Hyundai Sonata Climate Control Problems [8 Common Issues]

Is your Hyundai climate control acting strangely and you’re not quite sure what the issue is?

In this post, I’ll explain what the strange signs in your climate control system mean. You’ll also know how to fix the problem.

Table of Contents

Hyundai Sonata Climate Control Problems

1. AC doesn’t maintain the set temperature

You can tell that your Hyundai Sonata climate control system is faulty if your AC won’t blow to your set temperature. This problem may occur because the AC is malfunctioning.

To fix this issue, you’ll need to reset your AC.

Follow these steps to reset your AC:

Turn the control knob for your AC to the max.
Switch off your radio.
Turn off the ignition.
Remove your HVAC fuse from the fuse box inside your car.
Wait 2 minutes.
Now, re-insert the fuse.
Turn your ignition key to RUN but don’t start the car.
Listen for your door actuators opening and closing. This may take less than a minute.
Start your vehicle.

Your AC should stay within your set temperature after the reset.

But if the problem occurs again, your AC controller might be faulty.

When you choose a set temperature on your climate control module, the controller sends the information to your AC. A faulty AC controller may relay the wrong temperature setting to your AC.

Replace your AC controller to resolve this problem.

2. AC runs but doesn’t blow any air

If your AC runs when you turn it on, but it doesn’t blow any air, your climate control system is problematic. This issue often points to a bad blower motor.

The blower motor blows air from your climate control system into your car’s seating area. If your blower motor has gone bad, it may run, but you won’t get any air from your vents.

You can fix this problem by changing your blower motor. Search for the motor behind your glove box.

3. Heater doesn’t blow hot air

You can tell that your climate control system is faulty if the air from your heater isn’t hot enough. It may blow warm air, but you won’t get blazing hot air, even if you set your climate control to high-temperature ranges. This problem occurs in both auto and manual modes.

If your heater doesn’t blow hot air, your heater hoses might be dirty. The debris in these hoses blocks the flow of heat through your heater, thus reducing the hotness of the air that passes through the vents.

You can fix this issue by flushing your heater core with water.

Here’s how to flush your heater core:

Find your inlet and outlet heater hoses and disconnect them from the heater core. If you don’t know where the hoses are located, consult your car owner’s manual.
Attach the outlet heater hose to a water hose. You can use duct tape to seal these hoses.
Now, turn on your tap to let the water run through the water hose.
Wait about 5 minutes for the water to flush out all the dirt in your heater hose.
Then, turn off the water and detach your water hose from the outlet hose.
Now, leave your outlet hose to drain for some minutes.
Reconnect your heater hoses to your climate control system. Make sure the hoses fit tightly to the heater core.

After cleaning your heater, turn on your engine and test the heater again. If you still aren’t getting enough heat, another component in your car might be causing the problem.

Your heater may fail to blow hot air because a connection on your blend door actuator has come loose.

Your blend door actuator ensures that the climate control blows air at your set temperature. This is why you don’t get hot air at your preferred temperature when the blend door actuator develops a problem.

To resolve this issue, disconnect the blend door actuator from your climate control system and reconnect it immediately. Once you do this, your heater should start blowing hot air.

The blend door actuator is located below your passenger’s side dashboard. Detach your glove box from the dashboard to access your blend door actuator.

If you still don’t get hot air after reconnecting your blend door actuator, replace the actuator.

4. Heater blows cold air on the driver’s side and warm air on the passenger’s side

If your heater blows cold air on the driver’s side, but warm air on the passenger’s side, your climate control system might be problematic. Usually, this problem indicates that you have a bad blend door actuator.

If you change your blend door actuator, it should resolve the problem. Locate your blend door actuator behind your glove box.

Please note that this problem sometimes occurs even when you have a functional blend door actuator. Your automatic climate control system often switches on your AC while the heat is on. When the system automatically turns on the AC, it may only blow cold air through one side of your car.

Before you replace your blend door actuator, turn off auto mode and dual climate control on the system. Then, operate your climate control system manually. If the heater still blows cold air on the driver’s side after this, change your blend door actuator.

5. AC/ heater doesn’t blow air on low-temperature ranges

One common indicator of a Hyundai Sonata climate control problem is that the AC or heater doesn’t blow air in low-temperature ranges.

You might be facing this issue because your blend door actuators are stuck.

Due to a functional error, your blend door actuator may get stuck when you try to change your set temperature. Since your blend door actuator controls airflow from the climate control system, the system may fail to blow air when the actuator gets stuck.

You can fix this issue by resetting the blend door actuators.

6. AC only cools at full capacity

If you need to set your AC to its full capacity before getting cold air, your Hyundai Sonata climate control system might be faulty. Even after increasing the temperature range on your AC, you may need to wait for several minutes before your vents release cold air.

The reason you can’t get cold air from your AC immediately after you turn it on is because of a bad air compressor. The compressor pumps the refrigerant that cools the hot air in your climate control system.

The air compressor in your Hyundai Sonata contains valves that turn the system on and off. These valves tend to fail easily, and when they do, the AC will need more pressure than usual to turn on the compressor. This is why you have to raise your AC to full capacity to get cold air.

To resolve this problem, you’ll need to change your compressor. Check the front of your engine for your compressor.

7. AC only blows air through defrost vents

Your Hyundai Sonata climate control system is problematic if the AC only blows air through defrost vents. The usual culprit for this issue is a broken mode door actuator.

The role of your mode door actuator is to ensure that air blows from the vents you have selected. This actuator works by opening the vents you choose and blocking other vents to prevent them from blowing air.

When the mode door actuator goes bad, it blocks all vents and opens the defrost vents as a default. So, you’ll only get air through the defrost vents until you replace your mode door actuator.

Your mode door actuator is located behind your dashboard. Please note that you might need to remove your dashboard to take out this actuator.

8. AC blows air intermittently

Another way to tell that your climate control system is faulty is if it blows air intermittently. When you turn on your AC, the air from the vents may keep reducing, until it stops working. After a while, the AC may turn back on by itself.

If you are facing this issue, you may have a bad blower motor. The blower motor pushes air from the climate control system into your car.

When your blower motor develops a fault, it ruins the flow of air from your climate control system. That’s why your vents often stop blowing at intervals.

Changing your blower motor should resolve this problem. You’ll find your blower motor below your passenger’s side dashboard.

Hyundai Sonata Models with the Most Climate Control Problems

The following Hyundai Sonata models have the highest number of climate control problems across all models:

2011 Hyundai Sonata
2012 Hyundai Sonata
2013 Hyundai Sonata

According to carcomplaints.com, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata is the most notorious model for climate control problems. This vehicle received 22 complaints when most models didn’t even get one bad report about their climate control systems.

Two other Hyundai Sonata cars with more complaints than most models are the 2012 and 2013 Hyundai Sonata models. Each of these models received six reports about climate control problems from their users.

Hyundai Sonata Models with the Least Climate Control Problems

Here are the Hyundai Sonata models with the fewest climate control problems:

1990 Hyundai Sonata
1991 Hyundai Sonata
1992 Hyundai Sonata
1993 Hyundai Sonata
1994 Hyundai Sonata
1995 Hyundai Sonata
1996 Hyundai Sonata
1997 Hyundai Sonata
1999 Hyundai Sonata
2001 Hyundai Sonata
2003 Hyundai Sonata
2004 Hyundai Sonata
2006 Hyundai Sonata
2007 Hyundai Sonata
2019 Hyundai Sonata
2020 Hyundai Sonata.

Carcomplaints.com reported that no user complained about the climate control systems in the models above.

How Much Does It Cost to Fix Hyundai Sonata Climate Control Problems?

Fixing the average Hyundai Sonata climate control problem costs between $679 and $1214.

Tips to Prevent Hyundai Sonata Climate Control Problems

Wash your car daily.
Don’t ignore any strange signs in your climate control system.
Always keep your car under a shade when you’re not using it.
Clean your air filters monthly.

Wrapping Up

Use the tips in this article to fix the climate control problems in your Hyundai Sonata. If you can’t locate a component in your vehicle, reach out to the auto experts in your circle.