Automobile air conditioning systems cool the occupants of a vehicle in hot weather, and have come into wide use from the late twentieth century. Air conditioners use significant power; on the other hand the drag of a car with closed windows is less than if the windows are open to cool the occupants evaporatively. There has been much debate on the effect of air conditioning on the fuel efficiency of a vehicle. Factors such as wind resistance, aerodynamics and engine power and weight have to be factored into finding the true variance between using the air conditioning system and not using it when estimating the in actual fuel mileage. Other factors on the impact on the engine and an overall engine heat increase can have an impact on the cooling system of the vehicle.
A company in New York City in the United States, first offered installation of air conditioning for cars in 1933. Most of their customers operated limousines and luxury cars.
The 1953 Chrysler Imperial was the first production car in twelve years to actually have automobile air conditioning and had ostensibly offered it on cars in 1941-42, and again in 1951-52, but none are known to have been sold in the latter form until the 1953 model year. In actually installing optional Airtemp air conditioning units to its Imperials in 1953, Chrysler beat Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile which added air conditioning as an option in the 1953 model year.
In 1954 the Nash Ambassador was the first American automobile to have a front-end, fully integrated heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system. The Nash-Kelvinator corporation used its experience in refrigeration to introduce the automobile industry's first compact and affordable, single-unit heating and air conditioning system optional for its Nash models. This was the first mass market system with controls on the dash and an electric clutch. This first true refrigerated air conditioner system was also compact and easily serviceable with all of its components installed under the hood or in the cowl area.
Most competing systems used a separate heating system and an engine-mounted compressor, driven off of the crankshaft of the engine via a belt, with an evaporator in the car's trunk to deliver cold air through the rear parcel shelf and overhead vents. General Motors made a front mounted air conditioning system optional in 1954 on Pontiacs with a straight-eight engine that added separate controls and air distribution. The alternative layout pioneered by Nash "became established practice and continues to form the basis of the modern and more sophisticated automatic climate control systems."
The innovation was adopted quickly, and by 1960 about 20% of all cars in the U.S. had air-conditioning, with the percentage increasing to 80% in the warm areas of the Southwest. American Motors made air conditioning standard equipment on all AMC Ambassadors starting with the 1968 model year, a first in the mass market with a base price starting at $2,671. By 1969, 54% of the domestic automobiles were equipped with air conditioning, with the feature needed not only for passenger comfort, but also to increase the car's resale value.
It is claimed that a new type of air-conditioning for automobiles called TIFFE (Thermal systems Integration For Fuel Economy) will come into production in 2015. It is said to reduce gasoline consumption by 15%.
