High temps have been in the 90's where I live. I left my OB parked outside yesterday morning as I planned to go back out later. When I went back out it was 95 or so and was quite hot inside. With the system set to full auto (this may be key) it was comfortable inside within 5 or 10 minutes, and the fan speed was starting to drop by 10 minutes (but still quite high).

I was taught a long while ago by a Volvo mechanic that the temperature blown out of the vents should be at about 36° as I recall. Is this universally true of modern A/C units? Of course Volvo used GM units I think which is a bit strange, and I digress, but when cranked down it worked.

A specific temperature would be unusual. I think the designers target a temperature OFFSET compared to the outside air temp. I think it's usually 30-40 cooler than the outside temp.

Edit: there's a recent and still ongoing thread on this very topic -

How cold should my AC be?

Hello wise people of the forum! I have a 2020 XT Touring with 10k miles and now that summer is finally here I find myself disappointed with the AC. I bought new and due to the pandemic I barely drove the car the first two years. Now I am using it more and the AC is underwhelming. It definitely...

www.subaruoutback.org

 

If the A/C is not blowing cold then it should be covered under the warranty, but the standard for cooling has to do with how many degrees colder than ambient it will go, not a fixed 36 degrees F. There's been another member who did have his A/C fixed under warranty for not blowing cold enough.

While I don't have the official standard, it's often around 40 degrees lower than ambient, so in 90 degree heat it may only blow 50 not 36.

 

Wondering whether anyone has the skinny on the Subaru specs for A/C air coming out of the dash vents.

 

Reading that chart if it's 104F ambient it should blow 77F at the vent in 80% humidity or as low as 51F in 30% humidity.

Shocking how huge a difference humidity makes in the effectiveness of A/C but it makes sense. Water condensing adds latent heat to the system.

 

I think it’s shocking it’s so meager! I’ll put a gauge on it next time and see what it’s reading. I understand that this high heat and humidity is taxing everything.

 

That's why recirculate is so beneficial for ultimate cooling. It gets the moisture out right away and can then do the maximum temperature drop to get the cabin down in a hurry. Plus it's now cooling already semi cooled air the next pass through.

 

Mmm...good pointI will check that setting!

 

Again, there was another guy with a 2020+ Outback whose A/C did not blow cold enough for him and Subaru addressed it under warranty. You may not get to 36 degrees in the summer, but it might be colder than 65, if that's what you're getting.

Keep in mind that they have changed refrigerant chemistries several times over the decades and R12 went to R134a to R1234yf and although the entire systems have been redesigned to still work well, I suspect that each formula change makes it more challenging to be as effective (cold) as old R12.

 

My '21 Outback is struggling to blow anywhere cold air from the dash vents, and really doesn't respond well to dropping the cooling to, say, 65°F. I'm in Nashville TN where temps have been brutal, like most places in the US.

I was taught a long while ago by a Volvo mechanic that the temperature blown out of the vents should be at about 36° as I recall. Is this universally true of modern A/C units? Of course Volvo used GM units I think which is a bit strange, and I digress, but when cranked down it worked.

Wondering whether anyone has the skinny on the Subaru specs for A/C air coming out of the dash vents. Thinking of visiting the local dealer to have the freon checked. It's under warranty, but my dealer is in Clarksville which I will not go to for this as it's too far. Of course this is likely not covered by warranty, but I need cold air! Thanks in advance... john

Update: I tested out the 'Full Auto' setting on the car. I really did miss that apparently, so thanks a bunch for this!

Today has been a bit cooler, i.e. -10° from yesterday, here in Nashville, and when set, Full Auto, blasted co-o-old air (showed up as 'Lo', about 60°) through the vents at the highest fan speed. It was the cold air I would expect, so it's certainly capable of delivering air that I would judge to be in the high 30's, but next time I'll carry a thermometer. However, it never backed off until I manually hit the AC setting again, despite my subjective opinion that it was at full bore for adequate time to cool and ratchet it back. I mean, what is Auto if you have to fiddle with it? It remained on Full Auto but went back to the 68° setting and a lower fan speed that I had previously set on Auto. I'm still experimenting with it so determine an accurate path for what I would expect on an AC set as 'Auto'. Seems the distinction between 'Auto' and 'Full Auto' is too nuanced so I'll see what the manual says as a last resort.

Again, my experience is with an older model Volvo that when set on Auto with a specified temperature it did all the adjustments necessary until the cabin sensors determined that the AC had met my goal.

Thanks again for all this valuable insight! -js

 

It's been in the triple digits here and the AC is doing.great. I have to turn down the fan speed or it gets too cold. I use the recirculation setting.

 

Both our 19 and 20 Outbacks have been great in 120F summer temps. We don't remote start, just roll down the windows for 30 seconds, roll them back up and in about a minute the car is comfortable; another two minutes and the fan starts slowing down because the car is plenty cool. Both of ours are Premium models, cloth seats are way cooler in the summer than leather. We had an Odyssey with leather seats and will never do leather again.

 

I have a 2021 Premium in the swampy heat of Northern Virginia and I have learned long ago with any car that opening the windows before trying the AC allows you to start with cooler air (any air is cooler than the 130+ of a full sunshine car interior in summer.) It is also the reason we only get silver or white cars. That way the car is not a giant heat sink. One of my new car tests is to drive on regular AC setting or Auto and them stop in the middle of a parking lot and see if it gets warmer when there is no air flowing over the AC coils. In this area's stop and go traffic, that is the real test of efficiency. I have found there is a big difference between a light and a dark car.

I have found that the full auto setting is very good for keeping it level and cool, but it tends to direct too much air to my feet. I set it up with full auto and then change it to go to the dash vents only which changes it to auto.

 

Wondering whether anyone has the skinny on the Subaru specs for A/C air coming out of the dash vents. Thinking of visiting the local dealer to have the freon checked. It's under warranty, but my dealer is in Clarksville which I will not go to for this as it's too far. Of course this is likely not covered by warranty, but I need cold air! Thanks in advance... john

I noticed that the AC wasn't blowing as cold in my 2022 outback as it did in my 2019 outback... The service manager told me that they have changed the refrigerant in the 6thG and it does not cool as well as the 2019. Tho it's been no issue for me, the car gets cool even in 95+ outside, there is a difference.

 

I’ve noticed no difference in cooling between our 19 and 20, both are great.

 

I had 91' at 68% humidity today. It was hot. I leave my AC on manual. LO on both temps, fan at 4 bars. Not on recirculate. The vents are already blowing cold air before I back to the end of the drive way. So I got cold air in under 10 seconds from a "cold" engine start. Is that what you guys are getting, or am I just special?

 

1991 car? probably uses R12 refrigerant which cooled better that the modern non-ozone depleting refrigerants, usually blows 6-10 degrees colder than R134a

 

I’m not far from you, OP. I live in North Mississippi and my car sits out on the driveway under direct sunlight, so if I get in it during the day, the outside temperature reading in the car is often showing well over 100F. I regularly get in the car in the afternoon when the temperature is at its highest and my car has had no problems cooling the interior even with the extreme summer we have had so far.

I keep my A/C always on Full Auto, with the temperature set to 67F, although my wife likes to keep the passenger side temp at around 70 because 67 makes it too cold for her. So even in this Mississippi heat, my car has had no problems cooling the interior within a few minutes on Full Auto setting.

This is my first Subaru so I can’t compare to prior gen Outbacks or even other Subarus, but compared to my experience in older Fords and Toyotas that I have had before, the A/C in my car is certainly no worse than the best I have had. Also worth mentioning that I’m always naturally warm, so having good A/C is essential for me.

 

Add me to the list of folks who are staying cool. I keep my system on auto. It cools down fast and has no trouble maintaining 68 degrees in 100 degree weather. It's so good that I'm not aware of it.

 

I park my outside for work and it can get well over 100 here, but we have basically no humidity. I use the Subaru sunshade, have my driver and passenger front windows tinted (50%), and use Full Auto. When I get in, crank the temp to LO, roll windows down for a 30 seconds to let the hot air escape, and the car is usually comfortable within a couple minutes.

 

OK, so I have a 20 OBT 2.5L, live in New Mexico near Albuquerque @5200ft altitude and in my garage I opened the door and it is 95F/21% humidity. So I started the car and set on MAX for A/C so it recirculates, blows on high and set for LO for temp and in just a couple of minutes the center vents on the dash were showing 48.6F for the air blowing out and that was feeling more than just cool! I was curious so I went and did this test after reading this post.

 

21% humidity??? That's a big factor in cooling a car down I would think. I've lived in Baltimore where it reached 100% humidity without rain! . Here in Nashville the humidity was thick, but not that much; perhaps high 80s.

 

Last year I drove from California to Colorado in a 2021 Gen 6 - The AC performance was very comfortable with 116 degree weather through Arizona and Utah. Humidity - thats the wild card. I would take that car in, but first download the Owners manual and review the AC settings. Enjoy!

 

I have CoCo's set to full auto all the time right now. We had some serious heat about two weeks ago. I think you could have wrapped the potato in foil, put it in an iron skillet in the sun, and after a few hours have a nicely done potato. When heading home in the afternoons in Atlanta, the outside temperature is close to 101 degrees or more on the interstate.

 

With full auto and temp set to lowest, one can freeze one's bumkin rather quickly...❄

 

I suspect the issue is every generation of refrigerant (CFC and its derivatives) is less effective at cooling (but of course much more expensive!) than the previous one due to "green" mandates. in my experience none of the new cars I've owned cool anywhere near as well as the old ones I had.

 

this one should be pretty good as it is a similar performance to R134A

 

in hot weather use recirculate to get the car colder.

also when really hot use the sunroof as a vent when parked

also if you can tint ye windows

 

in hot weather use recirculate to get the car colder.

and on full auto the car does just that! One needs to be aware, though, if you change ANYTHING other than the set temp the system will drop from full auto. I never bothered to learn what, exactly, the difference is between auto and full auto, full auto has worked perfectly well for me so I've just stuck with it.

 

it was 100 degrees here yesterday and i had mine set on lo and i was freezing, had to turn the fan down. i guess i am lucky, our 2022 has had zero problems that have been reported.

 

mine works fine. Way better than the AC in my 2018

 

 

I know it is not the same but my '18 has been blowing cold air just fine and we have the same heat and humidity here in Knoxville as you have. If it was my car I'd be taking it to the dealer and complaining vociferously. There are many things that can cause the sort of problems you are experiencing but I doubt that anybody here can accurately diagnose and fix at a distance.

 

As long as he temperature to which you set the control is lower than the ambient cabin temperature, the setting does not affect the temperature of the air blowing out of your vents. If the air is not significantly colder than the outside temperature, you may have a leak in the AC system. If so, first the leak has to be repaired and then the unit needs to be refilled (charged) with refrigerant.

 

My 2011 Outback with 173K miles has had no AC service. It has no problem cooling the car in 120 desert temps - but only in recirculate mode. It's all about the differential temperatures. With 120 degrees inlet temp, outlet air into the cabin will be in the 80's at best. Cooling cabin air that is already cool is easy; you can make the cabin too cold, in the 60's, even if outside is 120 degrees.