[pmcd]

We have a 2015 Soul with Auto Climate, sun roof, etc ... That is, all the gadgets. It was purchased new and has under 5k km ( under 3k miles). In the past couple of months the vehicle has suddenly decided to spew out fog as though someone is running a dry ice machine on a theatre stage. You can actually see the "white smoke" coming through the vents. At the same time the widows fog up and we have to pull over since the car is dangerous to drive. Pressing defrost does not work. It takes about 10 minutes of that with open windows to finally get the car usable again. At other times when the front windshield fogs up the defrost will work great. Our dealer couldn't find anything wrong. It's unpredictable so we don't know when it will occur. Clearly this renders the car unusable and dangerous. We have pictures taken with an iPhone and the car seems like we are in a rain forest.

Has anyone ever had this happen? Any solution?

We will have to get rid of the car if the cause can't be determined. Too bad as I really like it, but my wife is afraid of driving it with good reason.

I am not sure if Kia, the company, can do anything. As far as I am concerned the car is not roadworthy.

Philip

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Welcome. It is a shame. Perhaps some one knows of a solution but it is new to me.

 

[XxHaimBondxX]

Do you have a video of this, if not, make sure you take it next time this occurs. Since you mention this started to happened a couple of months ago, then I conclude this has nothing to do with cold weather. Any smell associated with the fog? Does it leave any residue on the windshield? Check all your fluids, something is leaking somewhere.

 

[tampa8]

As a start check and or replace the cabin filter. Also if you constantly use the air recycle mode that contributes to moisture build up in vents. If it's under warranty and you can show them what it looks like press them to find the problem, have them ask corporate for advice, etc..

 

[ben2go]

It sounds like the evaporator is freezing up due to moister not draining out of the air box.There is a drain hose some where, but I don't know where it is.It maybe clogged and not allowing condensate from draining out.

 

[conwelpic]

have you tried turning on the a/c when this happens? What's the setting on your controls when this occurs?

 

[Jeff.G]

Hello PMCD and welcome to the Soul forums.
The mistake of selecting recycle is easily made.
You need to read your hand book carefully and try work out why the settings you are using are defaulting to a recycle mode.

On manual there is a temperature control that if turned to left puts on aircon to operation but in a Recycle Mode for all setting.
If that is turned off and button Pressed to Select aircon the aircon operates normally and distributes fresh reconditioned air to any where in the car.
The intake of fresh air will stop your system from Icing.

Jeff

 

[conwelpic]

what was the weather like at the times this happened?

You should get in touch with the Soul Club of Ontario which is located in the GTA, perhaps they can be of some help to you and finding out your problem - they are always up to a challenge.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/135299968155/

 

[MT-ED]

Our 2011 has done that very occasionally, but it's only when the humidity is very high and we use the AC. But I believe it's when we have previously switched off the car without turning off the AC first and letting the warmer air dry out the system.

In Toronto, it could be residual smoke from Rob Ford smoking crack of course

You would be made most welcome by The Soul Club Of Ontario. Check out the banner below.

 

[grege]

I would recommend looking at your lemon law options - for most US states (not sure about Canada's rules), a safety concern item (which sounds like yours qualifies) would require only 1 attempt to repair. If there is no resolution, I would not hesitate to pursue a buyback given your scenario.
Greg

 

[pmcd]

Sorry for the delay in replying but we waiting for Kia to get back to us. They called the dealer and the dealer told Kia they didn't find any problem. We already knew that as the fogging happens at random and therefore is hard to replicate. Basically we would have to get into an accident first to convince them. We have the pictures but not a video. The next time it happens we will take a video. Not sure that will help as there is no "lemon" protection in Canada. Must say, I am not impressed with Kia. My wife won't drive the car and hence we will just have to trade it in for some other brand.

- the dealer never mentioned anything about checking a drain hose so perhaps I will bring it to another dealer and ask them to check that

- we always use the Auto Climate control. Pressing defog disables that and is supposed to do its thing.

- this started happening in September. Don't recall any massive change in temperature.

- no matter what, I don't see why we should be having white mist coming out of the vents and turning the car into a rain forest with zero visibility. The darned thing is dangerous.

Sorry for sounding so negative but we have had many cars overs the years. Have never had anything like this happen and have never felt so unsupported by the company. Too bad as apart from the dangerous nature of the vehicle we love it.

If we still have the Soul in a few weeks will definitely check out the Soul Club of Ontario.

Philip

Edit: The car is only a few months old, is under warranty and has under 3,000 miles on it.

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

...If we still have the Soul in a few weeks will definitely check out the Soul Club of Ontario.

Philip

You may want to check them out anyway, they have some members in there that are dealers as well as enthusiast. Some shade tree mechanics also. It could be that one of them may be able to help. I hate to see you give up on a great car because KIA has some bone heads working on your problem.

 

[pmcd]

Hello PMCD and welcome to the Soul forums.
The mistake of selecting recycle is easily made.
You need to read your hand book carefully and try work out why the settings you are using are defaulting to a recycle mode.

On manual there is a temperature control that if turned to left puts on aircon to operation but in a Recycle Mode for all setting.
If that is turned off and button Pressed to Select aircon the aircon operates normally and distributes fresh reconditioned air to any where in the car.
The intake of fresh air will stop your system from Icing.

Jeff

I am not sure what this is. We operate in Auto Mode. Do we have to fine tune that? In manual mode a light comes on when I press the air conditioning button. There is also a Recycle button. Are you saying that the car will work in recycling mode with air conditioning when I press the defog button or even in Auto Mode? Sounds really weird to have things working without knowing about it!

What exactly should I do to prevent the car from operating in recycling mode without me knowing about it?

Philip

 

[conwelpic]

Sorry for the delay in replying but we waiting for Kia to get back to us. They called the dealer and the dealer told Kia they didn't find any problem. We already knew that as the fogging happens at random and therefore is hard to replicate. Basically we would have to get into an accident first to convince them. We have the pictures but not a video. The next time it happens we will take a video. Not sure that will help as there is no "lemon" protection in Canada. Must say, I am not impressed with Kia. My wife won't drive the car and hence we will just have to trade it in for some other brand.

- the dealer never mentioned anything about checking a drain hose so perhaps I will bring it to another dealer and ask them to check that
- we always use the Auto Climate control. Pressing defog disables that and is supposed to do its thing.
- this started happening in September. Don't recall any massive change in temperature.
- no matter what, I don't see why we should be having white mist coming out of the vents and turning the car into a rain forest with zero visibility. The darned thing is dangerous.

Sorry for sounding so negative but we have had many cars overs the years. Have never had anything like this happen and have never felt so unsupported by the company. Too bad as apart from the dangerous nature of the vehicle we love it.
If we still have the Soul in a few weeks will definitely check out the Soul Club of Ontario.

Philip

Edit: The car is only a few months old, is under warranty and has under 3,000 miles on it.

I would definitely get in touch with the SCO, I'm sure they could help you solve your problem, if you could demonstrate it to them they could help. Also one of the people that started to club works for Scarborough KIA and is very helpful. I can't help you with the auto climate control as I don't have, but I half-suspect its probably something relatively simple that is causing this. It's not a problem that I can recall reading about before.
SCO contact page https://www.facebook.com/groups/135299968155/ post your problem on there and maybe they can meet up with you and check it out.