When I press the recirculation a/c button, it remains lit on the dashboard display even when the climate control system is "off" ? is this what other people are experiencing?
Yes. My theory: When recirc is off air will naturally blow in especially when your driving. Some people like this (me), thus, Toyota wants you to be aware of the status even when climate control is off. --GD
It makes sense that it would indicate that recirc was on even when A/C is off because it is a physical condition of the car, in that the air inlet baffle is closed and an inside air intake baffle is opened.
That's normal. Even with the system off, air can still flow through the vents so if you want to completely shut off outside air even with the system off, you press recirc.
On mine, the A/C AUTO light remains on as long as you leave the climate control system on auto, regardless of if the A/C compressor is on or not. It goes off if you turn the fan off, or manually set the fan speed, or manually choose vents. I think it's the most misnamed light on the Prius. It should be something like "CLIMATE AUTO". (And almost any time "AIR CONDITIONER" is used on screen it should use "CLIMATE CONTROL" instead.) To turn the climate control off completely, bring up the climate screen and press the (fan icon) OFF button. As has been pointed out, you'll still get some outside air if recirc was off when you turned climate off.
