Climate control and tactile feedback

[elle]

I've been thinking about this recently. One of the complaints we hear about the Fusion is the "confusing" MFT interface. I don't think it's confusing at all, and I believe that this complaint is probably leveled mainly by older reviewers who aren't used to using touchscreen technology or even computer technology to get things done.

 

That being said, there is one thing I miss, and that is having something I can touch and feel in my hand that helps me do climate control without having to look away from the windshield.

 

In an old-fashioned car you had a knob for the fan and a knob for the temperature. It was pretty easy to just feel for those two things and set them the way you wanted them without glancing away from the road. Now I find climate control to be a much more distracting process, because there really is no good way to do it by feel in this car. If I were to make one suggestion for improving the Fusion, I think it might be to put a couple of knobs back on the dash for climate control.

 

What say you? Do you miss this the way I do?

[Toz]

Can't most of the climate controls be adjusted with voice commands?

[GrySql]

What say you? Do you miss this the way I do?

My wife does.....

[SteveB_TX]

What say you? Do you miss this the way I do?

 

As one of those "older reviewers"... Nope.

[elle]

Can't most of the climate controls be adjusted with voice commands?

 

I don't know; I've never tried to use voice commands for this. My big issue is that I live in central California. It's cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon, so I run heat and a/c both in any given day. I get into the car in the morning and start to back up, then realize that I still have the AC on from the night before and it's only 45* so I want to quickly make a change, but with the back up camera on, I can't. Right now I just have to stop, put it in park, and change everything before I can head out. It's a minor inconvenience.

[elle]

As one of those "older reviewers"... Nope.

 

You are probably not any older than I am. I'm in my 50's. The ones I am talking about are the Consumer Reports guys who carry on as though they can't figure out that there's a different function in each corner of the main touch screen.

[SteveB_TX]

Keep the climate control on auto and you won't have to worry about it as much :)

[elle]

I

 

Keep the climate control on auto and you won't have to worry about it as much :)

I'd like to do that, but with the temperature extremes here I find myself at lunchtime getting into a car that's baking hot from sunlight, even though the outside temperature is below 65*. When I leave the car on auto at these times ("my temp" is 71*) the heat runs. It's already hot in the car, and I don't need the extra heat. Rolling down the windows to air it out is only temporarily helpful because the sun continues to beat down through the windows and heat up the cabin. I really want A/C but have to manually turn it on somehow in order to get it. I wish I had a button for "my temp" and "my other temp" ;)

[clummus]

I just started a topic on this a few days ago, because I have the same aggravation. Too cool in am and warm in afternoon. I am experimenting with using voice. But that's not quick either..it doesn't seem to understand .."change temperature to high". You have to say climate, then set temp, then high. Unless I'm doing it wrong.

[B25Nut]

 

I don't know; I've never tried to use voice commands for this. My big issue is that I live in central California. It's cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon, so I run heat and a/c both in any given day. I get into the car in the morning and start to back up, then realize that I still have the AC on from the night before and it's only 45* so I want to quickly make a change, but with the back up camera on, I can't. Right now I just have to stop, put it in park, and change everything before I can head out. It's a minor inconvenience.

 

We're also in Central Cal and our average temperature differential is probably 40 degrees, with some days seeing over a 50 degree difference. I have developed the habit of turning the climate off after pulling into my garage. I have two temperatures I use: 74 for A/C and 72 for heat. Most of the time I only have my fan running at 30-40%. The only time I use Auto is when I need to defrost immediately. Otherwise, I do not like how it initially goes into Hi fan, which is almost as loud as a leaf blower.

Do you have a moonroof, Elle? It really helps with letting the heat escape from inside the car, as does using your key to roll down all the windows before you get to the car. I know this doesn't apply 100% of the time, but climate control seem to be a bigger issue for women than it is for men. Girls want it their temperature, now.

I'm with Elle as far as using voice control. I have found that most of the time it takes longer compared to just using my finger. I have never used it when I'm alone in the car. It has only been used when I want to show off the Fusion's technology to new passengers, but that may be due to the fact that I'm very resistant to changing my habits.

[acdii]

I found the simplest way to manage the CC is to just shut it off before shutting off the car.

 

For the voice commands use "climate temperature high" or "climate temperature low" or "climate temperature 74 degrees".

 

Now if you have an accent (most of us do), then you may need to train the system to recognize your speech patterns. Takes about 15 minutes and fixes a lot of problems most people encounter, which if reviewers EVER spent the time to understand the system and take the time to RTFM, then there would be fewer complaints.

 

As far as complexity, my mother figured out the sync(non MLT) in her MKS, but has problems answering her Droid. Since I need a new phone, and my wife's phone gave up the ghost, I am shopping for new plans, and she will get a normal phone, one that you flip to answer, and has push buttons to dial a number. The only reason she got it was I needed an iPhone for work and had the Driod X, the phone she had wouldn't sync with Sync, and she wanted hands free for the MKS.