Fan speed control
Sets how hard the heater and air-conditioning fan blows.
What pressing it does
Higher settings push more air through the vents. Hyundai's Tucson uses buttons marked with a small and a large fan; its OFF button stops the fan. SEAT's Ateca manual system uses a knob from 0 to 6: at 0 the fan and the air conditioning are off, 6 is the maximum. On SEAT's automatic Climatronic, changing the fan by hand switches automatic mode off.
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 four-bladed fan, solid or in outline
- Also labelled
- Blower; Fan; Ventilation fan
- Standard
- UN R121 and FMVSS 101
What to check in your car's manual
How many steps your fan has, whether its lowest position switches the whole system off, and whether running it with the engine off drains the battery.
Where makes differ
The number of steps and what 'off' means differ: SEAT's manual system turns the air conditioning off at fan 0; Hyundai has a separate OFF button and warns that running the fan with the Engine Start/Stop button in ON (engine not running) may discharge the battery.
Where the regulations list it
| Rule | Row | Function | Must be lit with the headlamps |
|---|---|---|---|
| UN R121 | Table, item 39 “Heating and/or air conditioning fan” | Control | Yes |
| FMVSS 101 | Table 1, “Heating and/or air conditioning fan”: fan symbol (solid or outline) or the word “Fan” | Control | Yes |
UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series), location and identification of hand controls, tell-tales and indicators: Cars (M) and light goods vehicles (N1) approved under the UN 1958 Agreement, which includes the EU, UK and Japan. Paragraph 5.2.1: where fitted, a control listed in the table is identified by the symbol in its column 2; note 2 says the symbols are substantially identical to those of ISO 2575:2004. US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 101, Controls and displays (49 CFR 571.101): Cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses sold in the US. S5.2.1: a control listed in Table 1 or Table 2 is identified by the symbol in column 2 or the word or abbreviation in column 3. S5.3.1(a): a control marked 'Yes' for illumination must have its identification lit whenever the headlamps are on, except on the floor, console, steering wheel, steering column or windshield header.
Good to know
- FMVSS 101 allows the word 'Fan' instead of the symbol; FMVSS 101 Table 1 prints the fan both solid and in outline, and UN R121 note 1 says framed areas of a symbol may be solid, which is why some fans are drawn filled.
Other buttons under “Fans, air”
Sources
The symbol is cited to the regulation rows above; what pressing it does is taken from the owner's manuals below. Each document was read on the date shown.
- UN R121: UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series) as published in the Official Journal of the EU, L 5, 8 January 2016, pp. 16-19: table 'Symbols, their illumination and colours' checked 2026-09-25
- FMVSS 101: govinfo: 49 CFR 571.101 in the Code of Federal Regulations, 1 October 2025 edition, Table 1 (pp. 329-332) and Table 2 (p. 334) as printed checked 2026-09-25
- Hyundai 2025 Tucson (general market, English web manual): Manual heating and air conditioning — Fan speed control — More air at higher fan speeds; OFF turns the fan off; battery warning. checked 2026-09-25
- SEAT Ateca owner's manual, UK English, edition 06.21 (model year 2022), PDF: Manual air conditioning controls — Blower; Climatronic controls, p. 148-149 — Levels 0 (off) to 6 (maximum); manual fan change ends automatic mode. checked 2026-09-25
Written in our own words; the manuals cover their own models only.