I bought my new Nissan Rogue back in December... and have never owned a car newer then 2002 before. So maybe this is something that happens in new cars nowadays I dont know, but I thought it seemed abnormal. The air flow NEVER stops. I can be driving down the road,, with the heater on... and I get hot, so I cut it off. As soon as I do, it FEELS like the heater/ac fan is on its lowest setting as the air never stops coming from the vents. People tell me, "oh the air circulator light is probably still on" but thats NOT the case. Everything is completely turned off. I'm thinking, "oh man this must be hurting my gas mileage having the AC fan on nonstop." So I take it in to Nissan today and they say its perfectly fine. It's just the airflow coming in through the vents from outside the car. Thats ok and everytihing, but how come when I turn the "temperature control" knob it also controls the air coming through the vents from the "air outside the car"? It might just be me but I don't like the idea of riding down the road in 30 degree weather, to have the heater on in the car, and when I get hot, cut it off, but only to have to shut ALL the vents in the front of the car just to NOT feel the heat coming out. Is this issue normal with new cars (mainly just Nissan?) or is this a problem? Can't find much on the net from Google about this issue.
My dad has a 2009 Nissan Altima and my fiance has a 2005 Altima, both of their cars do this too...I think it is just a Nissan thing...
if you want to stop the air flow, turn the air knob to circulate. This way, you can fog up your windows really fast.
You probably don't have your air recirculation button on. What this means is that there are two settings at which you can have an AC/Heater. You can either get the air from the outside or you can turn on the recirculation system on where the vents shut from the outside and air recirculates in the car, by the way this is what cabin filters are for, to keep that recirculated air smelling clean. See the knob on the left? Look at the button in the middle which is a picture of a car with a rotation arrow on it. Make sure this is on when you turn off your A/C heater.
Its not just Nissan. I have a Silverado now that does this and had an 03 Yukon that did it to. The only thing that works to stop it is to turn the control knob to where it is only blowing out of the dash/the one pointing at the little face, and then to turn on the circulation button. It will not stop if you do not have it on the right settings. It is some horrible glitch in new cars that I don't get or understand. It can be a nuisance at times.
I have an 07 Camry and it has a button for circulation that lights up. However, a lot of the time it will only stay lit for like a minute at a time...as if on a timer. Then, it will cut off and outside air will start coming in. This is extremely frustrating especially driving in rush hour as, all of a sudden, outside polluted air hits me in the face and I have to quickly hit the button to stop it. So, driving down the freeway constantly hitting this button every time the light goes off and it starts letting outside air blow in. Other times...it will stay lit when my fan is off...which is confusing because...at times I described above...it intermittently switches off. I know if I run the a/c with the fan on low...I can get keep it on circulation no problem. But, a lot of the time, I don't want it on and don't want any air. I wish I knew what the person who designed this behavior was thinking???
I have a Civic that does that. I keep it on recirculate to avoid it. No big deal, and sometimes helpful.
