There's an air condition button with a curved arrow in my car. What does it do?

Question

Is it healthier to breathe the air using this button? Will using it make my car get bad gas mileage? (Honda Civic)

Answer 1

The curved arrow button is the MAX A/C setting because it reuses the cabin air. The other button has an arrow starting from outside the car picture showing the air will come in from outside. The inside air is usually a little bit stale, but it will help cool the inside more quickly. What you should do when you get in your car first is lower the windows about 1 inch so the hot air that rises can escape, and run the A/C with the curved arrow button (MAX) for a few minutes. Once it doesn't feel so hot inside, raise the windows and let it cool down the inside until it gets to a comfortable temp. Then you would want to switch to the outside air button to get fresh air circulating inside the car, but it will still be cold. Good Luck!! Gas Mileage shouldn't be different, but your fan switch setting (speed low, med, high) can make a difference. Try using high speed to cool down the cabin, and low speed to maintain comfort.

Answer 2

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RE:
There's an air condition button with a curved arrow in my car. What does it do?
Is it healthier to breathe the air using this button? Will using it make my car get bad gas mileage? (Honda Civic)

Answer 3

That's a recirculate button.

Instead of taking fresh air from outside and cooling it, it takes air from inside and cool it. Because of this, it will cool somewhat quicker.

What would happen is, your cabin air starts to become stale as no fresh air is coming in.

It does make the A/C compressor kick-in less, so technically, it should give you a slightly BETTER gas mileage, but in reality it makes no difference.

It will give you less oxygen so you may start to feel tired after a long run like this. It's best to keep the fresh air coming by not pressing the button.

I recall a study about this feature, and the result was, even in urban environment, NOT using the recirculate button thus bringing in fresh air from outside yielded better air quality, dispite the fact you are constantly bringing in air + exhaust.

Answer 4

Car Button Symbols

Answer 5

The curved arrow just means it is recycled air. Instead of pulling in the hot air from outside and cooling it down, it uses the cool air that you are already chilling. In general I know this makes my car even cooler and therefore I dont have to blast the AC as much.

Answer 6

If you push this button it will recirculate the air within your car which will cause the air condition to work better because it doesn't have to cool the outside air. If this button is not pushed, it will let in fresh air from the outside but it has to cool it first.

Answer 7

It closes the vents allowing the outside air to come into the car. You really don't need to close except in the winter to keep the inside of you car warmer when its really cold out or on very hot days it will keep the air slightly cooler in the car when the A/C is turned on. Or if you know you are going to pass by places with a foul odor it will help a little to keep it from coming in the car. Its best to keep the vents open though to get fresh air though. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Must be the recirculation button, which puts the air from inside the car through the heating/cooling system. You won't suffocate but it'll get a bit stuffy if left on for too long.

Answer 9

The curved arrow is for recirculated air rather than taking in fresh air from outside. I never really use mine, and it won't change your gas mileage one bit.
Even using your A/C on a civic isn't going to change your gas mileage as much as most people think...you lose much more to improper tire pressure than you will to using the A/C.

Answer 10

It causes the air conditioner (AC) to draw air from inside the car instead of using outside air. Healthier? Not sure. The air came from out side originally. "Will using it make my car get bad gas mileage?" - No, it should not lower your gas mileage and might have a slight improvement effect. By cooling the air inside, after a while the air entering the AC is going to be cooler that outside air. Your AC will not need to run as often to keep the temperature where you set it. When the AC is not running, you get better gas mileage.