HVAC and the cold
 

Quick question for those who live in colder climate. When you set your system to auto do you get lots of heat from the top or just the feet? Yes I can manually change it but then lose the auto temp and fan control. For example our Rav4 we set it to auto and it pumps heat to the feet and some through the top when its cold out. The RDX does not and my hands get cold on the wheel but my feet are very hot. Does anyone else's doe this? is it just the way the system was designed or does yours throw lots of heat up top as well as feet?

Thanks

The default auto heater setting for my 07 model is air flow split between the defroster vents on the windshield & the floor vents, with the AC compressor on to aid clearing the windshield, & the temperature set at whatever you have it set on. You have to go to manual settings to get heated air out of the dash vents.

There isn't much that comes out of the defrost vents. Thank you. I'm just trying to see if it needs repairs or not. The dealer said that the temp sensor on the dash can control where the heat comes from. Didn't sound right.

There is a blend door actuator that switches the air flow around to the different vents, and they seem like a common problem with these vehicles from what I see on here.
I believe the temp sensor would just be for the auto temp adjustments, not anything to do with the air routing.

That's what I suspect as well.