Please re-design or improve the Climate Control / AC Navigation Controls

[asksal]

I have several challenges with the Rivian AC system I'd like to give feedback on, but the most frustrating to my wife and I is the climate controls:

1. In any old school car, you twist the fan nob and it's blasting. You don't have to look away from the road. In the Rivian you click the screen, look for the speed area, look for the + button, click it several times. Meanwhile, your eyes have been off the road reading a screen for far too long
Fix: When the right steering controls are not active, make them control the AC either automatically or by setting. Spinner for temp and left/right for fan speed

2. Instead of just having Pet Mode (I have no pet I would drive around), change it to:
a. Be Right Back Mode - Keep car cool (or warm), keep the radio on in the same spot, don't lock the doors, etc...
-- this is the family in the car and oops forgot my jacket scenario

b. Use logic... when the car is 119 degrees and from the app I put it to 62, put the AC on HIGH not trickle out
-- even better is the Be Right Back button on the app
And don't make me pick a temp... just logically set the car to comfortable temp as quickly as possible (settings or common sense)

c. Use AI... the car is 47 degrees on a Monday at 6:45am. Over the past 19 of 22 days we have driven the car at approx 7:30am. Just get the car ready for driving assuming we are going to drive.
Or
You drive to a shopping center - keep the car comforable for a few hours
* Call this Don't Care About Battery mode if you want but let us opt in and simply keep the car comfortable any time it's likely someone might drive

Anyone else looking for a smarter or easier to use climate system?

We have a list of other feedback I will submit on a separate post, but this one is the one that annoys us most.

Thanks!

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[Chrisy]

My rant about AC is that why does it need to switch back and forth between cool and warm A/C I do not get it. Whenever I set it to warm the cabin up, it blows warm air until it reaches the temp then it start to blow cool air... Never had a car like that before.

It should simply stop blowing warm air until the cabin cools down by itself when it needs to turn on the warm air again. And I do not even have a chance to change to 'warm only' mode.

There is this stupid icon showing cool/warm only.

Why no 'cool only' or 'warm only' is beyond me.

*rant off*

 

[LeDiable]

My rant about AC is that why does it need to switch back and forth between cool and warm A/C I do not get it. Whenever I set it to warm the cabin up, it blows warm air until it reaches the temp then it start to blow cool air... Never had a car like that before.

It should simply stop blowing warm air until the cabin cools down by itself when it needs to turn on the warm air again. And I do not even have a chance to change to 'warm only' mode.

There is this stupid icon showing cool/warm only.

Why no 'cool only' or 'warm only' is beyond me.

*rant off*

This, please! I'm in an area where it is currently only 40F in the mornings (and will get much colder in coming months) but if I set the temp below 72, I get the cool air. I want to set it to 68 so it doesn't run the heat too much, but if there is any semblance of sun, the AC kicks on and makes me feel cold and annoyed.

 

[COdogman]

The reason it's important to have a separate pet mode that shows on the display is to notify people outside the vehicle the pet is ok and the HVAC is on so they don't bust out your windows to free your suffering dogs.

 

[Picard]

My feedback is more mechanical in nature. They need to move the central vents. They are too low and impossible to get the air to your face on a hot day. Please fix this in your refresh.

 

[R1Tom]

This, please! I'm in an area where it is currently only 40F in the mornings (and will get much colder in coming months) but if I set the temp below 72, I get the cool air. I want to set it to 68 so it doesn't run the heat too much, but if there is any semblance of sun, the AC kicks on and makes me feel cold and annoyed.

Confused by this. You are saying your cabin is 40 degF and if you set the climate control below 72 it goes into cooling mode?

 

[R1Tom]

My rant about AC is that why does it need to switch back and forth between cool and warm A/C I do not get it. Whenever I set it to warm the cabin up, it blows warm air until it reaches the temp then it start to blow cool air... Never had a car like that before.

It should simply stop blowing warm air until the cabin cools down by itself when it needs to turn on the warm air again. And I do not even have a chance to change to 'warm only' mode.

There is this stupid icon showing cool/warm only.

Why no 'cool only' or 'warm only' is beyond me.

*rant off*

Would make sense to allow user to select heat only or cool only. For me the auto changeover works great, but I cam see the need for heat/cool exclusive.

 

[R1Tom]

I have several challenges with the Rivian AC system I'd like to give feedback on, but the most frustrating to my wife and I is the climate controls:

1. In any old school car, you twist the fan nob and it's blasting. You don't have to look away from the road. In the Rivian you click the screen, look for the speed area, look for the + button, click it several times. Meanwhile, your eyes have been off the road reading a screen for far too long
Fix: When the right steering controls are not active, make them control the AC either automatically or by setting. Spinner for temp and left/right for fan speed

2. Instead of just having Pet Mode (I have no pet I would drive around), change it to:
a. Be Right Back Mode - Keep car cool (or warm), keep the radio on in the same spot, don't lock the doors, etc...
-- this is the family in the car and oops forgot my jacket scenario

b. Use logic... when the car is 119 degrees and from the app I put it to 62, put the AC on HIGH not trickle out
-- even better is the Be Right Back button on the app
And don't make me pick a temp... just logically set the car to comfortable temp as quickly as possible (settings or common sense)

c. Use AI... the car is 47 degrees on a Monday at 6:45am. Over the past 19 of 22 days we have driven the car at approx 7:30am. Just get the car ready for driving assuming we are going to drive.
Or
You drive to a shopping center - keep the car comforable for a few hours
* Call this Don't Care About Battery mode if you want but let us opt in and simply keep the car comfortable any time it's likely someone might drive

Anyone else looking for a smarter or easier to use climate system?

We have a list of other feedback I will submit on a separate post, but this one is the one that annoys us most.

Thanks!

Doesn't it sense if someone is in vehicle and if so keep everything running? My wife stays in my R1T all the time and it all keeps working.

 

[Chrisy]

This, please! I'm in an area where it is currently only 40F in the mornings (and will get much colder in coming months) but if I set the temp below 72, I get the cool air. I want to set it to 68 so it doesn't run the heat too much, but if there is any semblance of sun, the AC kicks on and makes me feel cold and annoyed.

It works the same for me!
Or I believe that is how it worked for me. Can not tell as my T broke after 10 days of usage but if my memories serves well it was the same.

All of my other cars I used 68F "to be gentle on the A/C system" and this is the first car I need to set 71F to get warm air instead of cool air. Even if my cabin temp was 50F when it started if I set 68F it blew cool air. Super weird

 

[LeDiable]

Confused by this. You are saying your cabin is 40 degF and if you set the climate control below 72 it goes into cooling mode?

Outside temps are ~40F, overnight in the garage the cabin temp is 60-65. After driving for a short time with just a little sun, the system likes to switch over to blowing cool air instead of just turning off until the cabin temp drops below the set point.

Thinking about it a little more, what would be sort of nice is a user-defined "comfort range" so I could tell it to keep the cabin anywhere between 68-75.

 

[R1Tom]

Outside temps are ~40F, overnight in the garage the cabin temp is 60-65. After driving for a short time with just a little sun, the system likes to switch over to blowing cool air instead of just turning off until the cabin temp drops below the set point.

Thinking about it a little more, what would be sort of nice is a user-defined "comfort range" so I could tell it to keep the cabin anywhere between 68-75.

I agree...a user definable dead band would be nice. Probably take the fan speed to minimum and then deliver close to setpoint air temp. I assume they have a sensor in the supply ducting and could modulate the air blender to achieve tha without running mechanical cooling or heating in those situations.

 

[Rivdog]

It doesn’t solve most of your issues, but setting up the Alexa commands has made it MUCH easier for me. I know some don’t want Alexa in the vehicle, but it’s been so much more convenient for me.

 

[Fax]

I’d like to be able to automatically maintain a temperature just using outside air. I live in the desert and the sun will do a nice job heating the car on the winter. Why do I need to use the a/c when it’s cold enough outside to keep cool with fresh air?

 

[LoneStar]

I'd be happy with a fan-speed control icon on the main screen lower banner with the others
Up arrow (fan icon) down arrow

 

[tk21]

This, please! I'm in an area where it is currently only 40F in the mornings (and will get much colder in coming months) but if I set the temp below 72, I get the cool air. I want to set it to 68 so it doesn't run the heat too much, but if there is any semblance of sun, the AC kicks on and makes me feel cold and annoyed.

Ditto. Drives me nuts. Same with lack of fan speed changes while in Auto. Set to 68, it’s 110 outside, auto has it on fan speed 2 of 5….

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