[iamahunter]

Little Background
I had purchased a Ford Ecosport on 1st Jan 2020 and have driven around 7000 kms till now. Being lockdown I did not get to drive much last year and the trips started recently.

Issue
Soon I realized that the Auto AC in the car is not functioning as I expect it to.

What happens:
On AUTO AC mode, I set the temperature to a comfortable 24°C and expect the car to maintain the same, despite the outer temperature.

Now, the AC starts to cool immediately when I start the car. But after sometime(on reaching the set temperature), the cooling stops, hardly any air coming from vents, and the temperature inside starts to increase. Only after manually decreasing the temp to say 22°C or 20°C, the cool air starts to blow again. I expect the AC to maintain the cabin temperature to the set 24°C without manual intervention., i.e. without anyone reducing the he set temperature manually..

However this does not happen. So, I contact the SVC and mentioned the issue to them. A person from Ford SVC comes to my place to inspect the car. After inspection, the SA tells me that in such situation, I need to manually lower the AC temp.

I am surprised at this reply from him and his especially trained "AC guy".
The AC guy gave me some crap logic that, "if I keep the car temp at 24°C, and the outer temperature goes to 35°C+, only then the AC will blow cool air again. There needs to be a difference of 10°C between the outer and inner temp, only then the AC will cool. "


Is my understanding of an AUTO AC incorrect, do all the cars have similar issue?

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Have you tested the temperature using temperature gauge already to ascertain that the cooling is not working after the set temperature is met?

I too have an Ecosport and the way Auto AC works in my car -
When the car is standing out in the sun, the AC will blow out maximum air to cool the cabin. Gradually the air flow reduces as the inside temperature reaches the set value. Post that you would hardly feel any air coming out of the vents. However, the temperature inside is surely maintained.
I am sure of this because, when we step out of the car you can immediately feel the temperature difference.

In case if the outside temperature is lower than what you have set on the Auto AC, the blower speed is at the lowest level right from the beginning. Typically happens in the winters or very early morning.

[Raghu M]

Auto AC is supposed to maintain your cabin at 24 degrees if it is set. If there is hardly any air coming from the vents and you feel the cabin getting hotter, then the AC is malfunctioning. It needs to be rectified by Ford. Auto AC feature is to have a temperature set throughout for a more comfortable ride in the car.

[Sangre]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

What happens:
On AUTO AC mode, I set the temperature to a comfortable 24°C and expect the car to maintain the same, despite the outer temperature.

Now, the AC starts to cool immediately when I start the car. But after sometime(on reaching the set temperature), the cooling stops, hardly any air coming from vents, and the temperature inside starts to increase. Only after manually decreasing the temp to say 22°C or 20°C, the cool air starts to blow again.

@ iamahunter, your expectation of how an AUTO AC should work is spot on.

Even on my EcoSport, it behaves like how you have explained above. However, the volume of cold / hot air keeps changing depending on how fast the cabin temperature rises / drops. E.g. In the beginning of the journey and if there is a large difference between the set temperature and the cabin temperature (say more than 5*C), large volume of air flow from the vents is observable. When the set temperature is reached, the volume of air from the vents is reduced automatically, sometimes to a barely observable volume. It does start and stop automatically to maintain the temperature. Never experienced any discomfort due to this, even though I have never measured the cabin temperature to check if it matches the display.

Based on your explanation of how the system is working on your car, if there is an issue, it has to be in how the system restarts to maintain the set temperature.
Just to eliminate AC or coolant problems, have you tried turning off the AUTO mode and leaving the temperature at your comfortable level ?

[ABHI_1512]

As far as I am concerned, the recommended temperature for automatic climate control is 22 degrees. I have maintained this since the last six years and have never faced problems in my Ecosport.

Climate control has worked like a charm till now. Whenever the ambient temperature inside the car increases or decreases, the vents will give out cooler/hotter air to achieve the set temperature and make the occupants comfortable.

Please set the temperature at 22 degrees and then see the difference. This temperature is also recommended by Ford and is mentioned in the service book itself. I hope this works out for you.

[KrisTvpm]

iamahunter, This is how it works in my Ecosport too (2015 Titanium Petrol MT).

This was a shocker to me, I expected it to work exactly as room split AC units work but I was disappointed.

My service centre guy also gave some vague explanation which didn't make any sense, so I left it there and now use the auto-AC in tandem with setting temperature manually to 21 on a hot day or 23 on a normal day. This way I am able to get my comfortable cooling inside the cabin.

[iamahunter]

I checked with the guys at the service center and tried to explain this the situation.


At last I've come to a conclusion, its better to keep the temperature on 22 and relax rather than explain the situation to 10 other peeps.

I mean, the car does the cool down as much I need right? then better enjoy that.