Auto Climate Control - A/C light always on?

I have a GT 5-spd. With the auto climate control engaged the A/C light is on all the time, regardless of outside temperature. If I manually turn off just the A/C it overrides the auto climate control as well. Is this normal? The dealer says it is, but its familiarity with this car has not inspired my confidence. The manual is unclear, but oddly seems to suggest that the A/C light may come on (although the compressor will not be engaged) if the outside temperature is below zero. My experience is simply that the light's always on.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Thanks in advance.

Dave

Here is a link to another thread about this...

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123629183

I found that it took me awhile to get used to just letting the ACC do it's job, but that it usually works comfortably. The only exception is that it leaves the defrost on way too long when the heater is on. I live in a dry climate and the defrost dries my windshield out too much when it is raining or snowing...

Thanks for the link Ladygrey -- even though it bothers a lot of people, including you and me, I'm happy to know it's normal. D

Yes, it is normal, but it is still a poorly -designed system
On ''Auto', mode, air (hot or cold) is always directed to the windshield through the defrost vent and to the floor vents.
Nothing come out of the dash vents.
I had the opportunity to test it from -30C to +30C, and always only got air as mentioned above.
Dealer says it is the way it is supposed to be.
very poor design

jackd said:

Yes, it is normal, but it is still a poorly -designed system
On ''Auto', mode, air (hot or cold) is always directed to the windshield through the defrost vent and to the floor vents.
Nothing come out of the dash vents.
I had the opportunity to test it from -30C to +30C, and always only got air as mentioned above.
Dealer says it is the way it is supposed to be.
very poor design

Click to expand...

Hmmm, mine *DOES* switch to either dash only or dash/floor when cooling. I tested it this morning to double check. Of course I have a habit of turning it down to about 62 when I get in the hot car. When it is in high A/C mode it does dash only and then when it is only slightly cooling it moves to dash floor. I'd say if yours stays on window when cooling that something isn't quite right. Try turning your temp down all the way and see what happens.