Rear Armrest A/C not working

[lilxskull]

Anybody ever have this issue for their car? I am driving a 2009 Genesis, and the A/C for the middle rear armrest is not working. It works when I move the dial to heater though, but not for the A/C. The rear door panels A/C works just the arm rest A/C doesn't work. I will probably have to take it into the dealership to get it fixed but you guys have any estimate? Also noticed since it has been hot here lately, the car's A/C takes about 10-15 secs before it gets cold which to me is a little longer than most cars at about 5 secs for the A/C to get cold.

 

[AgentSmith007]

There is no actual A/C in the rear vent. That's how I understand when reading page 4-98 in the manual.

 

[landtuna]

A number of things enter in to your question:

Has the car been sitting in the sun with the windows rolled up?
Is it in direct sun or shade?
What is the ambient outside air temp?
When you start the car do you have the A/C in recirc or outside air mode?
Do you let the car cool down before driving or do you immediately begin driving?

A car sitting in direct sunlight with windows rolled up can heat up to 140F very quickly. If getting into this hot interior is your problem you'd be best to crack the windows and start the A/C on high-outside air. That will flush the overheated air outside and the A/C will not be trying to cool 140F degree air.

Window shades are important. Put up the rear shade and put a shade in the front windshield. Park in the shade if at all possible.

Once the car starts and the A/C is on go ahead and begin driving the car. It will cool down much fast if air, even hot outside air, is blowing through the condenser. Once the interior is cooled a little bit you can switch the A/C to recirc.

Even with all that considered, cool air at 15 secs after starting is about average for a car that has been sitting. You have got to give the compressor a chance to get the coolant down and begin working (and also flush the hot air out of the system).

I live in one of the hottest places in the country and have no issues with my R-spec's A/C.

 

[Gunkk]

Rear AC pulls from the front - so the rear cannot get any colder than the front temp setting. Since it's a long way to the back, it takes a while for the AC to cool down the duct and blow cold. This is made worse by the hot-car issue mentioned above.

Set your AC to it's lowest setting and turn the fan to max. The rear should blow cold in a minute or so. If it still doesn't blow cold at all after a few minutes, take it to the dealer as there may be a problem with the rear temp adjustment/control.

 

[PMCErnie]

Interesting. The '12 has it's own zone in the rear, except for lack of a fan control.

 

[GenesisCaptain]

Also noticed since it has been hot here lately, the car's A/C takes about 10-15 secs before it gets cold which to me is a little longer than most cars at about 5 secs for the A/C to get cold.

I have never timed my car's A/C for how long it feels cold from initial start. But on a hot day, anything under a few minutes would be much better than any other A/C I have ever owned.

Here is a typical cold comfort timeline in my Genesis on a 93° day. My car is red with a tan interior and tinted windows. But it was in direct sunlight for the whole day, so the tinting and interior color advantages were probably not a factor. The interior was a full oven, and the top of the steering wheel was too hot to touch. This beats most cars I have owned before.

I did not touch any A/C buttons-- it was full auto. I also turned on the cooled seat full blast. I did not open the windows to vent any air. It was the worst-case scenario. The A/C fan took about 30 seconds to come after the car started. It immediately went to full-blast fans and stayed that way steadily. The system backed the fans down one notch after 14 minutes. At that point, the car felt okay but not awesome. One minute later, it backed the fan speed down another notch. The car felt noticeably better, and I could feel the benefit of the cooled seat. At 20 minutes the fan went to 1/2 speed or slower, and the car felt really good.

This is pretty good performance to me in a hot day in Georgia. In 10 minutes it was survivable. In 15 minutes it was comfortable, and in 20 minutes it felt ideal.