Outside temperature sensor way off

[swifteee]

My outside thermometer seems to be way off. Usually reads 12-15 degrees hotter than actual temperature. Anybody else experiencing this?

 

[tbolts10]

FWIW every car I've ever owned has done this

 

[jakrbt]

It's because they usually install the ambient temp sensors in the engine bay. Very near the exterior near the grille but nevertheless....the engine bay gets pretty hot so you can usually expect your outside air temp to read a few degrees hotter than actual.

 

[Banger]

Yeah. When mine's sitting in the hot sun, it'll read high as soon as I start it up, then cool down and read more normal once I get moving.

 

[eltaco]

For what it’s worth, I had this issue on my 2020 Ram 1500. It bothered me quite a bit, especially when temps neared freezing because I do use that as an indicator for whether rain is going to freeze to the road. Also, I had automated heat and cooled seats based on temperature, so it was annoying when those were kicking on way outside of the normal range.

Mine actually got steadily worse over time. I actually learned the sensor was in the drivers side rear view mirror. I don’t have my RHO yet to confirm if that’s still the case. My dealer swapped the sensor and it didn’t resolve the issue. A few months later, my turn signals went out, which gave us another clue. We ended up swapping in a new control body module which resolved both problems.