Fresh air / recirculated air

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. First, when you use the term A/C, are you using it in the standard U.S. way meaning mechanical cooling, or in Toyota's way which means heating and cooling? Second, there is no fresh air/recirculation button on the dash. Do you mean the one on the MFD, the one on the steering wheel, or both?

Tom

 

I think you interpretation of door position is backward.

The air door behind the glove box should be "closed" for recirculated air and "open" for fresh/outside air.

If the door moves upward it "closes" the outside air off, if it moves downward, it "opens" the outside air to the cabin.

The position of this door, during automatic operation, depends on many factor including temp differential, moisture level, and inside temp setting.
Anything you see as "unusual" may be associated with automatic operation perameters and your interpretation of door position. Take it out of automatic and operate everything manually, and see that it all functions fine.

Then go back to automatic, and set it to 77 deg. (in the summer) and forget about it.

I think your interpretation of door position backward

 

How do you operate fresh air manually wiyh out ac coming on

 

does the ac light on dash always come on whether heating or cooling?

 

If you select the dash outlets only, you can not get ventilation without ac. Select dash/foot and ventilation will then work with fan speed controlling flow rate.

 

Turn the ac button off, turn on the fan, and set the temperature to 'max cold'.

 

The issue, is that the Prius has an Auto A/C button on the steering wheel. It's quickly turns on the A/C for you, but auto A/C also controls things like how much the fan is on and where the air is coming from.

If you want to manually over ride this don't use the auto a/c button, use the MFD climate screen. Now there is one annoying issue with this, the prius tries to learn what you want and often assumes that by pushing one thing, you mean you want the usual... So if you are doing things that don't match your habits, it might try to "assist" you inappropriately.

Auto A/C can be turned off by manually selecting the fan speed. Then you can turn on or off the A/C... but if you've used the auto a/c a lot, turning on the A/C on the MFD may turn on the auto a/c, if so, just select a fan speed. Then you should be able to select your desired air path.