[Kozmoz]

The rear passengers get hot air from vents under the front seats. The upper vents behind the front doors are just for A/C.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[VIM]

Are you sure about that? I could swear that there's warm/hot air in my 2012 on the upper b-pillar vents for the rear seats. I also wait until engines warmed up to turn on fan. It does take longer then I'd like for warm air to come out though. I'll double check next time I remember.

I would think it would cost Kia more to only have a/c going to vents as there should only be one set of ducts for the airflow. It wouldn't require extra ducts for hot air to use the same path as the a/c air.

 

[Kaiso]

In the past week (June 17, 2014) I had the same problem on a long trip. For the first hour or so, it works OK, but then less and less cool air.

 

[Kaiso]

I have only driven 12,000 in 15 months. Last week (June 17, 2014) I had the same problem on a long trip. For the first hour or so, it works OK, but then less and less cool air. I am in the Orlando, Florida, area. Any response from dealerships?

 

[DriverDaveCO]

In the past week (June 17, 2014) I had the same problem on a long trip. For the first hour or so, it works OK, but then less and less cool air.

Did you happen to notice if the recirc light was on the whole time? That is generally the cause of freezing evaporators. All you have to do is manually switch it to fresh (everything else will remain in auto).

That being said, I think the programming on Kia's auto climate control is worthless. I even had the TSB (CLI22) done on mine, and it didn't change a thing. It will stay on recirc almost indefinitely, if it's remotely warm out. The heater generally works ok in the winter, but they really screwed up on the a/c. And to show their stupidity, if you look in the owner's manual, it states (on the manual system) not to leave recirc mode engaged for more than a few minutes.

 

[Tapeworm]

Did you happen to notice if the recirc light was on the whole time? That is generally the cause of freezing evaporators. All you have to do is manually switch it to fresh (everything else will remain in auto).

. . . if you look in the owner's manual, it states (on the manual system) not to leave recirc mode engaged for more than a few minutes.

Yes, this issue is not unique to KIA; it is this way with all cars that have A/C. You shouldn't leave the Recirc on indefinitely. I was ignorant of this fact too a few years ago driving back to my home in California from Oregon (8 hr. drive), and noticed the a/c wasn't putting out any cold air after a while. Took it to the mechanic a few days after getting back, and of course it worked fine then. But . . . even HE didn't ask about the recirc vs. fresh air setting. :|

 

[tosser]

The original post was from someone with an LX 2014 Sorento. I just got back from a 5000 mile trip from Phoenix to Cincinnati and experienced the same thing - icing up when the temperature and humidity went up to around 90. I was running with the temperature knob all the way up on Max Air. This puts you in a strictly recirc mode. Turning the Max Air off switches to outside air and eliminates the icing problem. Hope that this helps.

The manual doesn't really make this too clear but then again the manual leaves a lot to be desired. A much more detailed index would really be an improvement. If you Koreans need some help on how to construct a manual I'll be glad to help. And believe me, you do need help.

 

[Kaiso]

I am in Florida and this is June 2014. I have had the car since March 2013, and the mileage is 12660. The problem was that the a/c worked fine when I started driving, but stopped working properly after I had been driving non-stop for over 100 miles with the a/c running non-stop. But the a/c again worked fine when the car was restarted after resting for a while. I took the car in to a dealership on June 25, 2014. Before that, I had explained my problem in an email to the Service Manager and in a phone conversation with the Service Advisor, the same one who wrote me up the next morning, when I took the car in. They did the multipoint inspection of the a/c, and found nothing wrong. I got the feeling I was then expected to go back home. But I spent a long time explaining over and over again that the a/c worked on short trips, that I didn’t think the problem could be duplicated in the shop, that I didn’t expect them to drive the car non-stop with the a/c running for over 100 miles, that other drivers had experienced a similar problem and had discussed it on the Kia Forum, that maybe a fix had already been found, and that they should check to see if a fix had been found. Eventually, when they checked, they saw that a fix had already been found.

Here is what the invoice said
Cause: System icing - 20 heating/air cond - 8328 W 0.00
Perform a/c control unit software update 97250F02 .3 N94 C40

I reproduce that for the benefit of anyone who may have a similar problem. Of course, until I go on another non-stop 100-mile drive with the a/c running, I will not know for sure if my problem has been resolved.

Also, I don’t know what Kia’s policy is, but I’m just wondering. If an unusual problem occurs and a fix has been found, shouldn’t all the dealerships be made aware? And shouldn’t customers be notified, so that they could be spared unnecessary expense and inconvenience?

 

[DriverDaveCO]

Do you have the auto climate control on your vehicle?

 

[Mr Mint]

Owner's Manual Quote /Air Conditioning

This quote from the owners manual is just food for thought. Please take note of the quote stated below that is located on page 4-138 of the owners manual.


In addition, prolonged use of the air
conditioning with the recirculated
air position selected will result in
excessively dry air in the passenger compartment

I would think that this paragraph clearly shows that it is better to use the fresh air intake button instead of recirculated air button when the A/C is turned on.
Any further comments

 

[Tapeworm]

Constantly using the Recirc can also cause your windows (and windsheild) to fog up on the inside (after an extended period and given the right atmospheric conditions outside), but it does make the a/c colder.

 

[DriverDaveCO]

Constantly using the Recirc can also cause your windows (and windsheild) to fog up on the inside (after an extended period and given the right atmospheric conditions outside), but it does make the a/c colder.

Not sure how excessively dry air could fog up your windows, but it is true that when you run the defroster, you can't even manually choose recirc. I think the only time your windows fog using recirc is in the winter running the heater...if the a/c is running in recirc it dries the air and there's no way your windows would fog. I have, however, had the outside fog over when passing through an extremely warm & humid zone while driving a truck with the a/c on for so long that the windows were cool, causing the outside air to condense on the outside of the glass. Even with wipers, it was tough to keep it clear.

 

[Hudsoner]

Constantly using the Recirc ........, but it does make the a/c colder.

This is physically not possible because the A/C compressor cannot get the coils colder than the max compressing power allows it to do. The air will get successively colder because one runs precooled air through the A/C radiator.
Each time a given volume of air is routed through the radiator, more humidity is extracted (the air gets drier), and it is cooled more down, The theoretically achievable minimum air temp would be the temp of the radiator.

I think the icing of the radiator happens because the condensate is not drained away fast/well enough, and it thus freezes on the fins and blocks them more and more, and thus reduces the radiator performance. In my opinion, this is a design flaw, and it seems to indicate that the designers of the system did not take high humidity conditions into consideration.

 

[Tapeworm]

This is physically not possible because the A/C compressor cannot get the coils colder than the max compressing power allows it to do. The air will get successively colder because one runs precooled air through the A/C radiator.

Your 1st sentence seems to kind of contradict your 2nd. True, the a/c compressor will only cool according to it's ability/capacity, but running "pre-cooled" air through it wil result in cooler (or colder) temps inside the cabin.

Bottom line . . . for maximum cooling use recirc, as the intake air is already as you say "pre-cooled". Just don't do it for an extended period.

 

[tosser]

Not sure about the auto air but the manual air will not let you choose outside air when turned to max air.

 

[DriverDaveCO]

That's normal for any manual system. That is exactly what "max" air is...RECIRC! Many American vehicles over the years never had a recirc/fresh button/knob/lever, all they had was A/C and Max A/C. Any system will freeze up in a humid climate if you leave it on max for an extended period. I remember my parents cars in the 70's doing just that!

It's not a problem with engineering of the system, it's simple physics...high humidity + really cold evaporator = ice.

The real problem we have with the Kia's is only on the "auto climate control" equipped vehicles...the software keeps it in recirc longer than it should and causes freezing.

Anyone that is having freezing problems with a manual hvac system needs to learn how to manually control it....translation--DON'T LEAVE IT ON MAX A/C FOR MORE THAN 20 MINUTES!

 

[Jackintexas]

Did you happen to notice if the recirc light was on the whole time? That is generally the cause of freezing evaporators. All you have to do is manually switch it to fresh (everything else will remain in auto).

That being said, I think the programming on Kia's auto climate control is worthless. I even had the TSB (CLI22) done on mine, and it didn't change a thing. It will stay on recirc almost indefinitely, if it's remotely warm out. The heater generally works ok in the winter, but they really screwed up on the a/c. And to show their stupidity, if you look in the owner's manual, it states (on the manual system) not to leave recirc mode engaged for more than a few minutes.

June of 2014.. ac problem less and less cool air until finally no cool air. 1hr into trip.
95 degrees outside, set inside to 70 degrees.
Drove directly to dealer..diagnosis was ac froze up, low on freon, no leaks found.
Advised by dealer to NOT leave recirc on all the time. So much for auto setting.
After reading these posts, I have a feeling there is a programming or engineering
Defect. Dealer says I have latest firmware. Who knows. 9,000 miles on Sorento.

 

[Hudsoner]

Ok, I have a 2014 Sorento, and as of today a 2014 Sportage (SXL rep. EX). With both i found that one cannot really turn the AC off. It seems the only way to get ambient temp air into the car is to have the temp setting as close as possible to the inside temp. If it is set to high, the system starts to heat, if it is set to low, the air is cooled. It works with both vehicles that way. To make sure that I have the air off, I hit the off button several times and restart just with the fan settings. I was not able to draw the 79º outside air into the car unless I had the temp set to about 78º. The only thing the auto setting seems to do is to decide what outlets the air is to come out and try to cool the vehicle down fast by using recirculation a lot. Once at the set temp it starts to hold the temp.
This is as fake of an auto temp system as the seat ventilation is a seat cooling system. You get what you pay for!

 

[DriverDaveCO]

Like I have mentioned before, if you hit auto and then hit the a/c button twice(thereby manually turning it on, and back off), that will turn off the compressor and give you regular outside air without the a/c. All other functions will still be in auto.

 

[rbish]

Did you ever get an answer. I have a 2012 Sorento SX and the same thing. After a longer drive (45-60) minutes the air does not blow out the vents. You can hear it but nothing coming out. Took it to KIA 3 times. Still not working.