Roaring fan understood

[jrreno]

So we are taking our annual tour of the north to visit children and grandkids. I have Ursa( our Gravity GT ) fully load with my tools, most of our household prepared for an extended time away from home. This means the second and third row seats are stored for that cavernous area in the rear to put all our stuff.
So two days in a row we suddenly are dealing with the fan in the front roaring at full speed even though our HVAC settings are off. If I turned off AC completely it would stop but as soon as I turned it back on the fan came back to life at high speed.
I initially thought it might be related to the “artic blast” that had been reported here. Finally realized it was the rear HVAC that was running full blast because it was set to 85 degrees with a fan of 7. With the seats down both days an unexpectedly hard stop for yellow lights slid some of the content forward into the rear console and turned on the rear air! Selecting the rear air and turning it off killed the fan. Problem solved.
I know I should have figured this out sooner but there are so many features and controls to discover. I love this vehicle.

 

[Chrome]

It may have been due to the weight-on-seats detection, which enables rear climate.

The Climate page on the Pilot Panel should really have an indicator that the rear fans are running, even when viewing the front seats. In my opinion, all climate configuration should always be permanently visible. Not necessarily the means to change it, but the current status. This was not even an issue for the past 40 years, until automakers decided to start hiding everything. If I'm on the Drive Modes screen, the Navigation screen, the Cameras screen, I should still be able to look somewhere and see the Fan Speeds, Temperatures Set, the Heated/Ventilated Seat levels, etc. without tapping, sliding, or exiting anything I'm currently viewing. Not unlike how the Front Defrost is permanently visible on the left-most panel.

Remember, I'm asking for what has been in automobiles for as long as an air conditioning feature has existed.

 

[Adnillien]

This happened to me twice on my return trip from Yellostone to Phoenix. Like you the rear seats were folded down and rear HVAC came on randomly. The first time I did not figure it out because a lunch break fixed it. The second time, I looked an saw the rear AC on and shut it off and the roaring fan noise stopped.