the A/C cycling. There are only 2 settings that don't kick the A/C on...vent, and vent/floor. That, to me is just too much nursemaiding...and a waste of gas for those who don't know it's happening and drive around all day cycling their A/C for no reason. Carmakers are spending just a little too much time coming up with these unnecessary changes when they really should be concentrating on erraticating their quality issues, reducing emissions, improving economy, etc.
How much technology is too much?
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Just to clarify...I have no problem with the above, and actually I consider that to be a convenience as it does save me the step of turning on the A/C myself when I need some defogging action. But... I do have a problem with the A/C continuing to cycle no matter what setting I choose after I'm finished defogging. A slightly lesser evil is that I can't choose to heat the floor without the A/C cycling. There are only 2 settings that don't kick the A/C on...vent, and vent/floor. That, to me is just too much nursemaiding...and a waste of gas for those who don't know it's happening and drive around all day cycling their A/C for no reason. Carmakers are spending just a little too much time coming up with these unnecessary changes when they really should be concentrating on erraticating their quality issues, reducing emissions, improving economy, etc.
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Well, seeing that we're committed to this personal transportation thing ..and we're equally committed, at least apparently, to having so many cars on the road, I guess it's a good idea to do these things.
At some point the costs are just going to get too out of hand ..so I guess it will be self correcting eventually.
We seem to have a really odd perspective on it though. We always want to save lives ..but we never seem to ask "at what cost". In terms of personal transportation there's never an effort to alter the environment that creats the problem to be fixed. After you strip away all the added costs to account for mediocre mandated driving skill level and the number of cars required due to the lack of mass transportation ...you could probably fund the alternatives a few times over and unchoke our highways to the point where all the random vectors don't have such a likelihood of colliding.
At some point the costs are just going to get too out of hand ..so I guess it will be self correcting eventually.
We seem to have a really odd perspective on it though. We always want to save lives ..but we never seem to ask "at what cost". In terms of personal transportation there's never an effort to alter the environment that creats the problem to be fixed. After you strip away all the added costs to account for mediocre mandated driving skill level and the number of cars required due to the lack of mass transportation ...you could probably fund the alternatives a few times over and unchoke our highways to the point where all the random vectors don't have such a likelihood of colliding.
I can't believe this works!! I just did this on my '04 Civic LX sedan. This is absolutely amazing. I like to have heat on the windshield sometimes, but the A/C would run as well to (dehumidify) the air as the manual states. I hated that! I also like to use the outside air to defog the windshield sometimes when its cool enough outside, but the A/C would kick on. This has got to be the most useful tip out there for Civic owners. If I may ask, where did you get this info??
Jeepster, I stumbled on this useful Gem at the 7th gen civic forum. Yeah, that was my reaction too when I discovered it! (7thgencivic.com) I suspect there are other imports that use the same OS as the civic. Some others should give it a try and report back what other cars this works on... Like I said, no mention in the manual and the dealer didn't know about it either. WHAT A RELIEF! Glad I could be of help!
I just tried it on my Wife's '01 Nissan Xterra- no Dice. Those buttons are the mechanical "click" type. The Civic has a full logic style button which would mean that there is firmware somewhere in the HVAC control unit, thus allowing this reprogram to be allowed. Thanks again!
Seek and Ye shall find.
Have you hugged a good software engineer today?
This really got
then returned. Good!
Too much tech is already with us. Look what happened to the private aviation industry when some jury decided that because certain avionics systems had been developed it was legally incumbant upon the manufacturers to have previously equipped their planes with those systems? Bye-bye, Piper.
The ultimate in Monday-morning quarterbacking?
I'm sure someone else is going to be "lost" (of course, without any fault upon their part) and the car manufacturer is going to be found legally liable because the vehicle was not factory-equipped with a navigation system that could send out a warning. Or a fail-safe battery to power the system? Or 24-hour 100% satelite communication? It IS available: big brother says every car should have one...
As has been previously discussed, what is the prospect for the buyer of what will be an 8 year-old "luxury" car 8 years from now? If any computerized system tanks, better start looking for a new computer. I'm sure the dealerships will be happy to "repair" your stability control system or even "automatic parking" (that'll be the best one, yet: "My Lexus bumped into your car when it was automatic parallel park: I'm not responsible!"), your i-Drive controller, etc. at a reasonable price...
Cheers!
p.s. When you come to an unfamiliar fork in the unfamiliar road in the mountains and in the winter, DON'T DRIVE THROUGH THE SIDE THAT HAS A GATE. When you go up the road for a couple miles and you have to get out of the car to roll boulders that have fallen into the road out of the way, DON'T KEEP ON DRIVING ANOTHER 20 MILES, OR SO.
And don't expect to ca$h in because you took a wrong turn, either.
Too much tech is already with us. Look what happened to the private aviation industry when some jury decided that because certain avionics systems had been developed it was legally incumbant upon the manufacturers to have previously equipped their planes with those systems? Bye-bye, Piper.
The ultimate in Monday-morning quarterbacking?
I'm sure someone else is going to be "lost" (of course, without any fault upon their part) and the car manufacturer is going to be found legally liable because the vehicle was not factory-equipped with a navigation system that could send out a warning. Or a fail-safe battery to power the system? Or 24-hour 100% satelite communication? It IS available: big brother says every car should have one...
As has been previously discussed, what is the prospect for the buyer of what will be an 8 year-old "luxury" car 8 years from now? If any computerized system tanks, better start looking for a new computer. I'm sure the dealerships will be happy to "repair" your stability control system or even "automatic parking" (that'll be the best one, yet: "My Lexus bumped into your car when it was automatic parallel park: I'm not responsible!"), your i-Drive controller, etc. at a reasonable price...
Cheers!
p.s. When you come to an unfamiliar fork in the unfamiliar road in the mountains and in the winter, DON'T DRIVE THROUGH THE SIDE THAT HAS A GATE. When you go up the road for a couple miles and you have to get out of the car to roll boulders that have fallen into the road out of the way, DON'T KEEP ON DRIVING ANOTHER 20 MILES, OR SO.
And don't expect to ca$h in because you took a wrong turn, either.
Back O.T. for a minute...
To change the Civic's ac/defrost setting back to the factory settings, turn the vent and temperature knobs full right(clockwise) and repeat the steps above.
Carry on!
To change the Civic's ac/defrost setting back to the factory settings, turn the vent and temperature knobs full right(clockwise) and repeat the steps above.
Carry on!
Xterraownersclub has a write up on disabling the switch behind the dial. But, you'll need to manually hit the a/c button when fogged up inside. I guess that some consider pressing a button an inconvenience.
Defrost and defrost/foot are my favorite 'dial' selections. I hate the HP/MPG loss caused by automatic A/C.
I happen to have a 06 Runner. There are several pieces of 'technology' that I seriously dislike:
A) the HVAC controls. When the AC is left in the on position the AC runs when the cabin is higher than the desired temperature, and the heater runs when the cabin is lower. Yet, what I want is the AC to run at the desired setting, then not run the heater until it is a full 10 dF cooler than the desired setting. I happen to like air blowing on me at all times, and the ACheat is just silly.
Secondly, when the AC is not on, the exterior fresh air is closed off if the exterior temp is more than 5 dF away from the cabin temperature. #@$%! #@$%! #@$%!, this is stupid. Just let the driver press the button on those very occasional times thathe wants the interior air recirculated.
B) I drive race cars, I seriously dislike the traction control PREVENTING me from tightening the radius of turn by application of throttle. Sure, this probably saves several people that only learned how to stear and park a car, but for those who actually know and understand how to drive, this is a pest not a feature.
C) tire presser sensors. In my old Vette with first generation TPM, I never had a single trouble with them even after 6 years of use. with my Toyota, the #@$%! batteries died in less than one year with 80,000 mile tires on the wheels. So, in effect, to change out a 0.50 battery, one gets hit up for $30 to dismount, change battery, remount, and balance. How stupid can this be! Then the next year the same #@$%! thing happens. I am still waiting for the light to burn out. BTW, the tires are sitting at 39 PSI a full 13 PSI above where the sensors are supposed to turn the light on.
D) when going down hill, a light depression on the brake pedal causes the transmission to downshift, making it impossible to simply put a little weight on the nose prepairing for a throttle application to balance the car in a turn. So, now when I touch the brake pedal, I also have to shift into neutral and back to avoid the transmission attempting to do for me what I do not want done. This is absolutely #@$%! stupid. Toyota, are you listening? No, probably not. I suspece when the dealer gets the car for a 30K service and they plug in the 'special' readout device, that I will be ask why are you manually shifting an automatic transmission hundreds of times per day.
E) it is just plain stupid to PAINT the bumpers on SUVs. The old chromed bumpers still looked great after 12 years of service (previous vehicle) while these new ones look like #@$%! after 1 year of use. But this is technology only in the loosest of senses.
F) Why is it necessary to have 2 cup holders for every seated position in the car? Would not 1 cup holder do?
A) the HVAC controls. When the AC is left in the on position the AC runs when the cabin is higher than the desired temperature, and the heater runs when the cabin is lower. Yet, what I want is the AC to run at the desired setting, then not run the heater until it is a full 10 dF cooler than the desired setting. I happen to like air blowing on me at all times, and the ACheat is just silly.
Secondly, when the AC is not on, the exterior fresh air is closed off if the exterior temp is more than 5 dF away from the cabin temperature. #@$%! #@$%! #@$%!, this is stupid. Just let the driver press the button on those very occasional times that
B) I drive race cars, I seriously dislike the traction control PREVENTING me from tightening the radius of turn by application of throttle. Sure, this probably saves several people that only learned how to stear and park a car, but for those who actually know and understand how to drive, this is a pest not a feature.
C) tire presser sensors. In my old Vette with first generation TPM, I never had a single trouble with them even after 6 years of use. with my Toyota, the #@$%! batteries died in less than one year with 80,000 mile tires on the wheels. So, in effect, to change out a 0.50 battery, one gets hit up for $30 to dismount, change battery, remount, and balance. How stupid can this be! Then the next year the same #@$%! thing happens. I am still waiting for the light to burn out. BTW, the tires are sitting at 39 PSI a full 13 PSI above where the sensors are supposed to turn the light on.
D) when going down hill, a light depression on the brake pedal causes the transmission to downshift, making it impossible to simply put a little weight on the nose prepairing for a throttle application to balance the car in a turn. So, now when I touch the brake pedal, I also have to shift into neutral and back to avoid the transmission attempting to do for me what I do not want done. This is absolutely #@$%! stupid. Toyota, are you listening? No, probably not. I suspece when the dealer gets the car for a 30K service and they plug in the 'special' readout device, that I will be ask why are you manually shifting an automatic transmission hundreds of times per day.
E) it is just plain stupid to PAINT the bumpers on SUVs. The old chromed bumpers still looked great after 12 years of service (previous vehicle) while these new ones look like #@$%! after 1 year of use. But this is technology only in the loosest of senses.
F) Why is it necessary to have 2 cup holders for every seated position in the car? Would not 1 cup holder do?
On my Saab 93 all I have to do if I want fresh air and no heat is to hit the temp down button till it says LO and then turn off the AC with the button Saab provides for that purpose. And also turn off recirc if it was enabled, again with the button Saab has provided for that purpose.
If I want full-blast AC I do the same except I don't turn the AC off.
Oh, they've also provided three buttons: One for the defroster vents, one for the panel vents, and one for the floor vents. Each of these buttons controls where air comes from. So if I want AC coming out of the floor vents (for whatever reason), I can have it. I can have air, fresh or recirc, AC on or not, coming out of any combination of those three.
Now here's the funny part: Reviewers have blasted Saab because the climate control panel has "too many buttons". And at first glance I thought so too. But after spending 5 minutes with it, it makes perfect sense to me and I like it.
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LouDog, VSC is mainly intended as a surogate LSD on a reolute understeerer like the Ody.
Winston, that's all well and good,but consider this:
A couple of weeks back, we had our first snow of the season. A brave soul in a Legend passed me and the two cars directly in front of me. No amount of electronic help would have saved him had he hit the right slick spot at the wrong time. The driver must drive to conditions. No amount of power reduction or one wheel braking can help you if you have truly lost it. Learn to drive. The electronic nannies only encourage foolish driving.
Winston, that's all well and good,but consider this:
A couple of weeks back, we had our first snow of the season. A brave soul in a Legend passed me and the two cars directly in front of me. No amount of electronic help would have saved him had he hit the right slick spot at the wrong time. The driver must drive to conditions. No amount of power reduction or one wheel braking can help you if you have truly lost it. Learn to drive. The electronic nannies only encourage foolish driving.
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