Does anyone know if/how to turn on rear defrost with remote start? As in, I want rear defrost turned on when car is started remotely...I would like to only enable the rear defrost in winter/cold weather.

 

Leave climate control in AUTO. Mine works every day that way.

 

Wait....if I put climate control on auto it will turn on rear defrost when I start my car with remote starter?

 

I'm pretty sure you have to turn it on separately...

 

Mine does it every day. Perhaps the temp setting affects it as well?

 

Rear defrost will engage but the windshield wiper deicers don't.

 

Don't think I even have that option. Oh well.

 

On a F Sport, if you have a heated steering wheel you have the windshield wiper de-icer included as part of the package/option bundle. The control for that is buried in the "Option control screen" of the "Air conditioning control screen".

 

I remote start my car every morning, auto temperature is engaged.

It turns on heater steering wheel and heated seat. The rear defroster is not on. I have to turn that on each morning.

 

Seats and steering wheel also have AUTO setting so they come on if temp requires it. Rear def comes on as well but not sure if that's tied to temp settings. For sure mine comes on with remote start.

 

I'll check that setting as I do in fact have the heated steering wheel.

 

Both front and rear defrosts as well as heated seat and steering wheels come on on my ES300h

 

From a previous rant of mine... the heated wiper blade beds on our least expensive
models, the CT200h and the RC without Nav have a wonderfully useful single button
right inside the drivers door down by the trunk and gas door releases that you can
tap while you are sweeping the snow off the warming up car.

For extra money they buried the switch in the Climate screen so...
Reach into the car with snow on your boots and press the center console "Menu" with your gloves on...
Maneuver the remote control around to highlight the "Climate" icon while the screen is darkened because the lights are on
Tap the climate icon and find the unlabeled "three dot" icon in the lower right corner
Open this submenu icon and select the "Japanese Geisha Fan" icon and press down

Go ahead and sweep the snow...nothing to it, right?

 

I totally agree with your rant. There's even a couple of empty switch positions in the switch bank slot where the HUD and panoramic monitor switches are located (if equipped with those options).

I'd wager whomever thought up the present control scheme never spent one day in a snow and ice climate zone having to chip snow and ice off the windshield.

 

Ha - yeah it doesn't look like it can be set in AUTO fashion but it does turn off automatically after 15 minutes. It's probably designed to be used when you're driving in a bad storm and the wipers become prone to ice build-up. In any event, I've NOT used them in 3+years of ownership. In fact, I've now learned there are sub menus in there I've never seen!