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Enabling climate control via steering wheel controls


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I just saw Ford Fusion 2017 come with the climate control via steering wheel controls.

 

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I'm looking at the OBDII scanners and www.forscan.org and thinking, could it be possible to enable the climate control?

 

Why would Edge 2016 not have it, is there a hardware missing or what?

 

I keep having to stare at my central dashboard trying to figure out what button to press, in order to control my climate. Several times I almost hit a car in front while fiddling with climate buttons and trying to figure out at what speed are fans working at.

 

For some reason, Ford made it really hard to find buttons without looking and gives almost no visual or haptic clues of what's going on while changing fan speed or temperature. It doesn't make it easier the fact that they put in the same horizontal orientation both fan speed and temperature buttons.

Edited by Damir Čolak
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Oh, that's awesome news.

 

At last I will be able to control climate without trying to make it understand my command, repeating YES etc. :)

 

How do you SAY "hotter, hotter, stop, colder, stop, fan, faster, stop?" :)

 

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Up or down to make it hotter or colder, right, up or down to make fan go faster or slower, never taking my eyes off the road, always seeing the changed settings in front of me.

Just like I could on my ford fusion :rockon:

Edited by Damir Čolak
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Why aren't you using auto mode? Then you only have to adjust the temperature.

 

That actually is not true.

 

On auto mode, you cannot select air ducts to be used.

On auto mode, you cannot select the slowest fan speed.

 

Even in auto mode, I have to look down and search for the button in order to change the temperature then look up and read the new temperature, all the while the car is moving down the road.

Edited by Damir Čolak
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You don't need to change the vents or the fan speed in auto mode. It will automatically select the top vents for A/C and the bottom vent for heat and it will adjust the fan speed automatically. You can change the fan speed by adjusting the temp up or down. I haven't needed to use the manual A/C controls at any time in the last 10+ years.

 

Try it. If you get in a hot car and the A/C is going full blast and you want to slow down the fans just raise the set temperature, then lower it later after the vehicle has cooled off. It works fine if you don't fight it.

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You don't need to change the vents or the fan speed in auto mode. It will automatically select the top vents for A/C and the bottom vent for heat and it will adjust the fan speed automatically. You can change the fan speed by adjusting the temp up or down. I haven't needed to use the manual A/C controls at any time in the last 10+ years.

 

Try it. If you get in a hot car and the A/C is going full blast and you want to slow down the fans just raise the set temperature, then lower it later after the vehicle has cooled off. It works fine if you don't fight it.

 

You cannot select the lowest speed of fans when on auto.

You cannot select the air ducts to be used when on auto.

 

With steering wheel controls it's easy.

 

Up for hotter, down for colder, right, up for faster, down for slower fan.

 

Done. Perfect.

 

And you can see the changed settings in front of you, no need to look for the button to press, screen to read results.

Edited by Damir Čolak
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I understand it's easier to use the steering wheel buttons. I do that in my Fusion but only for temp.

 

I think you're misunderstanding how auto works. In auto mode at 70 degrees ambient temp, if you set the temp to 65 it will blow cold air from the dash vents. If you turn it up to 85 it will blow hot air from the floor vent. So yes it does change the vent setting automatically for heat or AC.

 

If the ambient temp is 80 and you start the vehicle with the auto mode set to 72 the fans will come on full blast trying to cool it down to 72. If you raise the auto temp up to 80 the fans will slow way down or stop altogether because you're at the target temp. You can absolutely control the fan speed using the auto temp.

 

You may not like how it does it, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

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I get what both of you are saying, however akirby the only thing I will say about auto, which does annoy me is sometimes I want cold air blowing...not in my face.

 

Yes I can adjust the temp, but if I want cold air that's 70 degrees I don't want to have to turn it up to 80 just to get my desired fan speed.

 

I know I can shut my vent or redirect the vents and leave it auto and use this great feature 24/7. But sometimes lowering the fan speed is enough to not dry my eyes out and still feel cold air.

 

Likewise with heat in the winter sometimes I want hot air blasting on me when I get in the car and not pumping to the floor to slowly rise the ambient temp

 

Needless to say there are times where both auto and using the fans have a purpose or a personal preference. I'd assume it's why car manufacturers still give us an option for both ;)

 

Trying to get someone to use the temp features a certain way in the car is similar to fighting the losing battle at home with a thermostat. No matter how many times you explain to someone how it works, there are people that think dropping it to 58 degrees after leaving it at 80 while at work will cool the house down faster than leaving it at 65 all day.

Edited by Tjm623
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I get it. All I'm saying is that auto will control both the fan speed and the vent location. If you want it to do something differently like blowing hot air from the dash or stay at low speed then you can't use auto. But sometimes people don't even try auto because they don't understand how it works. And I think normal operation does work for the vast majority.

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BTW - my daughter has had it in both her vehicles for the last 5 years. She still refuses to use Auto mode and it drives me crazy because she doesn't have a specific reason like you just stated - she's never used it and refuses to even try it. Apparently she gets that from her mother.....

My wife in her escape is the exact same, doesn't even want to hear about it, lol

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I do like the option I have of changing the temp from the small right screen...and not using voice or the main Big center screen

 

And some people just like the very cold air on demand & no guess work of what temp setting to get - so no auto setting for them -or some like very cold air all the time but at low fan speed so they also would not use auto

 

Just as an FYI: I have a 2011 & lived through all the missteps of the multiple MFT/ MLT releases....at 1 point Ford took away the fan speed display on the big center screen along the bottom ( in home screen mode) - even when you changed the fan speed- no indicator. I yelled & posted a lot back when ford had their owner forum, I even emailed a Ford engineer. Ford did bring back the fan speed indicator along the bottom but only "on demand" when you changed fan speed it popped up on display- shows the number of bars & then disappears in a few when done. SO I know the frustration of not "Seeing" it & then after some time & updates- seeing it again.

Edited by drpepper
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My wife in her escape is the exact same, doesn't even want to hear about it, lol

My wife AND daughter are both like that - refuse to use AUTO. They claim they can get the car to cool/heat up faster by manipulating the controls.

 

My daughter I believe is symptomatic of her generation - she also will not give a song more than 15 seconds before changing to something else if she doesn't like it. They have little patience to let something work.

 

My wife, who knows?? :idea:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Were you able to use forscan to add this feature?

 

Yes, I used forscan, really easy to do.

 

What you are actually doing is changing the configuration files used by Instrument Panel Control.

 

You just switch a feature ON and it's there.

 

It boggles my mind why did Ford hide climate control on Edge 2016?!

 

It's such a useful feature.

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