Patent ID: 7080523
Filing Date: 2006-07-25
Classification: B60H

Abstract:
1. An air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: a distance detector that detects a distance between the vehicle and a vehicle ahead; a pollutant detector that detects a quantity of exhaust gas pollutants in an outside air; an inside/outside air switching device that switches an inside/outside air mode between an inside air mode and an outside air mode; and a controller that controls the inside/outside air switching device to switch the inside/outside air mode, wherein the controller stores a predetermined pollutant level to determine the quantity of exhaust gas pollutants, the predetermined pollutant level is set to different levels in accordance with the detected distance, and the controller is programmed such that the outside air mode is selected when the detected distance is greater than a predetermined distance and a detected quantity of exhaust gas pollutants is equal to or less than a first predetermined pollutant level, and the inside air mode is selected when the detected distance is equal to or less than the predetermined distance and the detected quantity of exhaust gas pollutants is greater than a second predetermined pollutant level that is lower than the first predetermined pollutant level.