Not many people know that !

[VicW]

With reference to the air distribution system in a GE, did you know that if you have air selected to any of the 'air to face/feet' options and you then select either of the 'air to screen' options, the aircon is automatically selected to 'on' (assuming that the fan is not selected to 'off') .

This presumably is an assumption that if you change to 'air to screen' you may have a misting problem which ,of course, is cleared much quicker with the aircon on.

I only noticed this by chance but checked the handbook and it is mentioned in there.

Vic.

[Rory]

Most cars have done that for some years.   In fact, it's annoying in many cars that you can't point the air at the screen without having the a/c come on.

[VicW]

I don't remember my GD's doing that, but maybe I never noticed.

Vic.

[guest4871]

My 1930 something Morris 8 Series One air con did that when I wound open the windscreen. It also had a very useful curtain which came down over the rear window....

[Bentleymop]

Screen cleared very quickly indeed on my old Stag when I took the roof off....

[madasafish]

My 1930 something Morris 8 Series One air con did that when I wound open the windscreen. It also had a very useful curtain which came down over the rear window....

My 1929 Riley 9 was like that. It also had built in foot washers.. holes round the gearstick..

[guest3250]

Air con dries the moisture out so it makes sense to utilise that for the screen - also did you know - once you select the screen only ~ if you press the A/C button it will deselect the A/C so it is ordinary air onto the screen.
I reckon even less people realised that one...

[culzean]

you can always override car selection and switch aircon off and on with the A/C button (in the same way you can alter fan speed and air vents used when it is in auto) - what I don't like is that when you switch from manual to auto (climate control) it forgets all the manual settings you had set up and you have to do it all again when you switch back to manual - surely it should be able to remember your original manual settings when you switch auto off. 

[RichardA]

I don't remember my GD's doing that, but maybe I never noticed.

Vic.

I had a 2004 SE Sport and that didn't do that as far as I remember. I never came across this feature until my Dad's brand new Kia Rio (the previous shape) had it.

[JazzyB]

You will tend to find this on cars with climate control.

My jazz a '07' sport model has climate control and every time you press the front windscreen demister the a/c kicks in automatically, which is great if the engine is nice n hot, but not much use when the engine's cold.

Having the a/c come on when the engine's cold doesn't make a difference to the windscreen clearing abilities.

[culzean]

Having the a/c come on when the engine's cold doesn't make a difference to the windscreen clearing abilities.

cool dry air will still clear the inside of windscreen faster than cool damp air,  but if you use it you have to leave aircon on until engine warms up a bit  - as otherwise cooling (and drying) the screen with the aircon will make it mist up quicker if you allow the cool damp air onto it.  On winter mornings it's tempting to leave a cold engine running on tick-over for 5 to 10 minutes before driving off - but that is entirely the wrong thing to do and causes more engine wear,  engine will warm up 10 times quicker if you drive as soon as the screen and windows are clear.

[Rory]

You will tend to find this on cars with climate control.

My jazz a '07' sport model has climate control and every time you press the front windscreen demister the a/c kicks in automatically, which is great if the engine is nice n hot, but not much use when the engine's cold.

Having the a/c come on when the engine's cold doesn't make a difference to the windscreen clearing abilities.

A/C in cars normally has a temp sensor so it doesn't work below around 2C otherwise the evaporator freezes up - so you could be seeing that effect, rather than it simply being a cold engine.