cindyo112

I have a 2014 Civic and when I turn the heat on and select the button to indicate to push the air thru the floor vents, I get heat thru the floor vents, AND the two side dash vents AND the defroster vents. I can manually close the two side vents, but the heat coming from the defroster vents is suffocating. Is this normal, or something I should ask the dealer to fix?

When I select the button that indicates to push air thru the floor and dash vents, the defroster vents do NOT push air. Also, when I select the button that indicates to push air thru the floor and defroster vents, I get quite a bit more air thru the defroster vents than when I select floor only.

If this is normal, is there a work around? I really hate all that hot air blowing into my face. (note that, as I have rather short legs, I sit closer to the dash than many people would, and because I live in Michigan, the fan and temp are often set to "high").

Thanks in advance!

ezone

Handy google search gave me this pic:


This sounds like you pushed the button on the far right of the top row, the "floor/defrost" setting.

The button just to the left of that (lit with green LED indicator in the pic above) is for 'floor' only. There will be a slight amount of airflow from the window defrost vent locations, but (IIRC approximately) 90% of the airflow should be toward the floor when selected.


Turn the temp down a notch or two.
I think the quickest way to verify if your car has a problem is to visit the dealers lot and check out an identical LX car for comparison. If your car is significantly different, have it checked. Have them also verify if there is a large difference by comparing to the cars on the lot.

cindyo112

Thank you for your reply. No, I have selected the correct one. And it's probably about 10% of the air that is going to the defrost when I select floor vents only - it feels more like 20% to me, but it's a hard thing to estimate. I cannot understand why Honda would design it so that the defrost vents are open when the floor only button is selected - after all, if one needs heat on the windshield, it's easy enough to select that mode. I find it very annoying.

Thank you again for the reply. It's much appreciated.

ezone

Many (most) manufacturers do it this way. "Controlled air bleed" is the norm.


The theory is like this:
If it's cold enough to need heat blowing on your feet, it's probably also cold enough to have the windshield fog over too. Thus, the engineers made it so a bit of air blows to the windshield to help reduce the likelihood of it fogging up.


HTH

jordan1794

My 2014 and my 2006 both do the same thing.

My wild guess would be something about not overworking the fan motor by not having enough places for the air to go.

cindyo112

Thank you both for the replies. Yes, "controlled air bleed" seems like exactly what it is. And I think because I closed the side dash vents (manually) there was even more air running thru the defrost vents.

This morning I chose the button that specifies that the air should come out the dash and floor air vents and then I manually closed the dash vents - that cut off the air bleed to the defrost and kept things more comfortable.

Thank you again for the replies - would have hated to spend the time going to the dealer to complain about a "problem" that isn't a defect.