Air distribution buttons (face, feet, windscreen)
Chooses which vents the heater and air conditioning blow through: towards the upper body, the footwell, both, or the windscreen and footwell.
What pressing it does
Each press (or each position of the knob) sends the air to a different set of vents. Hyundai's Tucson table: arrow at the face — dashboard and rear console vents; face and feet — those plus the floor vents; feet — mostly the floor, with a little to the windscreen and side windows; feet and windscreen — mostly floor and windscreen. SEAT's Ateca manual lists the same four for its manual system: chest; chest and footwell; footwell; windscreen and footwell.
Check your car's manual: makes and models differ in what a button does, which positions a switch has and whether it works with the engine off, and your owner's manual is the authority for your car.
- What it looks like
- A seated person with arrows aimed at the face, the feet, or the windscreen and feet
- Also labelled
- Mode; Air flow direction; Vent selection; Footwell and face vents
- Standard
- None — a maker's symbol, described here from 2 makers' manuals: Hyundai, SEAT
What to check in your car's manual
How your panel selects the mode (buttons, a MODE button that cycles, or a rotary knob), and what the 'feet' mode does with the windscreen on your car.
Where makes differ
Hyundai's 'feet' mode still sends a small amount of air to the windscreen and side windows; SEAT's manual describes its 'footwell' position without that. SEAT's manual system uses a rotary knob, and choosing the windscreen position switches recirculation off; its automatic Climatronic has three buttons (chest, footwell, windscreen) and normally sets the distribution itself. Hyundai's Tucson has a MODE button.
No regulation defines it
Neither the UN R121 table nor FMVSS 101 Tables 1 and 2 lists air-distribution controls; the drawings are the makers' own, based on ISO 2575, which is sold by ISO and not quoted here.
Good to know
- The full windscreen setting with three wavy arrows in a windscreen is the demist button, which has its own page.
Related dashboard pages
Other buttons under “Fans, air”
Sources
No regulation defines this control, so it is described from 2 carmakers' own owner's manuals, each read on the date shown.
- Hyundai 2025 Tucson (general market, English web manual): Manual heating and air conditioning — Mode selection (symbol table) — Four modes and the outlets each uses: face (B, D, F); face and floor (B, C, D, E, F); floor with a little to the windshield (A, C, D, E); floor and windshield (A, C, D, E). checked 2026-09-25
- SEAT Ateca owner's manual, UK English, edition 06.21 (model year 2022), PDF: Climatronic controls and functions; Manual air conditioning controls — Air distribution, p. 148-149 — Chest, chest and footwell, footwell, windscreen and footwell; windscreen position switches recirculation off. checked 2026-09-25
Written in our own words; the manuals cover their own models only.