Ok, this seems to be a silly question, but being new to 740's, I have to ask.

The recirc-a\c buttons on the climate control (non-automatic), are they off when depressed in, or when they extend out. The owner's manual (to me) is not all that clear on which is which. Thanks for your help.

If you have an "AC OFF" button, when the button is IN, the A/C is OFF.

Does that make sense? It doesn't make sense to me. Usually pushing a button implies that a positive change is taking place. Volvo changed this dumb design later on in the production, but it wasn't universal; some of the later 900s still had the "AC Off" button, such as some 960s.

I wonder what moron thought of this design. Every other car on the road has an "A/C" switch that turns it on. THat makes the default position of the A/C in the 700, "on". (In the later rotary dial ones).

I'm pretty sure the recirc seems to be recirculating when the button is pushed in. In which case, there IS a positive change taking place when a button is pushed. You have to play around with it a little bit until you figure it out. Even the owners manuals are not very good with the translation. I wonder what kind of comments this kind of design woudl get if it was spread to other buttons, like rear defrost ("off" when the button is lit) or seat heaters OFF, when the lamps are lit. Or even maybe the headlights.

I'm used to it but I still marvel at it just from a design standpoint.
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Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

Depends on the model and year. My kid's 1992 940 has an a/c button that is "on" when out, exactly the opposite of my other cars.

They are off when out. When in they're on and a light should go on in/around them (I think - that's certainly the behavior of the ECC cars, don't have much experience with ACC cars).

Bram