nakago1

have 2013 ES300h.

don't know if any other owners have same problem.
the air vent that goes to the back seats (in the middle of the console, 2 vents pointing back)
is extremely weak.

there is no separate control so i have to turn up the the fan to hurricane level for the back to get anything they can feel through those vents.

is this a fixable problem? or just a quirk i gotta live with of ES300H ?

lesz

I've never been a passenger in the back of my ES. So, I can't tell you for sure what goes on with the climate control system back there, but, whether or not you get airflow from the vents on the back of the console should depend on whether you are wanting heat or whether you want cool/fresh air. I don't think that the vents on the back of the console are supposed to be carrying heat. I think that those vents are for cooled or fresh air, and that air comes through them when the front seats are getting air through the vents on the dash. Rear seat heat comes from vents under the seats in the same way that heat for the front seats is distributed via the vents near the floor. So, is it heat or cool/fresh air that you expect to be coming out of the vents behind the console?

If you are using fresh/cooled air, it should be coming from those console vents, and, if you are using heat, it should be coming from the floor vents. I suspect that, if you want heat to come out of the vents in the back of the console, you could get it to do so by setting the system to use the vents coming out of the dash in the front, but having heat blowing directly on people and their faces is not, for most, particularly comfortable. Heat is normally distributed near the feet, and cool or fresh air is distributed higher up.

nakago1

yeah, i mean fresh cool air like AC. from the console it is way too weak. barely enough to cool anyone.

lesz

If you are expecting actual air conditioned cool air to come out of those vents, I don't think that that is the way it works. Again, I don't sit in the back seat, and I could be wrong, but I believe that the vents that are in the back of the console are only recirculating air that is already in the cabin. Some vehicles, like my GX, have actual rear seat air conditioning, but the ES does not. Thus, while there may be some air flow from the rear vents, it is never going to be as cold as the the actual air conditioned air that comes out of the vents in the dash.

bootman

I wonder if it is possible to route cold/ heat since this option is available in the Avalon?

atoyota

I hope you might not be experiencing the same as me, but my vent to the rear was actually closed. It took me about a week to check to see if the dial was turned to open. After that it seems OK - same as I was used to in my other cars.

MDames2

iTrader: (1)

Those vents ARE definitely to distribute the A/C and Heat to the back seat area. The reason the air flow is less vigorous than the front vents is that the air has to travel farther, and loses its' force due to the distance it has to travel. You should definitely check to see if the vents are closed or partially closed, if you haven't already.

Arty101

My rear vents out cold AC air, although not as strong as the front vents. Heated air comes from under the front seats and, depending on your climate setting, may direct some of it through the rear vents too. You can also adjust and reduce the air flow to the back with the scroll wheel next to the vent.

lesz

In my earlier post, I said that, since I don't sit in the back seat, my confidence in understanding the heating/cooling system operation for the back seat was not high. Today, I experimented a bit.

What happens in the back seat is definitely related to the main climate control settings. If heat is being used in auto mode, there should be no air flow via the vent on the back of the console. Heat should be coming out of the floor vents under the front seats, and the amount/speed of that heated air should vary depending on the fan speed providing heat to the front seat vents. If AC is being used in auto mode, cooled air should be coming out of the vent on the back of the console, and the amount/speed of the cooled air should also be varying depending on the fan speed being used to supply the cooled air to the front seats via the dash vents. If the climate control system is being used in manual mode and if air is being directed to lower vents for the front seats, the air, whether heated or cooled, for the rear seats will come out of the vents below the front seats. If, on the other hand, the climate control system is manually set to send air, whether heated or cooled, through the dash vents for front seat passengers, it will be sent through the vent on the back of the console for rear seat passengers.

In any case, air comes out of the vent in the back of the console only when air for the front seats is coming out of the vents on the dash, and the air flow definitely does depend on the fan speed used to provide air to the front seat dash vents.

Nelexus88

Thanks lesz for taking the time to do a hands-on test. Interesting results.

The Lexus ES owners manual implies with their diagrams (page 357) that more air should come out of the rear console vent when the upper body discharge position is selected (arrow pointing at head, not feet or windshield) but the owners manual does not provide any more detail that I could find. Maybe they need to add another chapter to the "phone book"

ElliotB

You can actually get a lot more cooled/heated air to the rear by using the bi-level setting, which directs additional air through the floor vents (the vents for the rear seats are located under the seat bottom of each front seat).

lesz

Actually, I don't believe that is correct. If you select the bi-level setting, the total amount of air flow is the same as if you had selected the dash/back of center console vents, but approximately half of that air flow comes out of the dash/back of center console vents and approximately half comes out of the floor vents, but the total amount air flow is the same. You can easily see that for yourself by manually setting the fan to the highest speed and seeing that, when you switch from the upper vents to the bi-level setting, you can feel that the air flow from the vents on the back of the console is reduced to about 1/2 of what it was before you switched to the bi-level setting.

ALIGN

The vent in the back is meant to have strong air flow. Most of your cold air will still be coming from the front vents being directed to the back. Inside the car, it is actually colder in the back seat than in the front because of the air flow. The rear vents is just for luxury design, it doesn't really increase airflow circulation unless the car have separate blower in the back.

Try closing your side vents, this will increase air flow pressure to the rear.

ElliotB

While the total amount of air outputted by the A/C system is constant, the total amount of air going to the rear is increased when using the bi-level setting. The lower vents deliver a lot of air, a lot more than the rear center vent ever could.

lesz

I'm afraid that that is just not the case. There is only a single duct that supplies all of the air flow to the rear vents, whether it be for the floor vents or for the vents on the back of the center console. That duct runs from the front of the vehicle under the console and to the rear seat vents. When you switch the system to and from the bi-level setting, you are merely changing the position of dampers that direct the total amount of air flow coming through that duct to the floor vents or to the console vents or that divide the air between the floor vents and the console vents, but the total amount of air to the rear that is coming through that single duct is the same regardless of whether the system is set is set for bi-level or not. It may feel to you that there is more air flow with the bi-level setting, but there is not. Plus, most people find that air conditioned air blowing directly on their feet and legs is not very comfortable.