"Windy" AC in auto mode

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CX-9 AWD GT Titanium/Sand
I've had quite a few cars with AC auto mode in the past, and the normal operation in auto, for cold temperature on a hot day, would be that the blower starts up high, but within a minute or so it starts slowing down, and eventually the blower is a close to low speed, very quiet.
We've had the CX-9 for over a year, and both last and this summer, the "auto" feature in the car is useless. It starts off blasting the blower at high, and it never really quiets down. If left in "auto", it may go down 1 or 2 settings, but even at that, the blower is way too high, and it's really annoying driving with all that noise. Is this normal in Mazda??? We really have no problem with the AC otherwise, just can't use the "auto" mode. Always have to manually adjust the blower speed, which is disappointing. Even when the car is cool, with temp set to average 68 deg., when I press "auto", the blower automatically picks up few bars and the noise goes up in the cabin. I've never had a car that would try to compensate air temp. with so much of the blower.
 
My 2018 seems to do the same thing. I used to drive an IS250 that had the Auto temp control and it worked great (would blow cold air hard for a few minutes, then back down to 1-2 bars to maintain the temp). My CX-9 is a much larger cabin, so I think that's why it takes longer for the blower to wind down. If I let it run long enough, it does wind down eventually. I've noticed that my dad's Equinox and my brother-in-law's Murano behave the same way.
 
I had never noticed high blower speeds when in AC auto mode on our 2018, but thought maybe my hearing, or lack thereof, was the reason. Just checked it while making a run to the store. Granted it was only 80 outside, but once the temp in the car hit the target, the blower speed dropped to one bar. Dropped the temp setting two degrees, blower went to two bars and dropped back to one bar when the temp hit the target. I'll check it again when next time we're out with the temp in the high 80's, but your blower speed appears higher than mine when in auto mode.
 
sm1ke posted while I was writing my response and it made me wonder if there is something else impacting our experience. I always have the rear climate system activated and on auto either synced to the front temp or set at 70 to 72 (depending on when the grandkids last played with the controls). Are either of you using the rear Climate system all the time? Perhaps the extra circulation from the rear system helps keep the front blower at a lower speed.
 
sm1ke posted while I was writing my response and it made me wonder if there is something else impacting our experience. I always have the rear climate system activated and on auto either synced to the front temp or set at 70 to 72 (depending on when the grandkids last played with the controls). Are either of you using the rear Climate system all the time? Perhaps the extra circulation from the rear system helps keep the front blower at a lower speed.


My temps are currently set to 19c (about 66f) while outside ambient temps hang out around 32c (90f). We almost always have the rear climate control on because when my daughter is in the carseat, my wife is back there with her. On days when I'm alone in the car, I turn the rear off. I haven't noticed a difference, but that's probably because I haven't been paying much attention to how it behaves.
 
One thing I should also mention, I park outside while I'm at work, so when I first got the car, the cabin would be really warm after a long day of sitting in the sun. I had the windows and front windshield tinted with a ceramic UV-blocking tint to make the cabin a little cooler and also to protect the interior. That probably affects how long the auto climate control would take to bring a 28c cabin down to 19c (vs say 31c to 19c).


Peregrine7, maybe check to be sure the A/C is on/enabled? I just went out to my car to test, and you can actually set the climate control to auto at 15c, and turn the A/C on and off without kicking the system out of auto. Maybe the system is set to auto, but A/C is not enabled. If A/C is not enabled, and the temp is set low enough, the blower will just continue to run high in an effort to bring down the temp.
 
I've had quite a few cars with AC auto mode in the past, and the normal operation in auto, for cold temperature on a hot day, would be that the blower starts up high, but within a minute or so it starts slowing down, and eventually the blower is a close to low speed, very quiet.
We've had the CX-9 for over a year, and both last and this summer, the "auto" feature in the car is useless. It starts off blasting the blower at high, and it never really quiets down. If left in "auto", it may go down 1 or 2 settings, but even at that, the blower is way too high, and it's really annoying driving with all that noise. Is this normal in Mazda??? We really have no problem with the AC otherwise, just can't use the "auto" mode. Always have to manually adjust the blower speed, which is disappointing. Even when the car is cool, with temp set to average 68 deg., when I press "auto", the blower automatically picks up few bars and the noise goes up in the cabin. I've never had a car that would try to compensate air temp. with so much of the blower.

One of the early complaints about the current generation CX-9 was that A/C was underpowered and seemed to take a while to cool the car down. I'm wondering now if part of these complaints had to do with the blower cranking up and never slowing down, making itself noticeable...

If you are still under warranty it can't hurt to take it in and have it checked out.
 
Today was 30c outside, had the auto on 20 and it eventually went down to 3 notch. I always have the rear AC on and synced. Granted the sun isn’t has strong here in Canada than in other area of the world.

one thing i notice is that the climate control reverts to the use of recirculation mode too much for my liking. I understand it helps the car cools down faster but once temperature is lower i like to turn the recirculated mode off. Turning it off reduces the blower noise significantly, and is way more confortable, and in my case still provides enough cold air.
 
Sorry, this is 3 years old now and it seems like I went MIA... lol
Let's say, covid happened, other life events happened, and I forgot about this thread.
But thanks everyone for your responses.
I live in North Jersey. The temps get very high and humid in the summer. My side windows are tinted, but scorching sun definitely gets through the windshield. It's even worse after the car is left standing in the sun.
The auto feature works ok for most of the year, but in the summer, the AC system is clearly underpowered for this car. Doesn't matter if rear AC is on, if we set the temp to 68 or 69F, the blower would take like half hour before even starting to slow down, at least that's how it feels. We don't even use the auto option in the summer anymore, can't stand the noise of the blower on full for so long.
 
Sorry, this is 3 years old now and it seems like I went MIA... lol
Let's say, covid happened, other life events happened, and I forgot about this thread.
But thanks everyone for your responses.
I live in North Jersey. The temps get very high and humid in the summer. My side windows are tinted, but scorching sun definitely gets through the windshield. It's even worse after the car is left standing in the sun.
The auto feature works ok for most of the year, but in the summer, the AC system is clearly underpowered for this car. Doesn't matter if rear AC is on, if we set the temp to 68 or 69F, the blower would take like half hour before even starting to slow down, at least that's how it feels. We don't even use the auto option in the summer anymore, can't stand the noise of the blower on full for so long.
There's a TSB for the temp sensor. Maybe your car is affected by it.
 
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