I Hope I'm Wrong... Goofy Climate Control

[ihatecats78]

So far as I can tell, the rear and front climate control on this vehicle operate completely independently. The front temperature is controlled via the auto/manual controls.

The rear temperature is controlled by a little rotating wheel that seems to adjust from cold to hot.

The really, really stupid thing (unless I'm doing this wrong), is that there is no way for the driver to assume control of the rear seat temperature. That means, that in addition to setting my front temp, I have to reach behind my center console and rotate the knob to what I estimate it should be. Otherwise I run the risk of my climate control system working against itself.

There have already been a couple times when I have had rear seat passengers ask me why the vents in back were blowing freezing cold air on them when it was cold outside and I had my heater on. By the way, I typically run my climate control on auto, which I thought would take control of everything.

So far as I can tell, there isn't anything in the climate menu or settings to make me able to control the rear vents from the drivers seat.

If this is the case, I consider this to be a significant design flaw. It is absurd to expect the driver of a vehicle to reach into the back seat and rotate a knob to make sure the air flowing from rear vents is the right temperature.

Please, somebody.. anybody tell me that I have this all wrong.

 

[Jayce]

I think you've got it right. I believe they just designed it this way. I see your point, and maybe they'll change this in the future. I haven't seen enough other cars with this feature to know how they handle it, but I know SUVs and vans usually let you control it from the front. For me personally, I don't think it'll bother me. It's either hot or cold where I live so I'll just change it by the season and it'll likely stay that way.

I'm curious about something though, if the rear passengers have the wherewithal to ask why is the air cold. Can't they tell by seeing the fact that the indicator is blue and just change it to the heat themselves which is indicated by red? That seems like a simple solution when someone actually sitting back there.

 

[ihatecats78]

I think you've got it right. I believe they just designed it this way. I see your point, and maybe they'll change this in the future. I haven't seen enough other cars with this feature to know how they handle it, but I know SUVs and vans usually let you control it from the front. For me personally, I don't think it'll bother me. It's either hot or cold where I live so I'll just change it by the season and it'll likely stay that way.

I'm curious about something though, if the rear passengers have the wherewithal to ask why is the air cold. Can't they tell by seeing the fact that the indicator is blue and just change it to the heat themselves which is indicated by red? That seems like a simple solution when someone actually sitting back there.

The car is new to the rear passengers as well.. and kids aren't always that quick in picking up the way a vehicle works. They were really just complaining about cold air.

Every vehicle I've had that would hand over control of the rear temp would allow the driver to assume control. Either that, or the rear passenger had no control over rear air temp, and relied on the settings on the main console.

I would far rather the rear passenger (especially given the fact that there usually isn't one at all) have no control over the air temp in the rear of the vehicle than have 100% control all of the time.

I see your point about seasons, but I'm in Texas. It was 18F this morning. Saturday it's going to be 75F.

This is an unacceptable oversight on the part of KIA engineers and developers. I shouldn't have to reach into the back seat to make sure that my climate control system isn't working against itself.

 

[Jayce]

The car is new to the rear passengers as well.. and kids aren't always that quick in picking up the way a vehicle works. They were really just complaining about cold air.

Every vehicle I've had that would hand over control of the rear temp would allow the driver to assume control. Either that, or the rear passenger had no control over rear air temp, and relied on the settings on the main console.

I would far rather the rear passenger (especially given the fact that there usually isn't one at all) have no control over the air temp in the rear of the vehicle than have 100% control all of the time.

I see your point about seasons, but I'm in Texas. It was 18F this morning. Saturday it's going to be 75F.

This is an unacceptable oversight on the part of KIA engineers and developers. I shouldn't have to reach into the back seat to make sure that my climate control system isn't working against itself.

Yeah, it would definitely be better to have control than to not have control. I kinda wonder if it was a cost cutting measure.

 

[Kia Stinger]

This is really interesting and I don't remember how this has worked in my past vehicles... I do know that in at least one other I had to do the same thing - go back there and adjust the temperature. But you're 100% right - if it was cold the night before and my back seat passengers blasted the heat - and today is hot so I have the air conditioning on in the front - why would I want the back seats getting hot air blown around? I think that at the very least, the rear temperature and fan speed either set to the same as the front seat or turn off completely when there are no passengers in either seat. Plus, I think it would be smart to have some type of control over this in the front seat. You're definitely not crazy for being uncomfortable with the way this is set up. Unfortunately, I think other cars work similarly...

 

[ihatecats78]

This is really interesting and I don't remember how this has worked in my past vehicles... I do know that in at least one other I had to do the same thing - go back there and adjust the temperature. But you're 100% right - if it was cold the night before and my back seat passengers blasted the heat - and today is hot so I have the air conditioning on in the front - why would I want the back seats getting hot air blown around? I think that at the very least, the rear temperature and fan speed either set to the same as the front seat or turn off completely when there are no passengers in either seat. Plus, I think it would be smart to have some type of control over this in the front seat. You're definitely not crazy for being uncomfortable with the way this is set up. Unfortunately, I think other cars work similarly...

I’ve had two vehicles with independent rear controls. Both were able to control rear temps from the front.

And before we say that they must have been luxury vehicles, one of them was a Ford Explorer.

We have redundant controls for the radio on the steering wheel because somebody, somewhere thought it was a big deal to take a hand off of the wheel to reach to the center console to change the volume.

This car has THAT feature, but I have to contort myself and reach into the back seat for climate control?

I really think Kia just forgot about this little problem and realized it too late to fix it.

 

[Gdank]

As far as I understand it, the rear controller isn't a full 3rd zone control. It takes the conditioned air that is being sent to the front, and adjust as much as it can using cooler/warmer air mix.

Therefore as an example : If you set the front seats to Auto and Sync, and picked 22 deg'c Celsius, then the back can only take the air being pumped out the front and add a little more cold or hot ... like a degree or two at most. You cannot set the front to 28deg C and then put the back in cold mode and expect 14deg C.

That's the way my dealer told me, plus how I read about it in an online review, and I'm sure someone mentioned this is a you tube review too - hence why I think it works this way.

 

[Jayce]

I’ve had two vehicles with independent rear controls. Both were able to control rear temps from the front.

And before we say that they must have been luxury vehicles, one of them was a Ford Explorer.

We have redundant controls for the radio on the steering wheel because somebody, somewhere thought it was a big deal to take a hand off of the wheel to reach to the center console to change the volume.

This car has THAT feature, but I have to contort myself and reach into the back seat for climate control?

I really think Kia just forgot about this little problem and realized it too late to fix it.

That's an SUV though. Have you had an actual car that does it? That's what I'm not certain about. Do other cars have this functionality? It appears @Kia Stinger is saying his past cars did not do it.

 

[Waynerm002]

^^^ what he said. You can’t control the temp separate in the back, it’s not a 3 zone system. You ate just varying it my a couple of degree with outside air. Had this in my BMW, it was a nice feature to be “feel” you had some control back there. Unless you have an actual temperature adjustment back there, like the newer cars with 4 zone control.

 

[ihatecats78]

^^^ what he said. You can’t control the temp separate in the back, it’s not a 3 zone system. You are just varying it by a couple of degree with outside air.

Maybe I’m just new to Korean cars then. I would rather the vents just blow what I’m controlling from the front than have to worry what the back is set to.

If @Gdank is correct, then if I have it set to the middle, that would be the case.. I’m going to give it a shot and see.

Edit: That isn’t the case. It blows exactly what it’s set to regardless of changes to the front.

 

[Clearly Canadian]

Wow, that sucks.

 

[AnyVare]

Wow, I think this is certainly an interesting design issue (flaw). I understand having different controls for the rear seat, but it should follow the front settings of heat or AC and only allow them to choose fan speed and maybe the temp mixer.

 

[Gdank]

Edit: That isn’t the case. It blows exactly what it’s set to regardless of changes to the front.

Does you car have front ventilated seats ? I.e you can cool them too?

The reason I ask is that unless you are spending £100K or more, there are very few cars that will more than 4 zones.

And your seats if able to be cooled count as a “zone”. In any BMW/Audi/Merc/Jag that’s around the £30-£60k Range you can Duel Front Zone Control and either Duel Rear or Cooled front seats, not both as that would be 6 zones!

Now I can imagine that Kia added an extra heater element to the vent to the rear as that’s easy and cheep .... but I can’t see on a £40k car that it would have an additional cooling element in there .... that would mean full 5 zone control - which luxury cars don’t even offer as an upgrade!

So if you only have heated front seats then logically you could take the cooling from them and use for the rear, but if you have both heated/cooled front seats AND the rear can be highly controlled - then Kia just set a new standard!

 

[Waynerm002]

Hmm..., there is a bit of flaw in that logic. To my knowledge the seats are heated by electric elements in the seat, under the fabric, the cooling is done with a fan. The rear vents are a part of the HVAC unit in the vehicle which typically works with the front system. The air is ducted to the rear vents from the front, much like the front system, if you have rear heat you are varying the amount of air (warm or cold) sent back there.

Today’s vehicles with a climate control system can run the Air conditioner at all temps to manage the humidity in the vehicle. I know that when set to Auto the AC light in my Optima is on, that allows the system to activate it when required. I doubt there is a separate system for the rear seats. If there is, then kudos to KIA for doing this however, it would be an unexpected bonus. What I typically do is set the vents to a mid setting, if I have passengers back there I ask them how it feels back there and point out that they have the capability to adjust the temp at the vent.

I have had this type of system in my BMWs and liked that KIA also has it in the Optima. Don’t like that the Stinger don’t have rear heated seats in the US, hoping they bring it by the time I’m ready to get mine.

 

[Gdank]

Hmm..., there is a bit of flaw in that logic. To my knowledge the seats are heated by electric elements in the seat, under the fabric, the cooling is done with a fan. .

The Heating is an element ... it's why I only was really asking about the cooling side, which is taken from the HVAC ducted systems in most cars ... well at least the last 3 cars I owned they were - the last being a 2016 Jag.

 

[Gdank]

In addition I just went through the UK spec sheet, and it clearly says Duel Zone Climate Control ... and only mentions the rear ventilation - if a feature it was a fully controlled climate zone then I'm sure someone would have added into the brochure, or stated "Three Zone Climate Control".

Not saying this is how it works, just what I can tell ...

 

[Kazz]

FWIW, like the three vents on the center of the dash, the rear pair of vents can be closed by rotating the center knob. My main rear seat passenger was told about the controls but never touched them. I asked about them again last night when we all climbed in the car. That's when we found they were closed anyway. Keeping them that way for now.

 

[ivoyan]

I couldn't find an answer, so bumping this old thread. I'm driving with the climate control/knob/buttons off - everything is off - and there is still an air current coming out from all the front air vents... I would expect nothing coming out. Closing/Opening all the vents manually every time seems a bit ridiculous. Am I missing something here?

 

[D.J.]

I couldn't find an answer, so bumping this old thread. I'm driving with the climate control/knob/buttons off - everything is off - and there is still an air current coming out from all the front air vents... I would expect nothing coming out. Closing/Opening all the vents manually every time seems a bit ridiculous. Am I missing something here?

Fresh air or recirc?

Switch to recirc, and the air flow will stop.

 

[ivoyan]

Seems like fresh air, it was cold. OK, will try just the recirc button.