Does anyone know what the sunlight sensor in the center at the front window is for? Do know how it works?

 

i thought it was for the auto a/c ....you also have another one below the steering wheel on the bottom right...

 

I believe this is the GPS sensor for the nav system. If you don't have nav, then they just put a piece of plastic there. You'll see these on a lot of dash's with cars that offer nav.

I'm not sure about the speaker looking thing below the steering wheel. I thought it was either to measure the temperature in the car or is the microphone or speaker for the talking audio and radio controls (again with the nav system). I liked the nav system in my test drive, but hated that you had to talk to the radio to increase or decrease volume and all the other voice commands. I opted for the more simple (traditional) radio buttons.

 

The sunlight sensor up on your dash, against the windshield, is for your dash lights. It brightens or dims them depending on the amount of light outside. The speaker looking disk on your dash, behind the steering and to the right, is the temperature sensor for your climate control........Hope this helps.

 

the little speaker is for your voice activated controls...

 

WHAAA???? The sensor at the base of the windshield is a sunlight intensity sensor and provides an input to the climate control. It has nothing to do with the dash lights. The holes to the right of the steering column are the location of the in car temperature sensor, also an input for the climate control.

The voice activation microphone is located in the overhead console.

 

First of all, don't answer the questions unless you actually know what it's for.

Second, if you it will tell you much of the information that you seek.

Now, to answer the question...

That sensor is attached to the climate control system. It senses sunlight to determine if the climate control system needs to be raised up higher/lowered to account for the presence of direct sunlight.

Example would be during the summer, if your car is exposed to direct sunlight, the climate control increases the fan speed to compensate for the presence of direct sunlight. Typically, direct sunlight can raise temperatures roughly 10ºF over the same area in shade.

Hope that answers your question.

 

Ummmmmm, DenverTSX, I am Earth. Have we met? My '05 TSX has NAV, but, and this is kinda funny since it appears to be the reason you DIDN'T get NAV, it ALSO has HU radio controls as well as the steering wheel controls. Did someone tell you that the NAV had NO manual radio controlls? LOL. Did you look inside one to see for yourself? If not, I got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you....

Sorry to be harsh, but before you answer a question for someone, maybe you should actually know the answer.... Otherwise, you are just convincing people that my car has no manual radio controlls. It does.

 

I knew you would step in with an iron fist and save this threads life

 

Sorry for giving the wrong info on the light sensor in the dash. That's why I said "I believe it's..." I was told by the sales person the sensor on the dash was for the GPS in the nav and that it is empty in cars w/o nav. I bought the first TSX at the dealership and nobody knew anything about them at the time. Although, these light sensors weren't new with the TSX, so it was just a bad dealership.

I did test drive an automatic with nav at a different dealership and did know you can control the radio and other controls on the dash and radio on the steering wheel with the nav. I was just making a point that I felt the voice commands were very irritating. I wasn't trying to say that was the ONLY way to control the radio and temp controls. Aren't these controls displayed on the screen (as opposed to the buttons on the dash)? The buttons on the dash were more user friendly and easier to operate while driving. Again, this is my experience and my comfort level. I'm not saying one is overall better than the other. I'm just explaining my preference. Ahh... the beauty of the one option in the TSX. My preference was no nav.

 

I never believe what sales person says about those little details on the cars. Though I thought dealership must get some orientation from the manufacture on the cars features and stuff... but I had a sales person telling me a RSX has traction control!!!

There's another thread with some examples illustrating the function of that sunlight sensor. See post #33 and higher:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9044

 

The sensor also dims the navigation lighting automatically. From a day to night setting and vice versa IF you have a Navi and it's set on auto...

 

Here we go again.