Auto Mode for A/C not working correctly

[flypony53]

Ok, so I have been in my Lightning now for 2+ years. This summer, I have not driven much due to work and personal travel, but bing in Houston, I noticed that the A/C is not blowing hard when it is 95+ Degrees outside and the interior is a sauna. in the past, it would put itself in MAX A/C mode until it reached a reasonable temperature and would continue to blow at a high rate, so I would need to put it in Auto Medium mode. Of late(actually not sure of timing), I have seen the A/C be slow to start when getting in, then it blows softly and never cools the cabing. I have to change to manual mode to get it to blow at full speed.

I noticed yesterday when driving, the car picked up my wife's profile, and the AC was blowing a bit harder, all be it, not at full speed, but bettter. I realized that her mode was in medium for Auto, when I moved it to High, the fan speed went down.

Anyway, anyone else seeing an issue with Auto mode for A/C? I will be dropping it off at the dealer Thursday for some CSPs, but will have them look at this as well.

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[RocketGhost]

Does the air get cold? Auto will adjust the fan speed and the air temperature based on algorithms. But if you put it on manual, set the temp all the way cold, and turn the fan down slow, is the air cold? My only initial thought is that if the a/c isn't cooling properly (air leaving the evaporator isn't as cold as it should be) then auto might act wonky as it tries to cool the cabin the best it can. There could be issues with sensors too. Or maybe that's just the way it decides to work, but I haven't had that experience. I do notice that it's slow to come on after turning the truck on, but it's just a few seconds.

 

[Warp Asylum]

There was an update some time ago that affected the "Auto" behavior in both my Lightning and my wife's Mach-E, and both of our vehicles show the behavior you describe. Other than manually adjusting things as you state, the only other workaround I have found is to just set the temperature very low and turn on "Max A/C" mode for a few minutes when it is not cooling the cabin sufficiently. There is plenty of cooling capacity in "Max A/C" mode, so it is not a hardware issue but something in the "Auto" software algorithm.

Unfortunately I do not know which update it was. It was sometime before summer, but I did not notice the difference until summer started. I suspect it was the HVAC update that was supposed to help in cold weather, but I have no way to confirm that.

 

[flypony53]

Likely, I do not know the release as I did not notice it until summer either. I actually thought it was related to iOS 18 and CarPlay as I downloaded the Beta early in June when it was released. But, I tried disconnecting my phone and it did not get better.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Send a feedback report via the Sync screen.

 

[NCevGuyF150]

Ok, so I have been in my Lightning now for 2+ years. This summer, I have not driven much due to work and personal travel, but bing in Houston, I noticed that the A/C is not blowing hard when it is 95+ Degrees outside and the interior is a sauna. in the past, it would put itself in MAX A/C mode until it reached a reasonable temperature and would continue to blow at a high rate, so I would need to put it in Auto Medium mode. Of late(actually not sure of timing), I have seen the A/C be slow to start when getting in, then it blows softly and never cools the cabing. I have to change to manual mode to get it to blow at full speed.

I noticed yesterday when driving, the car picked up my wife's profile, and the AC was blowing a bit harder, all be it, not at full speed, but bettter. I realized that her mode was in medium for Auto, when I moved it to High, the fan speed went down.

Anyway, anyone else seeing an issue with Auto mode for A/C? I will be dropping it off at the dealer Thursday for some CSPs, but will have them look at this as well.

Yes, I have also noticed that this system does not work at all like the one in my gas powered lariat it seems like Auto isn’t really Auto

 

[BBB]

Ok, so I have been in my Lightning now for 2+ years. This summer, I have not driven much due to work and personal travel, but bing in Houston, I noticed that the A/C is not blowing hard when it is 95+ Degrees outside and the interior is a sauna. in the past, it would put itself in MAX A/C mode until it reached a reasonable temperature and would continue to blow at a high rate, so I would need to put it in Auto Medium mode. Of late(actually not sure of timing), I have seen the A/C be slow to start when getting in, then it blows softly and never cools the cabing. I have to change to manual mode to get it to blow at full speed.

I noticed yesterday when driving, the car picked up my wife's profile, and the AC was blowing a bit harder, all be it, not at full speed, but bettter. I realized that her mode was in medium for Auto, when I moved it to High, the fan speed went down.

Anyway, anyone else seeing an issue with Auto mode for A/C? I will be dropping it off at the dealer Thursday for some CSPs, but will have them look at this as well.

Sounds like a problem i had that Ford finally fixed by replacing the head end unit. Mine started like what you describe then got to the point that it would not work and then for no reason it would go full blast and freeze you out and nothing you could do would control it.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Ok, so I have been in my Lightning now for 2+ years. This summer, I have not driven much due to work and personal travel, but bing in Houston, I noticed that the A/C is not blowing hard when it is 95+ Degrees outside and the interior is a sauna. in the past, it would put itself in MAX A/C mode until it reached a reasonable temperature and would continue to blow at a high rate, so I would need to put it in Auto Medium mode. Of late(actually not sure of timing), I have seen the A/C be slow to start when getting in, then it blows softly and never cools the cabing. I have to change to manual mode to get it to blow at full speed.

I noticed yesterday when driving, the car picked up my wife's profile, and the AC was blowing a bit harder, all be it, not at full speed, but bettter. I realized that her mode was in medium for Auto, when I moved it to High, the fan speed went down.

Anyway, anyone else seeing an issue with Auto mode for A/C? I will be dropping it off at the dealer Thursday for some CSPs, but will have them look at this as well.

Hi there! Will you send us a message with your VIN and your local Ford dealer? I can look into things on my end.

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

Was there a resolution to this? After my Parking Sensor recall last week, the "auto" setting in the HVAC controls does not ramp the fan up or down regardless of any setting. The air temp coming out of the vents certainly changes, but the fan just stays on low even if it's 30 degrees out and I jack the temp to max, no fan response.

 

[flypony53]

Was there a resolution to this? After my Parking Sensor recall last week, the "auto" setting in the HVAC controls does not ramp the fan up or down regardless of any setting. The air temp coming out of the vents certainly changes, but the fan just stays on low even if it's 30 degrees out and I jack the temp to max, no fan response.

My dealer ended up updating all of my modules as they were behind on updates. I think this included an update to the A/C system.
I now have the popping sound from the bass in the car that needs something addressed, so I have time setup after Thanksgiving.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I jack the temp to max, no fan response.

Have you manually adjusted the fan speed with 1-7 levels and seen no change in air flow rate?!?

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

Have you manually adjusted the fan speed with 1-7 levels and seen no change in air flow rate?!?

I can manually adjust the fan speed and it responds as expected.

When in Auto, no change

 

[TaxmanHog]

I can manually adjust the fan speed and it responds as expected.

When in Auto, no change

That's "normal" behavior, there has never been a substantial variation between Auto 3/2/1 on the soft switch

 

[Henry Ford]

My dealer ended up updating all of my modules as they were behind on updates. I think this included an update to the A/C system.
I now have the popping sound from the bass in the car that needs something addressed, so I have time setup after Thanksgiving.

FWIW, you almost certainly now have the software to activate the latest BlueCruise version. There are a few settings changes you need to make in ForScan. If you do a little searching around on the forum you should be able to find what you need.

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

That's "normal" behavior, there has never been a substantial variation between Auto 3/2/1 on the soft switch

Thanks for the feedback, but I'm nearly 100% certain I remember the fan speed ramping up/down with drastic changes in the temperature setpoint when in "Auto" mode. Certainly enough that you can hear the difference. Now it doesn't do that.

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