I have an '11 Maxima SV, bought new in April. My problem is that when I push the windshield defroster button, the AC also kicks on. This also happens if I put the defroster on using the mode button. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

Yes, this happens in my car as well. You also can't set the car to recirculate air, i.e. fresh air must be drawn from the outside.

I think this is normal.

IIRC, if you turn the fan off, the A/C can also be shut off ... but I'm not sure if you need to have the fan on to defrost.

 

The AC kicks on to remove the moisture from the air. This is so the moisture that would be in the air is not blown back onto the windshield and fogging the windshield or possibly refreezing on the windshield.

 

+1, its normal.

 

this is how the defroster functions. it turns on the AC function to remove the moisture from the air

 

Thanks for the info and confirmations!

 

The AC turns on automatically in every car during defrost, otherwise defrost will not work properly. I am just surprised that you did not notice this in your previous cars.

 

I know that its how it works in all cars, but this is the first car i've seen where it actually lights up the A/C button.

I'm fine with it turning on with the defrost, but I hate it how it turns the A/C on everytime you hit the auto button. I push the auto button for it to turn the heat up in the winter when its 20 degrees outside, and it turns the A/C on I find that pretty dumb.

 

I was asking myself how I missed it with my other cars! I checked my hubby's Titan and my sister's Chevy, neither of their AC buttons light up. Must be hit or miss on whether you can tell the AC is kicking in to help out the defrost process. So glad for the forum, I learn something every time I log in.

 

Absolutely annoying. If the engineers want to turn that light on they should be smart enough to turn it off when you turn the defroster off. It should also turn of when you return from recirc to outside air. Its an idiot light. I play that crap like a piano - very annoying and takes my attention off the road. My American car didnt do it. However my wifes Toyota does the same crap. Only thing better about the Maxima is it has a manual mode. The Toyota seems to always default to auto mode. Makes matters worse. If you want to add these creature features you need to do your homework otherwise its annoying.

 

When that AC light is on, the AC IS RUNNING. The AC is often running in cars these days. This is especially important in winter, when avoiding the formation of fog on the inside of the windows is critical for safety.

Yes, I can recall when the AC was essentially a COOLING system, but those days are long gone. And changing from recirculating air to outside air does not negate the need for the air to be conditioned/dehumidified.

I like for that light to be on when the AC is running. And the AC in cars these days should be running most of the time. That is just the way cars are designed these days, and it works well for me.

It isn't like the old days when running the AC was a summer thing, and lowered our MPH and sucked the power out of the engine. These modern, efficient AC systems have almost no effect on MPG or engine power.

 

Is there only certain times the recirculating mode can be turned on?

 

I believe anytime you have the defroster on, the AC will be on and you will be drawing air from outside. If you have any of the other vents on, you can choose to recirculate the air.

 

These "features" are very annoying to say the least. Not being able to put the car in recirculate without having the system automatically turn on the compressor is plain stupid.

My BMW was customized so that when the auto button was hit the climate control went into full automatic mode without the compressor being turned on. In addition, I could set the system into defrost without the compressor being turned on. This is important in the winter to melt ice on the outside...don't need the compressor.

 

I can understand that it turns on for defrost but the fact that it doesnt turn off when I turn the defrost off is plain stupid. Also I dont think it should turn on for recirc. If my windows fog up on recirc I would be turning on the defrost which would in turn activate the AC. American cars dont let you put the car in recirc if the defrost is on. I think Nissan has is *** backwards. They are from the other side of the world so that might explain it.

 

I did find this new system of automated HVAC functions annoying when it became normal in the late 1990s. But then I am sometimes still mentally in my '49 Studebaker (or any of dozens of cars I owned between 1949 and when I switched to Datsun/Nissan in 1978).

In those American cars, the AC was on only when I turned it on, and went off only when I turned it off. And there were nice manual vents that could be opened, and rotating 'windowlets' just in front of the front door windows that could be rotated to let outside air flow freely through the passenger compartment.

Once I accepted that having the AC on was becoming something over which I had little or no control, I began reading up on what was going on, and decided the objective was automated safety, whether we wanted it or not.

So I moved on, knowing that half the drivers on the road actually are not smart enough to handle their own HVAC system, so the car companies are managing things for them. Which irritates those of us who like to manage things ourselves.

 

:-(

 

I hear ya. When I took my Max in for an oil change I told the service tech that I cant turn the ac off while the car is in recirculation mode, he said yeah, that's how they are now. I know on my 99 Max, I could.