'Honestly Feel Really, Really Bad For Her': Woman's A/C Goes Out. Then Her Mechanic Discovers The Real Reason It's Out

Having a dead car air conditioner in the middle of summer sucks. Not only are you sweating in the heat, but you are also worried about the cost of getting it fixed. 

Sometimes, though, the fix turns out to be a lot simpler than you ever would have thought. That’s what happened to this young car owner.

A/C Out Mid-Summer

In a trending video with more than 77,000 views, content creator Joe (@thejoed69) shares his reaction to a young woman having car A/C problems.

"Are we cooked?! A 25 year old woman had an A/C issue she took her vehicle to the dealership!!!" the text overlay on the video reads.

"This question keeps coming up over and over again: Are we cooked as a society? And why do I say that?” Joe asks.

He goes on to explain that a 25-year-old woman thought the A/C on her car was not working, saying it wasn’t blowing any cold air, so she took it to the dealership to get looked at.

In the video, which he has greenscreened in the back, the woman explains that she brought the car to the dealership yesterday and explained the issue. The guy checks her car, presses a few buttons, and tells her, “Listen, I know it's not a hot day and all, but this thing is blasting cold air at me.” 

“There's no way. There's no way. I've spent the last two weeks sweating profusely in my car. The thing's broken,” she replies.

“'Did you try pressing the A/C button?” he responds.

Turns out the woman had no clue she needed to press the A/C button, not just turn the fan on. “I just thought I put it on cold, and it was gonna blow cold air at me," she says.

Joe's reaction was somewhere between sympathetic and exasperated.

"I honestly feel really, really bad for her. I mean, as a society, we need to do a little bit better to teach the younger individuals exactly what this is for and how it actually works. If you want cold air, you have to press the A/C button. If you want maximum cold air, you press the maximum A/C button," he said.

How Car A/C Actually Cools The Air

Here's the simple version: According to AutoZone, a car's A/C doesn't actually make cold air appear out of thin air. What it really does is take the warm air already inside the cabin and strip it of heat. 

It does this using a fluid called refrigerant, which is compressed by the compressor into a hot liquid, then cooled in the condenser (basically a mini radiator). From there, it flows into the evaporator, and as air blows across the evaporator, the refrigerant sucks the heat right out of that air, which is what actually makes the air coming through the vents feel cold. 

The refrigerant, now warmed back up, heads back to the compressor, and the whole thing repeats. So, really, "cold air" is just cabin air that's had its heat removed on the way through the vents.

Why You Actually Have to Press The Button

Many climate control systems have a dedicated "Auto" setting that has to be activated to get the system working the way most people expect, Cars.com explains. Pressing it hands control of fan speed, air recirculation, and vent direction to the system, which then adjusts all three together to reach and hold the set temperature. 

‘Been In The Automotive Industry For Over 30 Years And I've Seen This’

The comments were split between people pointing out that the way car A/Cs work is not obvious and others saying it should be implied.

“My youngest didn’t know she needed a stamp to mail a letter. I feel I failed her,” a top comment read.

“Dealerships used to teach you about your car when you got one but I guess customer service is a thing of the past,” a person said.

“Couldn't have Googled, how to turn on the ac in said vehicle?” another wrote.

“I once bought a car and it wouldn’t start… no body told me i need to put the key in the ignition,” a commenter said sarcastically.

However, one defended the woman, saying, “In her defense my [Hyundai] when you turn the temp to cold it automatically turns on ac.”

Another said it’s not a generational issue: “If you have ever done mechanical work you would know stuff like this happens all the time and since cars have been around not a new thing.”

Motor1 reached out to Joe via email and Instagram direct message for comment. We'll be sure to update this if he responds.