this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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Both of those settings turn on the A/C to remove moisture.
Yeah.. no.. that's only the newer generation of vehicles, the enshittified ones that assume everything for you.
Back in the 90's and 2000's, the engineers had common sense and if the temperature dial was set anywhere above 50%, the air conditioner would never turn on, as it's a waste of energy at that point.
Uhhh my 96 civic had an air conditioner button, and it also turned on when you turned the defroster on.
You’re making shit up, it’s a simple interconnection, and the physics of air conditioning removing moisture has been known for a long time.
During winter snow constantly gets inside of a vehicle, so without an interconnected ac with defrost, the interior would always fog up. It just may not light up the button, but defrost turns the ac on.
Does absolutely nobody understand the difference between FOG vs FROST?
The deFROSTer is meant to gently melt snow and ice FROST off your windshield using the heater. Kinda fucking counterintuitive to blow freezing air at a frozen windshield, the FROST will never thaw that way.
The deFOGger is meant to dry the humidity off your windshield on a hot humid day, that uses the air conditioner on hot humid days.
Two different systems, for two different climates. deFOGger vs deFROSTer are two completely different modes of the climate controls.
Please Google “car defog” and see that there’s no results for a fucking button you muppet.
Thank you for the advice you leaking Tide Pod, there's literally a fucking button..
"To effectively use the defrost and defog controls in a 1996 GMC Sonoma, press the Defog/Defrost button, turn off the Recirculation button, set the fan to the highest setting, and adjust the temperature to high. This will help clear the windshield quickly."
Anyways, you drive and troubleshoot your vehicle, and we'll drive and troubleshhot ours. They're not all designed the same you muppet.
My 78 Chrysler was designed to use the AC in defrost mode even in a winter blizzard and was much more effective and drying the windshield because of it. Most heating/cooling system in cars were combined much earlier than that to take advantage of dehumidifying the air. It also has the benefit to run the compressor to keep lubrication and stop seals from drying out in the AC system that would otherwise not be used to months at a time.
There are some vehicles with separate heating and AC systems, (mainly cheap or aftermarket units) but the vast majority run together. (At least in North American cars.)
deFROST != deFOG
I'm starting to gather that most people don't have any clue how to properly use their environmental controls.
I really don't know what to tell you there, I'm going by the vehicle manufacturer's labels. The "defrost" mode on your climate controls (typically all the way to the right) that blows air towards your windshield will often use the ac compressor even if you have the heat set to high, because ac drys the air... it doesn't have to be cold, it can be any temperature. Blowing wet warm air at the windshield isn't very effective compared to dry warm air. That is especially true in our Canadian winters.
You can try it with virtually any car made from the 1970's to today (and some in the 1950's and 60's) that was equipped with AC. Turn your defrost on, crank your heat, and you will hear/notice the slip clutch on the end of the AC compressor under the hood will kick in, turning on the ac unit. Some cars do come with a dedicated separate defrost button, (as opposed to the defogger button which only operates the heat lines in your back window) they also will use the AC to dry the air.
Defoggers are typically the heat lines you see in back windows, although some old cars (like my old 69 Newport) had blowers for the back window as well, and even a second heater core to feed it.
Long story short, AC is for drying air, not just cooling it.
No shit, that's my entire point.
Not everybody has fully working AI based environmental controls, some of us from Pepperidge Farms remembers when the controls were separate and not exactly automated the way lazy fucks expect these days..
Ok maybe I'm misunderstanding something, because from your comment it sounded like you think the ac doesn't work in the winter when you use defrost with the heat on. And my point is that most cars are set up to do exactly that because it works better regardless of where the temperature dial is.
Defoggers are a separate thing altogether and has nothing to do with your heat, AC, or blower. Maybe it's different in some newer cars but traditionally all a defogger is is those heat cables that you see in the back window, nothing else. (They're just a larger version of heated mirrors for your rear view)
Not trying to argue, just trying to clarify things.
I do think we're talking from different generations here, and under the assumption everything even works. Yes, it is wonderful when everything works correctly, but even in that case, older vehicles had separate controls for the vents, the heat, and the air conditioning.
We got a '96 Sonoma, missing the entire right side of the dashboard, so no glove box, no blower motor, and half the missing ventilation system is duct taped over. Thanks to the previous but now deceased owner. :(
But at least the windows roll down in the heat of the day, and at least some of the ventilation system gives us heat in the cold when the vents are set for open air.
Yes we're driving what most would call a shitbox, but it's reliable at least.
I'd try to fix the dashboard shit, but that would probably cost more than the truck itself. So, back to simple brain mode...
Sonomas are decent little trucks overall. With a lot of Gm products a lot of shit quits working for no reason (or cheap plastic parts break) and there's always little gremlins to chase, but they'll usually get you to where you're going.
But ya, If everything worked proper, the 96' Sonoma is supposed to turn the ac compressor on and flip a vent door to redirect the air to your windshield whenever you put the dial to the far right defrost. It'll still defrost the window anyway if the ac is bust, but with the dry air it works a lot faster. Your defogger button directly under that knob only puts power to the heat lines in your rear window. They're kinda meh for actual defogging in my opinion, but they're great for melting ice so you can at least see out the back. (probably not as big of a deal with a flat back window like yours, works nice on curved back window on my Olds Intrigue.)
There are no rear window defogger wires, I'm talking about the front windshield defogger vents.
Ah ok that would be an option yours didn't have then. Up here virtually all cars have them.
My 2015 vehicle does it that way (a/c on for both), so it's not exactly a recent change in design philosophy...
I said 90's through 2000's, I said nothing about 2010's or beyond.
I do not have much of any experience in working on anything past 2005.
Anything past 2014 is what I call new generation enshittified, as that's around the year they basically started tracking everyone, refusing to offer printed service manuals (Hayne's/Chilton), stop offering parts and requiring 'owners' to take the vehicle back to the dealership for repair.
I'm all about the right to repair. Your 2015 is a new generation enshittified thing, sorry.
So why are you discounting what people who do use modern cars are saying as incorrect if you don't know much about it? I'd wager most people probably aren't driving 25-35 year old vehicles anyway so at best you're just stating outdated and irrelevant knowledge.
Knowledge is never irrelevant if you're still driving around a 30+ year vehicle. Knowledge is relevant across all years, here's reference from 1960-2025 year range vehicles. I'm not fucking retarded...
https://lemon-manuals.la/
What I do know, first hand experience, is if the air conditioner goes out before the heater core heats up, well you got about 15 seconds to roll the windows down for airflow to keep the windshield from fogging up.
OK
In my old '90s car, heat only just made the fog worse. You had to have AC on too. Though it did trust you to know that and turn it on yourself.
And this is the proper way.
My 04 turns on the AC with the defrost, so did the 01 I used to drive, both base-level economy boxes so actually wait what the hell have you been driving?
Do people understand the difference between FROST vs FOG?
FROST != FOG
Defrost handles both, dude, with the AC/heat two-punch pointed directly at the windshield. The heat raises the temperature of the glass so that water won't condense there, and the AC reduces the water content in the air overall.
None of that stuff works when you inherited a truck that's missing the blower motor, entire passenger side dashboard, and all relevant passenger side ventilation ducts.
Yes it's a shitbox, but otherwise runs great. Just no luxuries, no air conditioning, due to no blower motor or half the ventilation system. Also the heat only works while driving, also because no blower motor.
At least it's otherwise reliable, plus also has manual roll down/up windows.