Sector Climate Control - Is It Real?

[darkoracle]

During the recent weather extremes I have had the opportunity to test out the climate control on my IS250 and I am unclear, after reading the manual, what constitutes 'Sector Climate Control'.

I know of course that the passenger and driver sides can be temperature controlled independently, but what of the fan(s) and ducts.

My wife finds the continual rush of cool air to her feet uncomfortable and keeps upping the temperature on her side to compensate. This is not because she is cold from the legs up, but purely from the cooling effect of the lower cabin fans.

If I change the fan setting to head only, the system switches off the Auto mode.

Do I conclude then that the system is not true climate control – only sector heating control, or am I missing something?

I don’t see anywhere a facility to control the air flow for the passenger side independently from the driver’s side.

What is the impact of turning off ‘Auto’ mode? Will the temperature between the two sides still be maintained independently?

[Exiled]

Whether the system is sector climate control or whatever control it's not ideal for me. I have the same experience as you, your wife sounds just like mine. I've noticed in Auto there are times when you feel cooler air on your feet, this seems to occur when the cabin has reached a certain temp. To make it comfortable I switch from Auto to Mode pressing the Mode button twice which points the arrow to face, I have one setting for all the air vents, the ones on the passenger side are always closed, on rare occasions my wife will open one, mine are set slightly open giving a light flow on my face. The vents behind the centre armrest are fully open and warm air flows into the rear of the car which warms the rest of the car, I have my temp control at 21-22 and the wife's side is at 23-24, you cannot independently control the fan speed side to side. When in Mode I usually have the fan showing 2 bars and sometimes increase it or open the vents a little more. It seems to work better in Auto if it's very cold outside. So to sum up, on starting the car I have the air con in Auto if at some stage I feel the foot well temp dropping I press the Mode button twice.

When summer arrives or if we have one all these settings go out of the window as I lower the temperature to get some cool air blowing through then depending on how many hours or days it lasts I revert back to the above. Clear as mud?

[Tel]

In my experience I have always been in Auto & the only time I have been aware of the fans is when the cabin temperature is very high in Summer or I activate the Screen Clear Button----the Auto Mode is excellent @ maintaining the set temperature across the entire range & a 1 or 2 degree adjustment is achieved with little notable noise or flow change.

Tel

[darkoracle]

Tel:

I agree that the ambient temperature is maintained well by the ‘Auto’ system, but it is the methodology and its configuration in maintaining that temperature that I was questioning.

When the phrase ‘Automatic Climate Control’ is used I expect that the system to maintain the said climate in a way that is almost imperceptible by the operator/driver. The point that both I and Exiled are making is that the comfort of the passenger or driver can only be maintained by intervention. Not then truly automatic. Its Achilles’ heel appears to be that only the temperature is managed separately but not the airflow. Airflow will always appear cooler to the touch relative to the rate of flow, and some people can tolerate that better than others.

[Tel]

Rick,

In our experience,we are not aware of this phenomena.My sensitivity to temperature may have declined over the years but

I am surprised my wife's has as "her thermostat" is classed as an asset by British Gas!

Tel