AC/HEAT turns on by itself?

H

Hockey.Rulez

New Member
I have the Niro EV Premium. Overall, I am super happy with it! Since I just purchased it in late October, and live in northern California (Sacramento area), I really have not needed to use either the AC or heat yet. So far the ventilated seats have been sufficient on the warm days, and the heated seats and heated steering wheel have been sufficient on the cooler days. I almost always have the front windshield defogger on while driving, but without turning on the AC or heat, and without the temperature set to auto. Intermittently the AC and/or heat will activate on it's own. I usually notice because the range has a sudden drop of about 10-25 miles, so I look over at the middle console, and sure enough the AC and/or heat will be turned on. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there some type of function that would make the AC and/or heat activate on it's own? If so, does anyone know how to make it stop? Thanks in advance for the help!
 
It's the defogger. It's sensing the high humidity in the cabin and turning on the AC to reduce the water in the air and the heat to lower the relative humidity. That way the windows don't fog up. The window defogger is doing its job.
 
I do pretty much the same thing - use the window defogger without heat or air. I have only noticed this after I turn the car off. When I turn the car back on, the AC and heat have activated again, and I have to turn them off again.
 
niro525 said:
It's the defogger. It's sensing the high humidity in the cabin and turning on the AC to reduce the water in the air and the heat to lower the relative humidity. That way the windows don't fog up. The window defogger is doing its job.
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Ahhhhh, that makes sense. My Niro didn't come with the cold weather package. Maybe I'll look into adding the cold weather package, if that's even an option, so I don't have to worry about it. I just hate seeing the range drop when the heat is used.
 
Robert Lewis said:
I do pretty much the same thing - use the window defogger without heat or air. I have only noticed this after I turn the car off. When I turn the car back on, the AC and heat have activated again, and I have to turn them off again.
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Interesting that yours only does it after you've turned the car off. Mine does that too. But it also happens randomly when I'm driving. Luckily I monitor my range very regularly, I'm range-frugal :) So I notice pretty quickly once the AC and/or heat activates on it's own.
 
There's a section in the Kona manual headed "Defogging logic" that tells how to turn off the automatic activation of heat and AC. I'd look for something similar in its cousin.
 
While we are complaining about the heating system, there are behaviors that annoy me. The thing decides it knows what state is best for me too much. If I turn on defog, it always turns on the AC and the heat. Sometimes I just want to blow in outside air. Also, if I have it set to recirculate, it tends to swap to outside air if turn on the heat or A/C, and seems to not remember that state if I cycle the climate control off and back on.

One that makes me really annoyed is how it believes I always want the multimedia system on and playing something. I turn it off and switch off the car it comes back on when I turn the car on. I turn it off and unplug my phone from the USB, it switches it on, etc. etc.

I wish all the settings on these devices would just stay in the last state I put them in until I alter the state myself.
 
David T in Silicon Valley said:
While we are complaining about the heating system, there are behaviors that annoy me. The thing decides it knows what state is best for me too much. If I turn on defog, it always turns on the AC and the heat. Sometimes I just want to blow in outside air. Also, if I have it set to recirculate, it tends to swap to outside air if turn on the heat or A/C, and seems to not remember that state if I cycle the climate control off and back on.

One that makes me really annoyed is how it believes I always want the multimedia system on and playing something. I turn it off and switch off the car it comes back on when I turn the car on. I turn it off and unplug my phone from the USB, it switches it on, etc. etc.

I wish all the settings on these devices would just stay in the last state I put them in until I alter the state myself.
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Again, the Kona allows the automatic climate functions to be turned off, and I'd be surprised if this is not the case for the related brands.
 
There is a way to fix some of the behavior I observe.

Automatic Ventilation
The system aromatically selections the outside (fresh) air position when the climate control system operates over a certain period of time (5 minutes) in low temperature with the recirculated air position selected.
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F*** you, Kia. Why? What fun this will be when driving near a pig farm, open sewer or a music festival in 90 degree temperatures. Fortunately the next section provides a ridiculously arcane incantation to turn this feature off.

To cancel or reset the Automatic Ventilation
When the air conditioning system is on, select Face Level mode and press the recirculated air position button more than five times within 3 seconds, while pressing the A/C button. When the automatic ventilation is canceled, the indicator blinks 3 times. When the automatic ventilation system is activated, the indicator blinks 6 times.
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Are you kidding me?? Not exactly intuitive, unless you were raised by a universal EPROM or something. I assume this sequence of events toggles the "Automatic Venitlation" featured the feature state is remembered, though perhaps it will annoyingly reset to on when I turn the car off and back on again, forcing me to perform this ritual each time I start the car. I will bring my eye-of-newt and henbane with me just in case I need those too for the spell. smh


Could be worse. They might not have had a way to turn it off at all. Don't see why they can't make it a button or a screen selectable thing.
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David T in Silicon Valley said:
There is a way to fix some of the behavior I observe.

Automatic Ventilation
The system aromatically selections the outside (fresh) air position when the climate control system operates over a certain period of time (5 minutes) in low temperature with the recirculated air position selected.
​
F*** you, Kia. Why? What fun this will be when driving near a pig farm, open sewer or a music festival in 90 degree temperatures. Fortunately the next section provides a ridiculously arcane incantation to turn this feature off.
Click to expand...

Not sure 90 counts as low temperature as stated in the manual. Surely the point of the feature is to keep the car from getting fogged up.
 
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