How Does the Kia Niro's Driver-Only Climate Mode Work?
CARS.COM — When it comes to fuel efficiency, every load on your drivetrain and electrical system counts, and your climate control is a significant offender. Many cars dial it back when an eco-focused driving mode is engaged, while electric models generally allow you to heat or cool the cabin while the car is still plugged in to preserve battery range. The 2017 Kia Niro hybrid has another solution: Driver-Only Mode.
Related: How Fuel Friendly Is the 2017 Kia Niro?
As part of its variable-intake climate control, which alters intake of outside air to reduce drag as necessary, a dashboard button can shut off climate to everyone but the driver. Press the button, and the Niro “closes the passenger side vents,” Kia spokesman James Hope told us. “This would then push more air to the driver side, potentially inducing the driver to lower the fan speed and thereby reduce load” on the drivetrain from the climate control system.
At first, that sounds like a blatant gimmick. You could accomplish similar ends by shutting airflow on all the vents elsewhere in the cabin, then dialing back fan speed on the resulting air that went to the driver’s vents. But that’s a tedious task, especially if you have passengers who frequently get in and reopen those vents. What’s more, not all vents have airflow controls.
The Niro’s button is a one-stop shop that does it for you, but it might not shutter airflow entirely. With the Driver-Only mode engaged, cold air “mostly blows in the direction of the driver’s seat,” the owner’s manual says. “However, some of the cold air may come out of other seats’ ducts to keep indoor air pleasant. If you use the button with no passenger in the front passenger seat, energy consumption will be reduced.”
The Niro isn’t the only Kia to have a Driver-Only climate mode; the Soul EV has one, too. In the Niro, the Driver-Only mode was reasonably effective at warming us — we used it driving solo with temperatures in the 40s and 50s, and it kept us comfortable without undue slowness — but the true test of efficiency gains would come on a hot summer day.
Hope didn’t know exactly how much energy Driver-Only mode can save, but that depends on how hard your climate control has to work in the first place. And that, of course, depends on Mother Nature.
