Not enough air coming out of rear vents

ilyago

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 14, 1999
Location
Chatham, NJ, USA
TDI
2015 Jetta S DSG
My rear passengers have been complaining that they are not getting much air blowing out of the rear HVAC vents located behind the front arm rest.
I am curious if this is normal in the JSW? Are there any other vents for the rear passengers?
I assume that the most air is channelled to that vent when the air position knob is set to face (3 o'clock position). Closing one or two of the front vents does not seem to send any more air to the back.
Is anyone noticing the same issue? Could something be blocking the air flow to the back?
 

jtelford

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2010 JSW TDI, black, 6MT
My daughter sometimes complains about lack of cooling as well, this being August in Missouri. I have the vents on the upper setting and if I close a couple of them, then I can feel a small increase in air in the back, but it is pretty anemic at best.
If the front setting is on upper/lower vents, then closing the upper vents doesn't change the airflow in the back. Too bad, because it would be nice to have more airflow for the passengers...
 

dmarsingill

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Location
Dacula, GA
TDI
2011 Sportwagen Turned in , 2000 Z3 Coupe, 2003 Ford Expedition
I really don't think they were designed to flow alot of air.

Donald
 

fastball

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Location
Thunder Bay, Ontario
TDI
2011 TDI Golf Wagon, DSG, panoramic sunroof, Weathertech mats, Curt hitch
My rearward AC airflow is pretty anemic too. Closing off an front vent helps a bit..but not a whole lot.
Best we can do is crank it on the vent setting (3 o'clock) and tell the rear passengers to be patient for a few minutes, because VW's A/C does get pretty cold.
Trick is not to freeze out the front passengers at the same time.
 

dmarsingill

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Location
Dacula, GA
TDI
2011 Sportwagen Turned in , 2000 Z3 Coupe, 2003 Ford Expedition
Exactly. Most cars don't even have rear vents so if the rear passengers are complaining, turn it off completely. ;)

They do a good job once the car is cooled down. On our trip to FL, my daughter turned it off and it was 102F outside.

Donald
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Most cars may not have them, but they should.

The Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has two powerful directional vents. I haven't been in the regular Sonata, but I assume that at least one trim line has them, if not all of them. The JSW, by contrast, has two barely functional non-directional vents. The 2012 Passat has none, not even in the SEL trims.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
My duaghters say the same thing. I've tried to play around with different settings and closing front vents but nothing really helps. Best I have found for airflow to the back is to set the directional airflow to defrost and turn it up to level 3. Air flows across windshield, over front occupants heads, and to the back.

The vents in the center consol are placebos.
 

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
If you saw the blow-molded ducts that snake their way through the floor console, you'd understand why not a whole lot of air goes through them. Just like electricity takes the path of least resistance, so air finds it easier to exit through the 6 instrument-panel vents than the 2 at the end of a restrictive couple of hoses. Not to mention the fact that the air warms up as it passes through the floor console ducts, until the floor console gets cool.

Of course the automakers are more concerned with the comfort of the person who buys the car, and that person is usually in the left front position. ;)
 

vdubdezl

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Location
FL
TDI
06 Jetta TDI 5MT, 05 Honda Odyssey EX-L
If you saw the blow-molded ducts that snake their way through the floor console, you'd understand why not a whole lot of air goes through them. Just like electricity takes the path of least resistance, so air finds it easier to exit through the 6 instrument-panel vents than the 2 at the end of a restrictive couple of hoses. Not to mention the fact that the air warms up as it passes through the floor console ducts, until the floor console gets cool.

Of course the automakers are more concerned with the comfort of the person who buys the car, and that person is usually in the left front position. ;)
+1. Mostly everything with rear vents has this problem! It isn't just a VW thing. The only ones that really blow good in the back are the SUV's and vans that have REAR a/c and not rear vents. It is an annoying difference!
 

javabeenz

New member
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Location
California
TDI
Golf TDI
Thanks for the suggestion!

My duaghters say the same thing. I've tried to play around with different settings and closing front vents but nothing really helps. Best I have found for airflow to the back is to set the directional airflow to defrost and turn it up to level 3. Air flows across windshield, over front occupants heads, and to the back.
The vents in the center consol are placebos.
Thank you so much for this suggestion. Nothing has helped so far. This is our second Golf TDI and they both had the same lack of air to the back seat. My son even said the other day "are those vents just for show?" I tried this just myself in the car and it seemed as though it might actually send some air to the back seat. Can't wait to try it out with passengers in the back. I'll come back and comment after I've tried it with someone in the back seat.
 

03GolfTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Location
Atlanta, GA
TDI
'12 JSW DSG and '11 JSW DSG
Yeah its been pretty poor airflow from even back in the MKV days when rear vents showed up in the Jetta/Golf line.

Even my Mercedes (C300 and E350) did not flow too amazingly in the rear. I have been in other cars (not SUV/Minivan that have dedicated rear fan) that flowed pretty well in the rear.
 

JELLOWSUBMARINE

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Mar 3, 2014
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yes
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen, 6M, red/tan, navi, pano, 83 5m diesel pickup, 82 p/u trailer,.04 5.5 TDI Passat wagon (gone), 80,81,82 diesel p/u (gone), 80,82 sportruck (gone), 59 passthru bus (long gone), 79&87 westy (gone), 57 baja bug (long gone), 73 914
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