Climate Control Fan Speed Buggy

When I turn on the fan speed from off to 1 notch, the fan speed ramps up to about half speed (much more than expected) but displays 1 bar on the dash. If I rotate up one more the fan speed reduces back to normal (speed 2). Anyone else seeing this?

If so, any chance of fixing it? Not a huge issue, but kinda curious how readily they'd fix it. Ian?

I've seen that exact same behavior a number of times. Just never seemed bothersome enough to try to get it fixed (also I figured I wouldn't be able to duplicate it if I brought her in to the dealer).

Question. What was so wrong with a dedicated heater, dedicated radio, and so on. GM's not alone in this but it sure violates the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle.

emv said:

...Question. What was so wrong with a dedicated heater, dedicated radio, and so on. ..

Click to expand...

Ha, you should see the climate controls on a Gen 1 Volt...
At least we have knobs you can easily grab and make things happen.

On occasion my Climate Control pop-down header on the display locks up. The knobs still work, but the display does not show any changes.
At the next stop light a reboot of the car will fix it.

Just curious, do you have the Auto Defog set to 'ON' under the Climate and Air Quality Menu? I think that will turn on the heat and ramp up the fan speed whenever the computer think you might need it.

Auto Defog is OFF, even though it likes to auto recirculate and be warm in the morning. (Auto defog = "ON" behavior)

After playing with it some more, it looks like this behavior only happens when the Defrost button is pressed (Defrost only). All of the other modes are fine and do the proper behavior, which sounds like they at least attempted to get it right.

I am taking it into the dealer on Thursday to see what they say. Will report back.

Personally, the behavior you describe sounds normal for 'defrost' mode. It seems to me that one would WANT the fan to run at a higher speed at first when turning on the defrost, and slow down at a later point. If I simply press the defrost button and not touch the fan control, the fan comes on a wee bit and the windshield clears in 10-20 seconds or so. If I adjust the fan, I obviously want a higher speed.

The Defroster button is sort of a Bail Out button. It's a fed thing, for safety reasons.

For example on the new Prius Prime it starts the engine, even though this car is an attempt to copy what the Volt can do, which is be a 4 season EV and never run the engine unless absolutely necessary.

Good luck at the dealership.
Don't believe everything they say. This may be the first or second Spark EV to come into the shop.
“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” ― W.C. Fields.

It'd be great except for my use case, where I like driving in near silence, and my small breaths in the winter is enough to build up windshield fog eventually. So I turn it on, then turn it off, etc.

For the record, I always keep it in defrost mode. (The light is on). I am not actively pressing the button.

As a workaround I think I can use one of the other modes.

Thanks a lot for the good information and help!

According to Chevy dealership, this is "normal operation" in their handbook. Clicking it twice overrides the 1st click setting, which is to turn speed/temp/air source according to moisture sensor near windshield. So I guess I will move it around a bit before setting it to the 1st setting.