I think newbies are confused partly because the
ventilation controls evolved from a simpler scheme
in the air-cooled Vanagons.

The initial design (sort of) made sense.  Then
VW wanted more complex controls, but the number
of sliders (4) and the location were fixed,
limiting what they could do with the cables,
etc.  So we end up with levers that are "open"
to the left, "open" to the right, etc.

                        Richard A. Jones
                        Boulder, Colorado
                        '81 Vanagon  Mr Bus
                        '87 Syncro Westy  El Jefe