Is paying extra for remote climate control really fair?

I’ve been leasing my car for a year, and I was happy with it until now.

We live in a place where winters hit single digits or go below zero. The free year of Kia Connect just ended, and it feels like the experience went from great to meh.

The key fob remote start barely works if the car is plugged in. And if you’re far from where you parked, the best you can do is start warming it up once you get close, but that doesn’t give it enough time to really warm the cabin.

I get that they have costs to keep the service running, but charging $15 a month for this is way too much.

What’s worse is that when you’re buying or leasing, you might not even realise you’ll need to pay an extra $15 a month (or $150 a year) just to keep the features they showed you at the dealership.

I know I’m ranting here, but if this helps anyone think twice before buying or leasing a Kia, it’s worth it.

Does anyone know if other EV brands don’t charge extra for features like this? I’d really like to know.

I completely agree with this. I can control my thermostat from anywhere without paying extra, but for a car that costs $40–$60K, Kia wants up to $20 a month? That’s ridiculous.

Imagine your car gets stolen and you want to use the immobiliser feature, but nope, you’re not on the right plan. Kia won’t help you.

Fifteen dollars a month? That’s crazy.

I’m in the UK and still have four years left of the free 7-year period with my 2022 e-Niro. I’ve tried asking around to find out how much it’ll cost once the free period ends, but no one seems to know or hasn’t shared that info.

Honestly, it’s not worth $15 a month in our mild climate here in southern England. It’s nice to have, but not a must-have. I’d pay £15 just to feel fancy compared to my neighbours scraping ice off their cars, but definitely not £15 every month.

Also, why hasn’t someone figured out a hack for this? Maybe intercepting the CANBUS or using a remote switch to activate the heating.

Quick question: can you pay for the service just for the winter months when you need it most?

@Sloane
There’s actually a project you can check out for this. It’s called OVMS: https://www.openvehicles.com/

It’s an open-source alternative to the app. Sadly, though, I don’t think it supports climate control yet.

Here’s some info on it: https://docs.openvehicles.com/en/latest/components/vehicle_kianiroev/docs/index.html

@Ali
That’s a shame.

I guess it’s because of how the systems in the car are wired. Cars can have multiple CAN buses that work independently. The climate control is managed by one bus (the comfort bus or C-CAN), but the OVMS connects through the OBD port, which isn’t connected to that bus.

@Sloane
Exactly. The built-in Kia modem is wired into multiple buses, including the comfort bus for climate control and the diagnostics bus (likely the one connected to the OBD port).

For an aftermarket solution to work fully, it’d need to connect to all these buses. Hopefully, someone’s out there working on replacing Kia’s system with something that’s affordable and doesn’t charge monthly fees. Maybe a basic phone setup combined with the right connections could do the trick.

I really hate that companies keep locking features behind expensive subscriptions, especially for stuff like this.

Totally agree with everything said here.

Do you think they’d lower the price if you try to cancel? A lot of companies do that with subscriptions.

I agree with you, though. When our free plan runs out, we’re not renewing either. I might even look into ways to stop our car from communicating with Kia altogether. Them tracking our location just doesn’t sit right with me.

I got three years of app access included when I bought my Kia in Canada. It’s a 2024 Niro Wave I got last fall.

I agree that the app is way too expensive after the free period ends. I won’t be paying for it either. I’m hoping the departure time settings in the car itself will still work once the app stops being available.