I just purchased my 2005 Maxima SE and have a silly question about auto climate. I live in CT where it is currently 18 degrees. So when I start the car and activate auto climate (i typically set it for 75) it heats up and then after a while I notice it switches to winshield defrost and the AC automatically comes on. Is this normal? Why would it put the AC on when it's below freezing outside? The aid that comes out however is still hot/warm. Also the air coming out of the center console vents, for rear seat passengers is cold most of the time, has anyone else experienced this?

 

Yes, we have all experienced the cool/cold air for the passengers... unfortunately, I think that it's just a design issue (too much ducting to warm up quickly?).

As for the AC turning on, yes that is normal... the AC helps to reduce moisture in the air so that the windows do not fog up.

 

Eh that's bull****, I just noticed today that it was blowing cold air. My sister was sitting in the back. She was like why is this blowing cold air. They should fix that or do something about it because if I don't know its open and I am trying to warm up the car, it then cools up the car. Warrenty should fix it.

 

There will be no warranty fix for cold air coming from the vents feeding the back seats of the 6th gen Maximas. Nothing dealer can do. It is a design problem. The ductwork to those vents is rather long and unwieldy, and gets very cold when the car sits out in 18 degree weather.

My Maxima is kept in an insulated garage which usually stays in the 55 to 65 degree range, and the air coming from my vents feeding the back seat is not hot, but a little warm. It tends to warm even more as the ductwork warms.

But I am sure the heated air reaching the back seat in a car that has been out in the cold would not be nearly warm enough, if warm at all.

For those of us in the south (especially those with insulated garages), this is a minor inconvenience. For our bretheren up north (especially those without insulated garages), this is a major (almost inexcusible) design flaw.

My very real disappointment is that this problem was evident in March of 2003, caused widespread complaints during the winter of 2003/04, yet still has not been addressed in the 2005 Maxima. Very disappointing.

 

I live in a climate where it is very cold in the winter time. A certain amount of time for a car to warm up on a cold winter morning is inevitable if your car is left outside overnight. I've been driving for 30 years in these conditions and i've never known a car of any brand that didn't do that. The large number of cars sitting in the laneways on my street warming up before off would help quantify and qualify the above statement.

BTW....air conditioning on is to help reduce moisture. In my case it works flawlessly. Just hard to get used to seeing the air conditioning light on in the winter when its -25 degress.

Bob

 

Thanks everyone for the awesome replies. Good to know others are in the same boat as I am. Thanks again!

 

I think that the rear vent is hooked into the top vent mode only. I've never really gotten hot air back there, but after about 20-25 minutes the air gets warmish. I would guess that come summer it will work much better conveying a/c air to the back. I've only had my Max since October, so I dunno.

 

i've only had my max since october too, and keep the rear vents closed in the winter because i'd rather have no air than cold air. the front warms up nicely and i always keep it on floor and window defrost combo with a/c on.

the few times i did run the a/c on cool back in november, the rear vents did eventually get cool after a few minutes of driving.