Kia Seltos A/C keeps resetting to Fresh-air mode: Surprisingly easy fix

I searched the Internet and found out that there is a relevant menu item under air circulation in the head unit and I unchecked it. But still no joy.

BHPian rajnishkapur recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi all,

I began to notice a strange behavior with Kia Seltos aircon. My Kia Seltos (GT) would not stay in recirculation mode and would get set to fresh air a few minutes after being set in recirculation mode - This was happening very frequently. I searched the Internet and found out that there is a relevant menu item under air circulation in the head unit and I unchecked it.

But still no joy.

I finally called Kia Service ( and I should have called them right away ) and the technician very confidently told me that the sunroof is ajar and I should open and close it. Which is what I did and voila, the issues just went away.

Posting for the benefit of the Team BHP community in case anyone else faces a similar situation.

Best,

Rajnish

Here's what BHPian Rehaan had to say on the matter:

It's nice when technicians know their stuff!

Also quite a smart little feature, that it wont let the car lie to you by telling you it's in re-circulation mode when air is being sucked through the sunroof.

However, having a pop-up notification about this on the info display would have certainly helped.

Here's what BHPian Stranger2106 had to say on the matter:

I too faced the same issue in my Kia Sonet on a trip last weekend. But in my case the sunroof was slightly open and cannot be seen from the drivers seat. I traveled for quite some distance while trying to figure out why the recirculation was switching off by itself. Later my son who was sitting at the rear noticed the open sunroof. Once it was closed, the problem was solved.

Here's what BHPian sanchit.j had to say on the matter:

Thank you for sharing this!

I've been struggling with this issue for the last 9 years in a W212 MB E class. Checked with service centre many times and they said the re-con mode automatically changing is a normal behavior in the car, which has always been quite annoying for us.

Not sure if this open/close action of the sunroof will fix it, but I'll try it surely.

Here's what BHPian ashivas89 had to say on the matter:

I had the exact same issue a few months ago. I either open the sunroof fully or leave the glass pane shut with the blind open. However, on this occasion, I had opened it by tilting the pane, and did not shut it fully when I did.

The recirculation mode was disengaging every few seconds, which had me really annoyed. It was only when I parked and switched the engine off that the car started "bonging" with a small icon for sunroof ajar blinking in the gauge cluster. Shut the sunroof fully, problem solved!

Hyundai's and evidently Kia's (very likely most manufacturers) have this feature of shutting off recirculation when the sunroof is open. Nifty feature, but a lack of obvious indication can cause worry among the uninitiated.

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