# Remote Started - Climate Control Behavior?



## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

I installed the OEM add on to my car after purchase for remote start. I can remote start via Car-Net or the remote and it works as intended.

However, what is the normal behavior of the climate control system because when I get in the car it seems to be inactive until I start the car. While the car is “warmer” it still defeats the purpose in my opinion because my windows are still full of ice. 

Is there settings or something to adjust this? I can see it being in an eco mode or something since it has been remote started, but the fact that I remote start my car snd still have to wait for the windows to be defrosted really doesn’t make sense to me.

Am I missing something?


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## EVANGELIONHD (May 9, 2012)

Are you previously leaving it on and in full blast? I think it starts as you leave it before

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## lopezzi (Sep 15, 2017)

I believe you can adjust the settings, but you’d have to read the manual to find out where as I don’t remember off the top of my head, but I do know that the HVAC system is supposed to come on at set itself to 72 degrees, and it should know if the temp is below a certain degree, it will turn on the heater and seat/steering wheel warmers to heat it up and if it’s above a certain degree, it will turn on the A/C to cool it down. I don’t remember the exact set points but they are listed in the manual. Also, this is all assuming you have the automatic climate controls (should be in SE trim and above) and not the manual version (S trim). If you do have the manual controls, I would assume it will do whatever you had it set to last when you turned off the car. 


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## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

EVANGELIONHD said:


> Are you previously leaving it on and in full blast? I think it starts as you leave it before
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


I have tried leaving it on full blast and auto with the same result. I get in the car and no heat is blowing, but as soon as I press the start button it activates the last position for the climate control.



lopezzi said:


> I believe you can adjust the settings, but you’d have to read the manual to find out where as I don’t remember off the top of my head, but I do know that the HVAC system is supposed to come on at set itself to 72 degrees, and it should know if the temp is below a certain degree, it will turn on the heater and seat/steering wheel warmers to heat it up and if it’s above a certain degree, it will turn on the A/C to cool it down. I don’t remember the exact set points but they are listed in the manual. Also, this is all assuming you have the automatic climate controls (should be in SE trim and above) and not the manual version (S trim). If you do have the manual controls, I would assume it will do whatever you had it set to last when you turned off the car.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I will have to look in my manual. It is an SE model, but the remote start was added after.

I just assumed that the behavior of the climate control would just auto turn on when the remote start was activated, seems weird there is an additional setting but I couldn’t find anything when going through the radio system.

From the sounds of it though, my set up is NOT functioning as intended, so either it’s a setting I can figure out or it will need to go to the dealer who programmed the relay for me I guess?


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

Just did a quick test of this now, super cold outside. Turned on the car normally (2019) and set to 25C/77F, and set fan to full. Seat/steering wheel heaters off.

Turned off, left and locked vehicle, then remote start.

Car had temp set to 22C/72F, fan on Auto, seat/steering wheel heaters on.

So the previous state has no impact. Unsure if there's a user-controlled (non-programatic) way to set the default status.


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## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

phlegm said:


> Just did a quick test of this now, super cold outside. Turned on the car normally (2019) and set to 25C/77F, and set fan to full. Seat/steering wheel heaters off.
> 
> Turned off, left and locked vehicle, then remote start.
> 
> ...


When you got in the car, assuming the radio screen and everything was black, but you could hear or feel heat before pressing the start button, correct?

For example, I get in my car, radio is black, I feel no heat, everything is still cold, but I press the start button and the heat kicks on instantly. 

I’m thinking it’s a setting that the dealer never turned on when installing as it seems the common theme is for these cars to turn heat to 72F when temp outside reaches x.


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

Jester2893 said:


> When you got in the car, assuming the radio screen and everything was black, but you could hear or feel heat before pressing the start button, correct?
> 
> For example, I get in my car, radio is black, I feel no heat, everything is still cold, but I press the start button and the heat kicks on instantly.
> 
> I’m thinking it’s a setting that the dealer never turned on when installing as it seems the common theme is for these cars to turn heat to 72F when temp outside reaches x.


Hmmm, good question. The car was pretty cold, and I didn't leave it on long enough to know if anything had truly kicked in heat-wise.

I'll have to test again at some point.


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

First, the factory remote start has a 10min runtime limit per activation, with 2 activations allowed before you have to go out and manually start the car. This may not do much of anything except take the biting chill out of the interior before you get in.

Second, the factory setting for the HVAC is preset to 25C auto mode, with rear glass defogger and seat heaters enabled at level 2 (but not the damn steering wheel heater) when temps drop below 10C. 

The climate control mode can be coded to apply the last-used setting (setting to high temp/fan before shutdown will come up in the same mode on remote start). The seat heating and rear defrost can be enabled/disabled as well. The steering wheel heat cannot (for some mystery reason). 

Best option for really cold days is coding the vehicle to be lockable with KESSY from the outside while running. NOTE: if you leave the engine running and LOCK with KESSY, you MUST UNLOCK with KESSY. the door handle sensors are disabled in the unattended run mode.


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

LennyNero said:


> First, the factory remote start has a 10min runtime limit per activation, with 2 activations allowed before you have to go out and manually start the car. This may not do much of anything except take the biting chill out of the interior before you get in.
> 
> Second, the factory setting for the HVAC is preset to 25C auto mode, with rear glass defogger and seat heaters enabled at level 2 (but not the damn steering wheel heater) when temps drop below 10C.
> 
> ...


Hmm... not sure why yours isn’t but my 2020 highline, the steering wheel also comes on if you set it to “sync with seat heater” in the settings menu. I have noticed however the display doesn’t always show that the steering wheel heater is on, but it indeed is as I feel it warming up and see the energy consumption in the energy consumers screen.

Using OBDeleven I seem to have solved that problem too by changing one of the steering wheel heater settings. Works perfect and as intended every time for me now.

Of course only when it’s cold outside... in the summer the seat/steering wheel heaters do not come on of course.

Cheers...
DoC


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

LennyNero said:


> ...
> 
> Second, the factory setting for the HVAC is preset to 25C auto mode, with rear glass defogger and seat heaters enabled at level 2 (but not the damn steering wheel heater) when temps drop below 10C.
> 
> ...


Odd, my factory setting was 22C, with steering wheel heater on. (I don't think the car is getting close to either temp on a cold day anyway.)


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## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

LennyNero said:


> First, the factory remote start has a 10min runtime limit per activation, with 2 activations allowed before you have to go out and manually start the car. This may not do much of anything except take the biting chill out of the interior before you get in.
> 
> Second, the factory setting for the HVAC is preset to 25C auto mode, with rear glass defogger and seat heaters enabled at level 2 (but not the damn steering wheel heater) when temps drop below 10C.
> 
> ...





DoC0427 said:


> Hmm... not sure why yours isn’t but my 2020 highline, the steering wheel also comes on if you set it to “sync with seat heater” in the settings menu. I have noticed however the display doesn’t always show that the steering wheel heater is on, but it indeed is as I feel it warming up and see the energy consumption in the energy consumers screen.
> 
> Using OBDeleven I seem to have solved that problem too by changing one of the steering wheel heater settings. Works perfect and as intended every time for me now.
> 
> ...



So from this, I gather that my vehicle is missing some setting turned on when the dealer installed my remote start.

When I remote start and get in my car, nothing is on, screen is black and I feel not heat. Once I push the start button the lights light up and the heat comes on (to whatever last state the vehicle was in), except for heated seats.

I guess I’ll have to do some digging with OBDeleven this weekend and see if I can figure out what’s going on.

Edit: found this so maybe I’ll play around here Change Climate Control -Remote Start- Default Setting


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## jonese (Jun 21, 2020)

My 2020 Highline remote start HVAC is 22C. It's set (and other settings) via VCDS or ODB11. You can't change it from the traditional dash controls.

Reference the following for how to modify it (it's Atlas, but it's nearly exactly the same).
Change Climate Control -Remote Start- Default Setting


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

I just checked mine and yea... when it’s started with the remote, the radio and dash are off (black) but the climate control comes on, set to a pre-set temp (not what I left it set to), turns the seat heater and steering wheel heater on too as it’s cold out today, as well as the rear defogger and I think the mirror heaters too.

Pic below for reference...










Cheers,
DoC


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## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

DoC0427 said:


> I just checked mine and yea... when it’s started with the remote, the radio and dash are off (black) but the climate control comes on, set to a pre-set temp (not what I left it set to), turns the seat heater and steering wheel heater on too as it’s cold out today, as well as the rear defogger and I think the mirror heaters too.
> 
> Pic below for reference...
> 
> ...


Appreciate this! Seems the dealer missed a setting as my climate control does not light up. I’ll have to see if I can find it in the settings to adjust the function.


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## Jester2893 (May 2, 2008)

Played around with settings today..no idea what I’m missing. Looks like all the settings are active to turn on the climate control to a set temperature along with heated seats. Settings appear to turn the climate control on to 22c and heated seat warmers to L2, but when I get in the vehicle after remote starting I am greeted with black climate controls and no heat!

There is a setting for “revert to last settings or predetermined values.” I believe my next step is to try to change that to to “last setting” and see if that works.

If not I guess I’ll have to call the dealer.


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

Jester2893 said:


> Played around with settings today..no idea what I’m missing. Looks like all the settings are active to turn on the climate control to a set temperature along with heated seats. Settings appear to turn the climate control on to 22c and heated seat warmers to L2, but when I get in the vehicle after remote starting I am greeted with black climate controls and no heat!
> 
> There is a setting for “revert to last settings or predetermined values.” I believe my next step is to try to change that to to “last setting” and see if that works.
> 
> If not I guess I’ll have to call the dealer.


I don’t think that will do it.
I think your issue is that the climate control module doesn’t power up in the auto-start mode. I have no idea where to set that though. I would take it back to the dealer that did it for you instead of muck around with things further. May cause more problems inadvertently.

Good luck...


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