2021 CX-5 Grand Touring AC Issue?

Hi. My daughter has a new 2021 CX-5 GT and called telling me her AC was not working. She is 4 hours away and has no car experience so I asked her to send me a picture of what the AC controls looked like. I attached the picture. She said she hit everything she could to try and see if she could get it come on and nothing worked. She restarted the car and said it started working again but said she had done that numerous times. Now I can't be sure what she actually tried or didn't try and all I have to go in is the picture. Do you see anything in the picture that doesn't look right that she might have hit to make it stop working or why it would not be blowing if this was how it looked at the time? She said it wasn't blowing or doing any thing as if it was off. I thought maybe she hit the fan down button but the auto light is on. Any known issues with these doing that and how to address? I'm just trying to get an idea if this is a problem she needs to have checked or an accident on her part as I'm nowhere close to help her.

Thanks for any help.
 

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@unforgiven Idunno what the outside temperature is but the car may be @ 72 degrees inside. I would think it would still have the fan running at low speed. I assume she tried turning the desired room temperature down lower than 72? Also, (per the picture) the passenger side is operating separately from the driver side (not sync'd).

I would ....

1, push the passenger side knob to illuminate the "sync" light
2. rotate the driver side knob counter clockwise to a lower temperature or even fully low.

if that didn't work, I would push the driver side knob to turn off the "auto" light , turn the dial fully counter clockwise and increase the fan speed manually.

if that didn't work, a trip to the dealer may be in order.

Good luck!
 
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@unforgiven Idunno what the outside temperature is but the car may be @ 72 degrees inside. I would think it would still have the fan running at low speed. I assume she tried turing the desired room temperature down lower than 72? Also, (per the picture) the passenger side is operating separately from the driver side (not sync'd).

I would ....

1, push the passenger side knob the illuminate the "sync" light
2. rotate the driver side know counter clockwise to a lower temperature or even fully low.

if that didn't work, I would push the driver side knob to turn off the "auto" light , turn the dial fully counter clockwise and increase the fan speed normally.

if that didn't work, a trip to the dealer may be in order.

Good luck!
Thank you. I will have her do this if it happens again. She is in South Florida so it was at the high at about 89F today.
 
I agree, turn off auto, sync both sides, twist left knob to colder temp and + fan button. Pic shows auto set at 72 and fan speed at zero which makes me think it reached that temp within the cabin and turned off the fan. I could be wrong, as I never use the auto feature. I always leave the temp on lowest setting and manually set my fan speed. When I do this, the minimum fan speed will show as one bar. I’ve never seen zero bars there. Also curious if the red showing next to the mode indicator person (knee area) icon is a reflection or actually lit up red. I don’t think I’ve seen that either.
 
See what I mean about people not having a clue what to do? Not your daughter, she’s admitted it but all the above that have said turn off the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver. Tell your daughter that the fan speed is at zero if she looks in the display and the reason is because she’s somehow got it hung. Turn it off at the power button lit up on the top row then she’s absolutely right to just press the auto button on the left rotary switch. Leave it in auto and just set a comfortable temperature and it will take care of the rest.
 
Well I'm in TX where it's hot and humid all the time. AC stays on, at max cold for 10 months of the year, with all adjustments made at the fan speed control. If it gets too cold, you don't touch the temp setting, you lower the fan speed. That's not how it's done everywhere?
 
See what I mean about people not having a clue what to do? Not your daughter, she’s admitted it but all the above that have said turn off the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver. Tell your daughter that the fan speed is at zero if she looks in the display and the reason is because she’s somehow got it hung. Turn it off at the power button lit up on the top row then she’s absolutely right to just press the auto button on the left rotary switch. Leave it in auto and just set a comfortable temperature and it will take care of the rest.
But I have to say if Mazda’s Automatic Climate Control is the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver, it shouldn’t be just got hung without providing any help to an “unsophisticated” user? On gen-1 CX-5 there’s no “Power On/Off” button with an icon and indicator but an “OFF” button (no power switch icon and no indicator light) so I’m not sure they serve the same purpose. If you’re suggesting just hit that power button to “reboot” the Automatic Climate Control, this’s nothing different like to reboot a Windows system whenever there’s a problem. Luckily most likely the problem would be solved.

I personally would never use Auto mode from Automatic Climate Control on the vehicles I have owned. They seem to always set the fan speed the maximum at beginning and continuously at much higher fan speed (noisy) than I preferred trying to bring the cabin temperature down (or up with heater) to the set / desired temperature fast. During freezing winter in Dallas Texas area, I really don’t want large volume of very cold air at the start up when the engine is still cold with Auto mode. Like dunhillmc said above in mostly hot weather in Texas, if I need AC, I’ll set the desired cabin temperature to the lowest at 60°F, and adjust the fan speed manually for comfort. Never need the Auto mode.
 
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See what I mean about people not having a clue what to do? Not your daughter, she’s admitted it but all the above that have said turn off the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver. Tell your daughter that the fan speed is at zero if she looks in the display and the reason is because she’s somehow got it hung. Turn it off at the power button lit up on the top row then she’s absolutely right to just press the auto button on the left rotary switch. Leave it in auto and just set a comfortable temperature and it will take care of the rest.

How friendly of you! But really, “the most sophisticated piece of equipment” made me laugh. So sophisticated it stopped functioning. That’s never happened to me using the a/c manually, just saying.

Well I'm in TX where it's hot and humid all the time. AC stays on, at max cold for 10 months of the year, with all adjustments made at the fan speed control. If it gets too cold, you don't touch the temp setting, you lower the fan speed. That's not how it's done everywhere?

Yes, same here. In Texas and don’t need the auto feature. Never used it on any of my cars in my 30 yrs of driving.

But I have to say if Mazda’s Automatic Climate Control is the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver, it shouldn’t be just got hung without providing any help to an “unsophisticated” user? On gen-1 CX-5 there’s no “Power On/Off” button with an icon and indicator but an “OFF” button (no power switch icon and no indicator light) so I’m not sure they serve the same purpose. If you’re suggesting just hit that power button to “reboot” the Automatic Climate Control, this’s nothing different like to reboot a Windows system whenever there’s a problem. Luckily most likely the problem would be solved.

I personally would never use Auto mode from Automatic Climate Control on the vehicles I have owned. They seem to always set the fan speed the maximum at beginning and continuously at much higher fan speed (noisy) than I preferred trying to bring the cabin temperature down (or up with heater) to the set / desired temperature fast. During freezing winter in Dallas Texas area, I really don’t want large volume of very cold air at the start up when the engine is still cold with Auto mode. Like dunhillmc said above in mostly hot weather in Texas, if I need AC, I’ll set the desired cabin temperature to the lowest at 60°F, and adjust the fan speed manually for comfort. Never need the Auto mode.

And again, all very good points. But hey, what do we know? We are all clueless! 🙄
 
Other users are correct that the fan is turned to its lowest setting. Press auto once to turn it off and once again to turn it back on. ( the big knob, she may not have realised the knob is also a buttong). If that doesn’t work then manually increase the fan speed by pressing the fan+ button repeatedly.
 
See what I mean about people not having a clue what to do? Not your daughter, she’s admitted it but all the above that have said turn off the most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver. Tell your daughter that the fan speed is at zero if she looks in the display and the reason is because she’s somehow got it hung. Turn it off at the power button lit up on the top row then she’s absolutely right to just press the auto button on the left rotary switch. Leave it in auto and just set a comfortable temperature and it will take care of the rest.
Can't "see what you mean" since this is your first post in the thread....

"most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver" That's funny given that it is what, as you say "got it hung", not his daughter as you imply since it's in the Auto setting.

It didn't take care of the rest when already in the "Auto" setting so that obviously isn't a 100% solution since you're suggesting it needs a reboot to work properly.
 
Well I'm in TX where it's hot and humid all the time. AC stays on, at max cold for 10 months of the year, with all adjustments made at the fan speed control. If it gets too cold, you don't touch the temp setting, you lower the fan speed. That's not how it's done everywhere?
That's exactly how it's done by me.
 
Pressing the fan button will take it out of Auto mode. If I were in FL i would keep it on manual, adjust the temp and fan speed myself.

note: When you remove it from Auto mode and then restart the car later you may have to push the A/C button again to get the system into A/C mode.
 
Can't "see what you mean" since this is your first post in the thread....

"most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver" That's funny given that it is what, as you say "got it hung", not his daughter as you imply since it's in the Auto setting.

It didn't take care of the rest when already in the "Auto" setting so that obviously isn't a 100% solution since you're suggesting it needs a reboot to work properly.
It is a solution. If she turns it off with the power button, then presses the auto switch again it will work perfectly because it is currently hung. The benefit of leaving it in auto is that it will automatically vary the temperature and the airflow to maintain the desired temperature where all the suggestions for manual will just chill the interior continuously even if it is already cold first thing in the morning for example.
 
Can't "see what you mean" since this is your first post in the thread....

"most sophisticated piece of equipment available to the driver" That's funny given that it is what, as you say "got it hung", not his daughter as you imply since it's in the Auto setting.

It didn't take care of the rest when already in the "Auto" setting so that obviously isn't a 100% solution since you're suggesting it needs a reboot to work properly.
This is what I was referring to with “see what I mean”;


Post in thread 'AC Fan Blower sometimes not working'
https://mazdas247.com/forum/t/ac-fan-blower-sometimes-not-working.123869071/post-6738054
 
It is a solution. If she turns it off with the power button, then presses the auto switch again it will work perfectly because it is currently hung. The benefit of leaving it in auto is that it will automatically vary the temperature and the airflow to maintain the desired temperature where all the suggestions for manual will just chill the interior continuously even if it is already cold first thing in the morning for example.
Yes, I understand how auto climate control works. I've had it on at least 15 different vehicles. Your "solution" to put it in Auto is the setting where the problem is occurring. The fact that it gets "hung" as you put it while in Auto means that the Auto setting is not the panacea you profess it to be.
 
Yes, I understand how auto climate control works. I've had it on at least 15 different vehicles. Your "solution" to put it in Auto is the setting where the problem is occurring. The fact that it gets "hung" as you put it while in Auto means that the Auto setting is not the panacea you profess it to be.
It just seems such a shame to override such a powerful computer. There are certain actions the owner can undertake that will cause it to say I can’t perform that although I can’t immediately remember what they are. That’s where it is now with no fan speed. If she turns it off then presses auto it’s like control alt delete. Not trying to be a clever clogs but that really is a superb bit of kit when used in auto.
 
It just seems such a shame to override such a powerful computer. There are certain actions the owner can undertake that will cause it to say I can’t perform that although I can’t immediately remember what they are. That’s where it is now with no fan speed. If she turns it off then presses auto it’s like control alt delete. Not trying to be a clever clogs but that really is a superb bit of kit when used in auto.
I wouldn't call it a powerful computer. It does some rudimentary calculations based on several sensors and adjusts the a/c compressor clutch, blower fan and a few airflow actuators. The fact that it has gotten hung up and stopped working, and needs to be reset is a sign that it isn't programmed all that well. I've never had another Auto system do that.

I also find the auto setting leaves a bit to be desired in its operation, even if it's pretty good overall. It's mid-pack compared to other vehicles I've owned.
 
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