Cold Draft with Heated Seats

[ckon]

Mine is the same way. You can't manually set heat to the floor area when it's very cold out. I think it has something to do with the auto defrost which needs to be turned off or disabled.

I had my heater checked at the dealer yesterday and it checked out okay so I guess we gotta live with it. I did notice that it was a little less uncomfortable with the seat heater turned off so I assume having a warm ass makes my legs feel colder.

 

[ckon]

I had my heater checked at the dealer yesterday and it checked out okay so I guess we gotta live with it. I did notice that it was a little less uncomfortable with the seat heater turned off so I assume having a warm ass makes my legs feel colder.

UPDATE: I was just out driving (tho the temp isn't quite as low as it's been the last few days) and was experiencing the cold draft issue again and checked the rear seat outlets and they were set to cool. I set them to heat and the cold draft issue seemed to improve a bit, though the car wasn't quite as cold as it's been in the past when this problem shows up. For those of us having this issue this may be a good thing to check. YMMV, of course, but please keep us posted if this seems to help alleviate the problem.

 

[powerslide]

I'll pay attention to this. I notice the cold draft regularly. I also have kids that constantly adjust the rear seat temp dial so I'll keep an eye on that.

 

[ckon]

I'll pay attention to this. I notice the cold draft regularly. I also have kids that constantly adjust the rear seat temp dial so I'll keep an eye on that.

It was only 12 degrees here this AM when I drove away and the heat situation seemed much improved now.

 

[lobsenza]

The design of having to adjust the rear temperature form the back is one of the poorest features in the Genesis. It should have been tied to the driver's climate control or a 3rd zone.

 

[ckon]

The design of having to adjust the rear temperature form the back is one of the poorest features in the Genesis. It should have been tied to the driver's climate control or a 3rd zone.

I haven't researched it, but it's probably tied to the passenger's zone but it would be nice to have some control from the driver's seat.

 

[Alwaysforward]

Do what I did. Turn it off. You can control it from the front. See below. 95% of the time I have no one in the back seat so this function works best for me. When some one hops in the back seat, you can quickly re-activate it so they can control the air themselves. You can activate this feature by pressing the "Climate" button locate on your dash.

 

[ckon]

Do what I did. Turn it off. You can control it from the front. See below. 95% of the time I have no one in the back seat so this function works best for me. When some one hops in the back seat, you can quickly re-activate it so they can control the air themselves. You can activate this feature by pressing the "Climate" button locate on your dash.

Thanx. My problem is that by the time someone gets in my back seat and complains about the temp I'll have forgotten how to turn it back on.

 

[15GenesisAWD]

Has anyone tried turning on/off co2 control? I tried quite a few times just to see if it does turn on/off following the instruction but haven't seen any difference or indicator changes.

 

[Alwaysforward]

Thanx. My problem is that by the time someone gets in my back seat and complains about the temp I'll have forgotten how to turn it back on.

Noproblimo ckon... Just passing along things I learned.

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[GDT]

Folks, FWIW, this cold footwell problem has been a real annoyance for me as well...so I've been doing some basic experimentation with my car.

With the HVAC set to Auto, there is a persistent flow of cold air directed straight down from the under-dash area, right up against the firewall. It points directly at the tops of your feet. I thought maybe if I changed the air source to recirculation (cut off outside air inflow), that would work; alas, no.

If you change the directional flow of the system to down only, you get a warm flow..but this disengages Auto mode. It seems (I'm not sure about this) that what this change accomplishes is not to cut off the cold air, but to mix warmer air with the (still flowing) cold air.

I figured all this out using old-school (and definitely not AAA approved) method -- I stuck my hand down there while driving. Definitely cold air flowing down from the under dash, definitely frosty. The air flow only seems to exist while the car is moving. I can't think of any reason why one would design a system like this, or how this goof made it past what I assume was a lengthy test process as the model was being developed.

There is also the flow from under the seats, but this is mostly just drafty, vs. the polar vortex coming from the under dash.

R-e-a-l-l-y annoying design goof.

 

[Midnightsun]

After much cold weather lately and screwing around with all kinds of settings, I too must agree someone screwed up here. The heat in the car overall is great however your feet remain rather cool with no real means of getting them toasty even if you try. Not exactly great engineering which definitely needs to be corrected on future designs however being this affects so few globally, I have a feeling this will remain until the next complete makeover in 4-5 years.

 

[Alwaysforward]

Have you tried turning off the Auto Defogging feature to see if that is the culprit? It might be redirecting the hotter air to the windshield not allowing it to heat your feet as much. Just a thought. It can be turned off by pressing the "Climate" button and un-checking the "Auto Defog" feature.

We are expecting a cold front through here tomorrow so I will try this. Of course, our cold fronts are only in the 40's but still might be able to tell if additional heat is projected down to the feet.

 

[allisondbl]

After much cold weather lately and screwing around with all kinds of settings, I too must agree someone screwed up here. The heat in the car overall is great however your feet remain rather cool with no real means of getting them toasty even if you try.

Time I chime in: I've been going CRAZY with this issue for a while thinking I was nuts because it wasn't possible turning on the heat made me COLDER, right? I'm going to mess with all the solutions thoughtfully presented here and see if any of them make ME warmer!

 

[GDT]

Have you tried turning off the Auto Defogging feature to see if that is the culprit? It might be redirecting the hotter air to the windshield not allowing it to heat your feet as much. Just a thought. It can be turned off by pressing the "Climate" button and un-checking the "Auto Defog" feature.

We are expecting a cold front through here tomorrow so I will try this. Of course, our cold fronts are only in the 40's but still might be able to tell if additional heat is projected down to the feet.

Hmm, that's an interesting experiment. I did find that manually setting airflow to Down warmed up the footwell air considerably...which I believe is at least partly due to its defeating of the Auto setting. I suspect that turning off Auto also defeats Auto Defog (or vice versa), so that may well work.

I'm going to bring up this issue at my upcoming Service visit. On the one hand, it may be a design flaw that can't be corrected. On the other hand, if this is a flaw specifically in how Auto works, perhaps there's hope. After all, Auto is essentially settings that the system determines (e.g., engage Auto Defog, maintain temp at 74 degrees, higher fan speed to facilitate bringing the cabin up to the set temp); there's a CPU there somewhere making those decisions. Not sure how (re)programmable the HVAC controls (in particular, Automatic) are in a car. But geez, you can change the personality of the engine and the trans with a reflash...so maybe HVAC is equally adjustable.....? No harm in asking.

 

[Alwaysforward]

Keep us posted. I will try the method noted above in the morning and report back. I played with the heater on the way to the store this afternoon and it seemed to work ok. You must look at the nav screen to figure out which direction you have the flow going. It cycles thru Feet, Feet Window, Cabin etc...

 

[allisondbl]

You must look at the nav screen to figure out which direction you have the flow going. It cycles thru Feet, Feet Window, Cabin etc...

Umm I never seem to know this stuff; I'm still not sure if there are controls in the rear for the heat flow ...

So how does one get to this, step by step on the Nav? I've played with this and never stumbled upon a screen that says this? Not arguing it's THERE mind, just that I don't know how to find it. Please start with like, "tap X on the Nav screen and ..." if you wouldn't mind ...

 

[Alwaysforward]

When you press the mode selector button (I have Type B shown below)...



...you will see these options show up across the top bar of the NAV screen.



Let me know if you any more info. It is 40 degrees out this morning here in South Florida. Will be heading to the store in a couple of hours and will turn off the Auto Defog feature to see if this helps with the heat on the feat issue. I will report back later this morning.

To turn off the Auto Defog setting, press the "Climate" button and un-check "Auto Defog"...

 

[Alwaysforward]

There is definitely something wrong with the heating system. Although I did get down by my feat this morning doing the test noted above, it was minimal air flow. I noticed when you change the mode selector to "Face Mode" it cuts off air coming out of the defrost vents at the windshield completely. When you switch it to "Bi-Level Mode" or "Floor Mode", the air still comes out the Defrost vents near the windshield. It should shut that flow of air off completely. I tried with the AC on, Circular inside air off and on and nothing changed this slow of air. I shut off Auto Defrost and it still did not work. I shut of "Smart Air" and again nothing. My guess is they forget to connect something or maybe a program change is required as noted above by another poster. For me, this is not a big issue as we live in south Florida, but for those up north, I would be at the dealers door step getting this issue resolve (if they can even fix it).

 

[Midnightsun]

I have corrected mine however their is still a problem as this is supposed to be automatic This is for those with DIS and the big screen. I had set the vent to floor however I did not notice I was in passenger mode so I got little to no hot air at my feet. After selecting dual, there is more than enough heat to keep my feet warm. Good news is once you select feet on the screen it remains so as I have been monitoring this for the past week to see if it defaults to something else but so far no. I would call this partially automatic IMHO.

That being said, I have owned exclusively automatic climate control cars since 1998 and never did I have to set a vent as this is also automatic via a temp probe at the foot well area. Heck even my wifes Nissan cube does this without intervention! Really not a big deal once you know and hopefully it is just a software goof which can be updated. IMHO since heat rises it should always default to footwell vent just like AC should default to dash vents.

Hyundai, are you listening?