Smartkey remote start and climate controls

E

ElectroDad

New Member
We just bought a '22 Niro SX Touring. When temperatures get lower, I want to use the smartkey to start the car so the climate system heats/defrosts/defogs the car and turns on the seat warmer. I can remote start the car but don't see any sign of the climate controls doing anything when I get in. I realize the UVO app will do all kinds of stuff however my old phone is not "smart" enough to run the app.

Questions:
  • Is it possible to do what I want?
  • What will determine the climate control state/action/settings?
  • Will it work while the car is plugged in? (During my failed attempt the car was level 1 charging as I want the car to be brought to temperature using shore power.)
  • If the climate system is not activated, what is the point of remote starting an electric car?
  • Is there a full writeup of instructions for the smartkey features and how to do this?
Thanks for your help.
 
I have no idea what "remote starting" an EV would accomplish. My 2020 came with a fob that operates the door locks and has a panic button.
 
Below is a picture of the fob. After pressing the lock button, a person can hold the black button on the side and start the car. As mentioned, I'd like to have the car start heating the cabin so that when I start my drive to work it is warm and the windows are defogged. Other people might want the AC to come on. If the climate controls won't engage, there is not much point to remote start. Anyone know what the trick is?


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Okay, so after some more RTFM, I was doing it correctly but it seems the manual leaves out a significant detail. The car will not seem to do a smartkey remote start while it is being charged. At least not when charging from my level 1 charger. I don't know about Level 2.

This seems kinda silly. Isn't the point to let your car charge all night then remote start it in the morning at whatever time you want and have the heat come on (or the ac in other climates) and get everything ready for you before you have to go outside. It looks like they didn't really think this one through. So to answer my own questions:
  • Yes. The car can be remote started and climate control will come on but not while charging (tested on Level 1 charger only)
  • If the car is remote started while not plugged in, the climate controls will use the settings from when the car was turned off
  • No. The car will not remote start while charging. It reacts to a remote signal start but it doesn't do a full start and then it turns off after several seconds.
  • Good question. Why won't the car start while charging or at least have the climate control come on?
  • Yes there is a smartkey writeup in the 2022 manual but I found no reference to remote starting being defeated while charging.
Additional questions/things to test:
  • Can it smartkey remote start while Level 2 charging?
  • Can it smartkey remote start once done charging and the charger is still plugged in?
  • Where can we report this as a software bug to be fixed by Kia.
  • For those of you who use UVO, can I assume that you are able to remote start from the app while charging?
 
Hoping that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, I have submitted the following to Kia Canada at the following address:
https://newcontact.kia.ca/home

There is a bug with the software in our 2022 Kia Niro EV: the car cannot be remote started using the smartkey when the car is plugged into the level 1 charger.

Remote start is a feature most commonly used to heat or cool a car in advance of it being driven. The typical person would leave the car on the charger overnight and in the morning start the car from inside the house so that by the time the person leaves the house, the car is at the desired temperature. This has the benefit of having everything ready before going out to the car and the car is brought to temperature without reducing battery charge.

This bug makes remote start from the smartkey a meaningless feature as it cannot be used in the most commonly occurring situation.

It is clear that charging does not present a technical reason for not starting as this can easily be done via the start/stop button.

Please let me know if you require any additional information and when you might have this resolved.
Click to expand...
 
If you have the car plugged in to charge all night, you can set a climate schedule so if you leave the house at say 7AM, you can tell it you want the cabin to be 23C at 7AM, and it will preheat the cabin without you remote starting. You have to set this up through the car infotainment settings I believe, not through the app. The car HAS to be plugged in as well.

I've never tried the remote start on my SX Touring, I may try that when I get home and see what it does.
 
Great coincidence you mentioned this. I happened to find that feature last night and set it up through the infotainment. Two different departure times can be programmed with different day of the week settings for each and you can use geolocation to prevent it happening when the car is away from home. However there are some limitations that limit its usefulness:
  • as you mentioned, the car must be plugged in and since I don't plug the car in daily this would be unreliable. Hypothetically I could then use the smartkey to start the car when it's unplugged but maybe I didn't drive last and don't know if it's plugged in or not. A more universal solution would be nice.
  • it only works for those 4 predictable days of the week that I head to work at a predetermined time. Outside of those 4 days, there are many occasions I'd like to be able to get the car ready ahead of time when it's charging. For example the early morning trips up the ski hill.
If you have a level 2 charger, I'd be quite interested to know if it will remote start from the smartkey while plugged into your level 2.
 
Ok so I just tried a couple things. I do have a level 2 charger in the garage. It will try to remote start with it plugged in, but will turn itself right back off, it does give the red still plugged in dummy light in the dash when it does this.

The car WILL remote "start" when it's not plugged in, and it will either turn the climate onto what you had it manually set last, or it will try to get to the AUTO temp setting if that was what it was set to when it was last turned off. It's too warm to know right now if the heated seats and steering wheel will turn on with the remote start. I'd imaging it's the same as all my previous vehicles, if it's colder than 5C ambient it will turn on these two features with the remote start as well.

Your solution may be to make sure all drivers use Auto climate and make sure it's at 24 or something before they get out.
 
This is good info, as there's no way I'm paying for UVO when I had free Fordpass for years previous to this EV. It's nice to have if included, but I'm not paying for it.
 
I should have read your previous post before testing lol I've got a full charge right now, but i'll do some playing and try the UVO app remote start while plugged in, and after it's done charging so we have answers to that. bbiab.
 
ok,
So when plugged in you can use UVO to remote start the climate and it works without issue.
After the charge is complete and you remote start with UVO the car will actually kick the charger back on and start the climate requested from the app.

It is interesting that you can do it from the app, and not from the key when plugged in.
 
Thanks for running the tests. And I fully agree with your comments.
  • While charging, why allow remote start from the UVO app but not the smartkey.
  • I bought a car, I didn't license the use of a car. So on principle, I have a hard time paying for a UVO subscription.
To summarize the ways of getting the car cabin up or down to temperature:
  • Smartkey start: will use last climate settings used but will only work if not plugged in.
  • Pre-programmed climate start via infotainment: uses a preset time and temperature but only works with car plugged in.
  • OVU: will start and set to OVU climate setting but requires a subscription after trial period and smart enough phone.
 
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