absolutely no screen or guard on the cabin air intake

[midwest Stinger]

had a really bad, gross experience with my GT got in the car and a really road kill smell was overwhelming looked all over the undercarrage and wheel wells , nothing went to the car wash sprayed the entire under side as clean as I could ,, NO help took trunk apart looked under seats ,never leave windows open finally dismantled glove box , nothing in owners manual. as to how, and there were 3 dead baby mice and a small pile of leaves!! on top the cabin air filter element
DUE to the 3 by 7 inch opening for incoming air behind the fuse block with absolutely NO barrier in the engine compartment, you can stick your hand almost down to the cabin filter element
Really Gross oversight on design
Did my car miss getting a screen or is this going to happen to many more owners??

 

[MerlintheMad]

Holy, CRAP!!?? This is a nightmare waiting to happen, to ME!!?? Mouse invader!

People are all about putting (feckless, in my humble opinion) screens on the side vent holes. But not one word about a screen to keep mouses out of our cabin air filter boxes. WTH!!!??? I think we need to come up with something to deny them that too-convenient "mouse house".

 

[SafetyPilotCal]

You know, when I saw this thread I thought to myself "Nah, there's no way Kia would actually do something this asinine and boneheaded. Every car since the beginning of time draws air from behind the cowl using a mesh grate there to prevent intake of, well, stuff."

I went out to check for myself..

You are absolutely correct. There's nothing preventing ingress of mice or any other nasties into the blower box. I pulled the fuse box cover off and I can reach down in there and touch the filter element. You can actually see it from the outside. I haven't seen something THAT stupid in a long time.. and I've owned mostly GM products, so I know stupid. When the car is on recirc mode, there is a blend door that closes and covers up the filter, but as soon as you shut the car off, it opens up again. Seriously, what the f*ck.

 

[robz32]

Well, I can vouch for this being standard practice on most if not all modern vehicles. My wife's Inifiniti as well as my Mom's have the same design, you need to also remove a plastic panel and you comfortably reach the in-cabin air filter from the engine bay.

Just last weekend I was helping a friend of mine do a tune up on his BMW and found they use the same approach for the design of the AC air intake. So not a Kia oversight.

I agree there needs to be some sort of protection from possible rodents or elements that may get sucked into the filter.

 

[SKStinger]

This also helps explain why the cabin air filter on this car gets dirty at a way faster rate than any other vehicle i've owned. It should at least have a coarse grated filter in the engine bay to stop leaves and larger contaminants from getting down to the filter. I'm going to take a look at mine and see if I can fabricate something. I'm sure as Merlin mentioned, something similar to the mesh used on our side vents would work as long as there is a way to adhere it to the opening.

 

[Rynil2000]

Out of curiosity I went down and checked behind the fuse panel for what you guys are talking about. There are some rubber flaps you have to reach past, but you can definitely get to the cabin filter. I can't comment on if this was the best design (my last car didn't even have a cabin filter), but it does seem like it is protected enough from the elements. I agree that it could use a coarse grate to keep out unwanted visitors or large debris.

Also, are you guys parking outside or in a garage?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Outside. But, a garage is no impediment to a puny, slithery, sneaky rodent.

As per accessibility: yes, the rubber "flap" is sufficient to obstruct any significant amount of leaves or other debris. My filter only had a few small fragments of leaves lying on it. But a mouse "family" would have ZERO difficulty getting in and out under that rubber flap.

I was just looking at the layout, and I don't see how a screen could be put in place, short of disassembling the danged thing, attaching a screen and putting everything back together. Somebody braver than I ...

 

[SKStinger]

Outside. But, a garage is no impediment to a puny, slithery, sneaky rodent.

As per accessibility: yes, the rubber "flap" is sufficient to obstruct any significant amount of leaves or other debris. My filter only had a few small fragments of leaves lying on it. But a mouse "family" would have ZERO difficulty getting in and out under that rubber flap.

I was just looking at the layout, and I don't see how a screen could be put in place, short of disassembling the danged thing, attaching a screen and putting everything back together. Somebody braver than I ...

Agreed. I took a look also and it will be a pita to fit something in there.

 

[Dmango]

I cut a piece of wire mesh from the old storm windows. I tug it in behind the fuse box and it fit nicely.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Inventive! But it will only keep leaves out, not mouses. They will find a way around an edge or corner. Blah.

 

[SKStinger]

I wonder if there is a fuse you can pull before powering off the car that leaves the recirc door closed. That might be a good solution for longer term storage.

 

[djerickd]

Check this out

CDC External Air Conditioner / Heater Filter kia stinger

CDC External Air Conditioner / Heater Filter for Kia Stinger 2017+ fits all models and provides even cleaner air for your car interior.

tuscanicustoms.com

 

[SKStinger]

Check this out

CDC External Air Conditioner / Heater Filter kia stinger

CDC External Air Conditioner / Heater Filter for Kia Stinger 2017+ fits all models and provides even cleaner air for your car interior.

tuscanicustoms.com

Thats perfect but $118 USD is crazy! You can get a K&N cabin filter for half that price.

 

[Rynil2000]

Is the hole really just that little coffin shape? You must have to dig past the rubber air dams to find that. I didn't think it seemed that straight forward. It wouldn't be too difficult to measure and 3D print up something to fill that gap - much less than $118.

 

[BlueBrick]

I went to change my cabin filter today and found the same issue, thankfully without anything dead at least. It looks like a bunch of debris has fallen down into the fan as well (not that you can tell from my picture). I'm wondering if I have to take apart the whole fan housing and clean it out. Has anyone done that before, at first glance it doesn't seem all that easy.

 

[BlueBrick]

It certainly is a PITA to get something in there, but I put some chicken wire in for now, I don't think I got it totally sealed but it should hopefully deter the lazier mice. Pretty disappointed that I only had MOPAR purple duct tape and no Stinger blue to keep it OEM looking.

I was able to stick a flexible crevice tool into the fan and spin it by hand while vacuuming. It seemed to clean it all out, hopefully there is nothing below the fan.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I went to change my cabin filter today and found the same issue, thankfully without anything dead at least. It looks like a bunch of debris has fallen down into the fan as well (not that you can tell from my picture). I'm wondering if I have to take apart the whole fan housing and clean it out. Has anyone done that before, at first glance it doesn't seem all that easy.

That is terrifying.

I've taken to putting out "Alley Cat" for the feral cats, and hopefully by only attracting them and not feeding them to the point of laziness, they'll keep any mouses on the run (and kill them, of course, it is to be hoped).

It certainly is a PITA to get something in there, but I put some chicken wire in for now, I don't think I got it totally sealed but it should hopefully deter the lazier mice. Pretty disappointed that I only had MOPAR purple duct tape and no Stinger blue to keep it OEM looking.

I was able to stick a flexible crevice tool into the fan and spin it by hand while vacuuming. It seemed to clean it all out, hopefully there is nothing below the fan.

Somehow, I don't think that we giants can possibly cram any screening material in, in such a way as to eliminate ingress to the enticing coziness of the glovebox cabin filter. A mouse will always find a way. Kill the little bastards by any means necessary.

 

[Bigbikes]

I went to change my cabin filter today and found the same issue, thankfully without anything dead at least. It looks like a bunch of debris has fallen down into the fan as well (not that you can tell from my picture). I'm wondering if I have to take apart the whole fan housing and clean it out. Has anyone done that before, at first glance it doesn't seem all that easy.

Where's your car parked in a Hay Shed ...

 

[BlueBrick]

Where's your car parked in a Hay Shed ...

Believe it or not it’s always garage parked. There is a slight gap below the one corner of the garage door because the concrete isn’t level and dead grass gets blown in under it when the lawn is cut.
My other guess is it came from visiting my parents in the country, but the leaves match my trees out front.

 

[BlueBrick]

That is terrifying.

I've taken to putting out "Alley Cat" for the feral cats, and hopefully by only attracting them and not feeding them to the point of laziness, they'll keep any mouses on the run (and kill them, of course, it is to be hoped).

Our neighbors had a very active cat and since they’ve moved a few blocks away the critter count has gone way up. Maybe I can get the cat to come visit a few times a month to keep the mice at bay.