OK ... Maybe I'm being a bit lazy here by not pulling out my Owner's manual (it's three floors down and at the end of the parking lot), so I felt it would be quicker and more fun to get my answer here from all the gurus.

What does the "Auto" button on the passenger side climate controls do, and how do I engage it? When I press it, I don't see "AUTO" appear on the passenger side climate display. Using the "Passenger Automatic" Voice Recognition command usually gets me a triple-beep error indication.

Ideas?

 

It does the same thing as the drivers side. Either button will engage the compressor for the A/C and automatic climate control. You cannot to my knowledge engage the passenger side a/c wihtout effecting drivers side, just variations of temperatures.

 

If you press Dual you should see AUTO on both sides (given that you already pressed auto before)

 

Pressing the A/C button, the recirculation button below it, or the windshield defrost button below that, will take the A/C out of auto mode and the passenger auto button will not do anything. To return the A/C to auto mode, the driver's auto button must be pressed. In other words, if the system is not in auto, it cannot be returned to auto by the passenger’s auto button.

If the A/C is in auto mode, pressing the passenger's mode button or temperature control buttons will turn off the auto display for the passenger’s side, but pressing the passenger's auto button will change the passenger’s display back to auto, but it will still remain in dual mode, which must be manually defeated.

This is probably why the navi will beep at you, since the operation cannot be performed in certain situations.