diff --git a/sys/dev/syscons/scterm-teken.c b/sys/dev/syscons/scterm-teken.c
index 290e836f91fb..ae231f01d294 100644
--- a/sys/dev/syscons/scterm-teken.c
+++ b/sys/dev/syscons/scterm-teken.c
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ scteken_init(scr_stat *scp, void **softc, int code)
 #ifdef TEKEN_CONS25
 		teken_set_cons25(&ts->ts_teken);
 #endif /* TEKEN_CONS25 */
+		teken_set_cons25keys(&ts->ts_teken);
 		scteken_sync_internal(scp, ts);
 		break;
 	}
diff --git a/sys/teken/libteken/teken.3 b/sys/teken/libteken/teken.3
index 3e954470bdd7..2f4a0d8eaf75 100644
--- a/sys/teken/libteken/teken.3
+++ b/sys/teken/libteken/teken.3
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@
 .Fn teken_set_8bit "teken_t *t"
 .Ft void
 .Fn teken_set_cons25 "teken_t *t"
+.Ft void
+.Fn teken_set_cons25keys "teken_t *t"
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The
 .Nm
@@ -194,11 +196,24 @@ which can be used to support character sets like CP437 and ISO-8859-1.
 .Pp
 The
 .Fn teken_set_cons25
-function switches terminal emulation to
+function sets the terminal emulation to
 .Dv cons25 ,
-which is used by versions of
+which was the default for
+.Xr syscons 4
+in versions of
 .Fx
 prior to 9.0.
+This function is only useful for initialization.
+The emulation can be changed at any time using an escape sequence,
+and this function is not used then.
+.Pp
+The
+.Fn teken_set_cons25keys
+function tells the
+.Fn teken_get_sequence
+function to not interpret special keys in
+.Dv cons25
+mode.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr ncurses 3 ,
 .Xr termcap 3 ,
diff --git a/sys/teken/teken.c b/sys/teken/teken.c
index f4e4c8a57a2d..64fd42622b5f 100644
--- a/sys/teken/teken.c
+++ b/sys/teken/teken.c
@@ -412,7 +412,14 @@ void
 teken_set_cons25(teken_t *t)
 {
 
-	t->t_stateflags |= TS_CONS25 | TS_CONS25KEYS;
+	t->t_stateflags |= TS_CONS25;
+}
+
+void
+teken_set_cons25keys(teken_t *t)
+{
+
+	t->t_stateflags |= TS_CONS25KEYS;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/sys/teken/teken.h b/sys/teken/teken.h
index 5ee2474ed455..0a3928a9ffd1 100644
--- a/sys/teken/teken.h
+++ b/sys/teken/teken.h
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ const char *teken_get_sequence(const teken_t *, unsigned int);
 /* Legacy features. */
 void	teken_set_8bit(teken_t *);
 void	teken_set_cons25(teken_t *);
+void	teken_set_cons25keys(teken_t *);
 
 /* Color conversion. */
 teken_color_t teken_256to16(teken_color_t);