An important fact about charging is: Only the phone decides how much current it'll use for charging.
The charger's spec just tells how much output current amperes the charger is
able to provide to a phone.
So the phone won't get any harm with a 4A charger
The phone's info tells about its charging state (Settings, About phone, Battery, Battery status ...):
"Charging (AC)"
is showing when phone is charging on the wall charger which came with the phone.
It means fast, high current charging with up to 1000mA (1A).
"Charging (USB)"
is showing when the phone is charging on a PC's USB plug.
It means slow, trickle current charging with up to 500mA.
Navigation apps are draining the phone's battery much more than other apps.
Nav apps drains more current than an "USB" charging can provide and the battery's level is going low despite the charging.
So when you are using a nav app in a car you'll need this "AC" charging with the car charger for charging properly the phone's battery.
Most phones will detect if they can use "AC" charging at the instant when they are put to the charger. They'll detect this when the charger's connector has an indication.
And most phone manufacturers do code the microUSB connector of their wall chargers and car chargers with that indication.
But most manufacturer of generic chargers don't code their charger's microUSB connector in this way because they want to be compatible with all kind of USB devices.
So to be sure you should buy an original HTC car charger (C300) for your Desire HD
Harry