I just bought a new '12 Fit Sport and it continually makes this subtle hissing sound when the A/C is on. Every 30 secs or so it sounds like it is slowly exhaling from under the right side of the dash. It is driving me nuts. Everything works great. The A/C is super cold and works fine. Is this normal?

 

yup, perfectly normal. Most small economy cars house the A/C evaporator under the dash (as does the fit). Larger cars house them in the engine bay (or use more sound insulation) so you don't hear the hissing so much.

Just think of it as the Fit working hard to keep you comfortable.

 

Yeah... my brand-new and now totaled 400hp BMW 550i didn't do this... so I guess I add this to the list of "What do you expect for $17K?" items? As long as I know something like this is normal and I don't have any mechanical issues, I'm all good. The car is "bang for buck" awesome. I actually enjoy it more than the BMW that was costing me 4X as much! Thanks for the info.

 

Time for an A/C evaporator insulation mod!

 

Perfectly normal. The refrigerant is expanding through an orifice, cooling the refrigerant, providing you with the cold air you are accustomed to. Other cars work the same way, however, as one poster stated, those cars have more acoustical insulation to hide the noise, much like when i sit on the couch to hide the product of the chili I ate earlier.

You could attempt to insulate it also.

 

That's hilarious. Thanks everyone. I feel better already.