HVAC too Hot

Wife and I noticed this the past few times we have been out. The dang car is insufferable. My LGT I set to 68 and it was fine. I set this thing to 68 and it keeps getting hotter and hotter and hotter. Sitting waiting in traffic today we had to put the AC all the way down to LO to get cold air circulating.

Apparently I am not the only one:

https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/heater-blowing-too-hot-air.516187/page-3

Some people have to set the hvac to 62/63 to maintain around 70 degrees in the cabin. That is insane.

Anyone with a legacy experiencing this issue (among the other 50 the car has)?

Who cares what the number is? Just set it to what is comfortable. I keep mine at 63 here in MA in winter. I have a lot of issues with the car as you know but that isn't one of mine.. I just look at the numbers as higher/lower and don't care what the actual is, if 60 is too hot, set it for 50, why does it matter what the number says? Most older cars just have that red/blue knob and no actual numbers, I guess that is what I am used to anyways.

that attitude is the problem with america. you need to hold engineers to better standards otherwise you get shit products. would you want to set your home hvac to 62 to get a comfortable temp of 68? no. why should you have to deal with a defect when you pay good money for something.

True. I guess I just think of cars as different in that most cars I have owned just have the red/blue knob.. In my home I am not sitting 2ft from the ac/heat vents either.

I agree. In both my wife’s Onyx and my Legacy Limited XT our temp setting this winter has been 63-65. Now initially to achieve that temp when the outside temp is 30* you are going to feel a lot of heat coming out of the vents. My wife only uses the foot directed flow for that reason. I use both upper - face - and foot flow setting. I believe these cars, it may vary by model, have an electric heating mechanism that kicks in till the engine warms up. I haven’t confirmed that but have read it on several sites. I believe it to be the case because we get heat in these vehicles faster than in anything else we’ve ever owned. Long before the engine has warmed.

I experimented a couple of times by placing a thermometer I know to be accurate on the center armrest as I drove around. I felt that was a good spot that would indicate the interior ambient temperature. Initially I got a lot of heat coming out of those upper vents to my face, I had it set to 65. But as I drove, it took a good 20 minutes or so, I could feel the heat coming from the vents diminishing gradually, but the thermometer read 64-66 consistently after that.

So yes to get a car’s interior, that is probably in the 20’s or 30’s up 30 degrees or more, to whatever you have set, there is going to be a blast of heat initially. But the longer your drive is that will level out to maintain your setting.

That initial blast does bother my wife which is why she only uses the floor setting, but she also has her fan level turned up. I almost always have my fan set to the lowest level and sometimes the second, unless I’m trying to defrost the windshield. And you could always play with the vents, closing off the ones that are blowing in your face, as you said, from two feet away.

We both both have had a few issues with the vehicles but have been extremely happy with the heating and A/C systems.

Apparently they have a ceramic heating element to get things going more quickly. Mine is pretty warm initially when I hit the highway then once I slow down for the first town it settles into the temperature range that it's actually set at and stays there throughout the drive.

My 05 GT would do the same thing but not as warm initially though.

I don't mind since it dipped to -30 Celsius the last week.

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I never use the Full Auto setting. I set my temperature to 20C (68F), fan in first or second gear and it's fine.

That’s what I do as well, never use the auto setting. However 68F would smoke me out of the car. But I believe you may be in a more northern area than I am. I use 67 for remote start but never go above 65 while in the car.

I see I am not the only one who thinks the heat is too strong in the new Legacies.

I have to set the temperature to 65F for my XT, any higher and it gets uncomfortable. Sometimes I even open the sunroof or a window to bleed out some of the heat.

My Ascent, my previous Legacies (05 and 13) and my Tribeca, I usually have the temperature at 67F with the fan on level 1 or 2 and I would be comfortable all year round.

I took it into the dealer on Monday for my software update and I asked the dealer about it. They did not find anything wrong, so I assume this Legacy's temperature sensor is not as sensitive or it is placed in a spot that is not optimal for temperature readings.

I see I am not the only one who thinks the heat is too strong in the new Legacies.

I have to set the temperature to 65F for my XT, any higher and it gets uncomfortable. Sometimes I even open the sunroof or a window to bleed out some of the heat.

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It’s only too strong when it’s heating the car up from a cold temp. I have mine set at 65 also, that’s as high as I put it when I’m in the car. When I get in the car the interior temp is in the 30s or lower so yeah it’s going to pump out a lot heat initially to raise the temp 30 or more degrees. That’s expected. All electric heaters do if you set a temp thats far above current ambient. Once it does that it dials the heat down that’s coming out of the vents and maintains that 65 temp which I’ve checked with a thermometer on the center armrest. Until it reaches ambient 65 and dials the heat down I also sometimes tilt the sunroof up then shut it when it reaches 65 or leave it if I’m still all bundled up.

Compared to my ‘06 Legacy this thing is fantastic with heating. No complaints here, it’s just the way it works. Different, better, and much appreciated.

It’s only too strong when it’s heating the car up from a cold temp. I have mine set at 65 also, that’s as high as I put it when I’m in the car. When I get in the car the interior temp is in the 30s or lower so yeah it’s going to pump out a lot heat initially to raise the temp 30 or more degrees. That’s expected. All electric heaters do if you set a temp thats far above current ambient. Once it does that it dials the heat down that’s coming out of the vents and maintains that 65 temp which I’ve checked with a thermometer on the center armrest. Until it reaches ambient 65 and dials the heat down I also sometimes tilt the sunroof up then shut it when it reaches 65 or leave it if I’m still all bundled up.

 

Compared to my ‘06 Legacy this thing is fantastic with heating. No complaints here, it’s just the way it works. Different, better, and much appreciated.

Maybe I am just use to how my previous 3 Subarus and the Ascent handled the temperature. Set a tempertature and turn on the fan to lvl1. That's it.

The 2020 does not dial down the heat as fast as the other Subarus. In 2020 Legacy, when the temp is set at 67, it stays hot and seems to get hotter than 67, but when set at 65 it seems to stay steady at 65. The 2 degree difference between 65 and 67 does not matter in the Ascent, but in the Legacy, it does.

Maybe I am just use to how my previous 3 Subarus and the Ascent handled the temperature. Set a tempertature and turn on the fan to lvl1. That's it

As I mentioned I’m used to our previous Subarus when I didn’t get any heat until I pulled into my garage at work. Now with these new ones we get heat, real heat, within a couple minutes of starting off. If I drive long enough for the thermometer I’ve used on the center armrest to get to the temp I’ve set on the system the heat begins to dial down.

I don’t know where the sensors are placed, I believe that is shown in the manual but I haven’t looked. However I use that center armrest as representative of the ambient temp within the car. And once that thermometer gets up to the temp I’ve set the heat that is pumped out starts decreasing at the vents. Our cars were 14 and 15 years old so I can’t speak to how more recent Subarus handled this but we are extremely pleased with the improvements we’ve experienced. We do have the temp set between 63-65 so far in the winter and about 65-67 in the summer when running A/C. We’ve never used the auto setting. Our old Subarus couldn’t be set to less than 65 which was essentially off for heat and max for A/C.

An interesting aspect to the way the heat system works. Yesterday I used the remote start function with the temp set to 67 and the defrosters on front and rear thinking there may still be some ice on the windshields. However the outside temp was in the 50s and between that and the sun heating up the interior of the car I think the interior temp was pretty close to what I had set the system for.

When I got in the car, the engine was still running, there was little to no heat blowing out of the vents on the 3rd fan level. That confirms to me that if the heating system only needs to raise the interior temp a degree or so, based on your settings, very little heat will be felt. But if the interior is in the 30s and you set the system to the 60s it has to pump out a lot of heat to raise the temp by 30 degrees. And I’m never going to complain about feeling a lot of heat when the temp is in the 30s or below. Needless to say I’m extremely impressed at how efficient this system is. Kudos to Subaru for this, only wish their software were this efficient.

Compared to my other car a 2000 Jetta TDI where the heat doesn't start to trickle in till about 15min into a drive (or only a bit if any in -30) the Legacy heater is fantastic.

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