Recirculate/Fresh Air Behavior

I think this only applies when the climate control is in "auto" mode. Then the auto control often starts out with the system in "recirc" mode to heat or cool the interior more quickly, after which it returns to fresh air mode.

To control your own climate control and recirc/fresh settings, simply press the "auto" button on the climate control screen to toggle the system into manual mode.

Then you will control the fan/vent/recirc/fresh settings yourself. The steering wheel button is handy for switching fresh/recirc.

I never use the auto setting. I find it lowers fuel economy by maintaining cabin temperature too strictly and drawing excessive heat/electricity from the power train. I also don't like the high fan speeds it uses.

 

No, even in manual mode (in fact even with the AC off) the Prius tries to automatically control the fresh/recirc position. I'm totally in agreement with Duag here, it drives me insane.

At least 6 month of the year here the temperatures are mild and I prefer to have no heat or AC but just to have the fan on with fresh air. Every time I stop the car, even for 5 minutes to get fuel or whatever, it "automatically" switches it back over to recirculate. I get back in the car and start driving and it's usually after about 5 to 10 minutes when I really notice how hot and stuffy the car has become, and then I look at the dash and realize that it's got me again!

 

agreed. i try to keep mine on recirc when it's cold so i won't have to turn the heat on. but it keeps switching back to fresh and i don't notice until i feel the cold air coming in.

 

LOL bisco, you've the same problem as me except in reverse.

 

Fresh vs recirculate is usually a single flapper valve at the heater/AC housing inlet. If you deciphered how it works (maybe the shop manual will give enough info) you could modify the valve to manual control, either with a switch or push pull cable depending on how it works.

 

Funny, up until about a year ago, I would have said the same things. We had pretty much figured it out how to get what we wanted in any season, though switching between preferences was sometimes an issue.

Now, I leave it in auto and let it do its thing. It seems to work better that way. The fan seems to spin at lower speeds than I tended to use, blows in different places, and it waits until the heater is warm before blowing air - smart. I need to use the defrost buttons this time of year, but overall, I find auto mode works best. I think I've converted.

 

I agree with the OP to some extent, and I am similar that I just got myself a used 2007 package #1, and I have a sort of tangent question: If you use the AUTO mode does the A/C light always come on, even if you are trying to HEAT?

This is what drives me a bit crazy. Is it possible that "A/C" might mean for heating or cooling? I supposed "air conditioning" could sound generic enough to apply to either heating or cooling, but it sure seems the definition usually implies cooling only.

 

i have never been in auto. it still does it.

 

yes, apparently, the japanese understand air conditioning to be just that. conditioning the air. whereas, we americans consider it cooling for some reason.

 

Hi Daug,

Were you ever able to find a way to disable the automatic switching between outside air mode and recirculate air mode? I recently purchased a new 2012 Prius, and this design feature is hazardous to my health, as I have asthma, and inhaling exhaust from the vehicle in front of me gives me an asthma attack. I've spoken to a few people at Toyota customer service and the service manager at the dealership where I purchased my Prius, and they all claim this design feature cannot be fixed. I don't buy this since this design feature is governed by a computer program an engineer could edit if Toyota were so inclined. It seems Toyota would rather expend its resources on dealing with an arbitration case (I have to return the Prius if I can't permanently set it to recirculate air mode) than editing the software that controls this feature. Or rather I haven't been able to reach someone at Toyota in a position to realize that it makes more sense to expend resources to edit some software (I'm surely not the only asthmatic adversely affected by this design feature) than to expend resources on dealing with an arbitration case.

thanks

 

I've never found a way. Mine will retain my chosen setting (fresh or recir) throughout a journey, provided that I've manually selected it and the car doesn't get powered off. Every time the car is powered up however, the a/c will select the mode that it wants and I have to change it.

Is this a similar situation to the 2012 model asthmatic?

 

My 2012 Prius won't even retain my chosen setting (recirc) throughout a journey. This is hazardous to my health since I may only find out once I'm having trouble breathing b/c the Prius is bringing in vehicle exhaust from the car in front of me.

 

I'm not familiar with the 2012 model, but can you try setting the A/C in the most manual mode possible and then manually selecting recirculate (manually select fresh and then manually select recirc if it's already in recirc to begin with). I'm pretty sure on my 2005 model that if I've never made any manual selection then it just sets or changes it as it wishes, depending on the outside temperature etc, but if I manually select it at start up then it seems to hold that setting ok.

I'm still not 100% sure how it works, but I do remember one time when I started it was already on "fresh" (which is what I normally want) so I didn't touch it, but then after driving just a few blocks I noticed it had switched itself over to recirc. Mostly however when I first power on it goes straight to "recirc" and I manually flick it over to "fresh" and it always stays there.

 

Thanks for your reply, uart, but I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean by "the most manual mode possible." Can you please clarify?

I do not have it on AUTO and have only been running my climate control system to heat my car.

Mine usually goes straight to "outside air" mode when I first start my 2012 Prius, and I manually change it to recirc.

 

Can't really clarify as I have no knowledge of what settings are available in the 2012 model. On my 2005 model there is an "Auto A/C" mode but I never use it. I always set the fan and heat or A/C mode manually.

My main point is that only after I've manually selected fresh or recirc does it hold that setting. Even if it starts out in the correct position, you should try manually switching it over to the other position (and then back again) and see if that makes it "stick".

 

I've tried this, and it does not work

 

Hmm that's annoying then, so it's even worse that the gen2.

I know how you feel, I like to have control over this type of thing too. In my opinion, just the fact that you know some dumb piece of electronics is over-riding your personal settings in your car is a great source of frustration. Giving Toyota some (neg) feedback on this is possibly all you can do though.