Is it possible to reprogram the AC default?

Once you press the intake button, what action (besides pressing Auto) ever makes it go back to 'Auto'?

I have mine set to dash and foot vents, and it never goes back, except when the dealer messes with the car every 5000 miles.

 

Well, huh. When I turn the car OFF with A/C set to intake or with the defroster ON, it's in intake the next time I start it. (Wanna swap?) Try turning on the defrost before you shut the car OFF and maybe it'll do the same for you. I've never learned of a way to reprogram it even with dealer tools.

 

Recirculating cooler inside air is more efficient, so the system defaults to that. I prefer fresher air, so I always change the setting to intake.

Also, I rarely leave the AC on when I shut the car off. To combat the mould problem, it's best to flush the system with warm fresh air to clear out the condensation.

 

Yeah I get the same thing here Eric, and it is annoying.

Actually it's not always recirculate, mine sometimes defaults to fresh (intake) but only rarely. I'm pretty sure it decides what to default to, based on your A/C settings and the outside temperature. In any case the upshot is the same, it simply doesn't remember your previous fresh/recirc setting.

In my case it's most annoying in mild to warm weather when I prefer to use just fresh air + fan without A/C. I can be out driving and everything's nice and comfortable with fresh air, then I stop for just 5 minutes and soon after resuming I start feeling uncomfortable. Since I'm concentrating on driving I mightn't notice it for a little while and then all of a sudden it's like F this car is hot and stuffy. Yeah it can be really annoying trying to remember to put it back to "fresh" all the time.

Interestingly it's much less annoying in either extreme, cold or hot, when I really do want to use the A/C or heat. Under those circumstances the default that the car selects for me is usually ok, but it's the in between temperatures where you just want fresh air and no A/C that it really gets it wrong. And that's what is annoying, having a computer override your personal settings and get it wrong and unnecessarily make your car hot and uncomfortable in the process.

 

SOLVED!
Hi all!
My problem was i didn't like ac switching to INTAKE whenever the sensors feel it's getting humid and foggy in the car. If you are in traffic behind some old truck, or it's dusty or pollen outside, it can be annoying. The worst part is you don't know it's happening until the cabin is filled with it and you are coughing it up.

So I asked them at the dealership to fix that when they did my first oil change. The owner's manual says this can be changed by the dealer. What I wanted was for the AC to be set to manual control in that respect - not be able to switch on it's own between intake and recirculate. After the service, they told me they couldn't do it - there's no option in the computer for it.

Someone else might have given up, but not me! I emailed Toyota, and in a couple of days got a call from the dealer's service manager, asking me to come in a convenient time and he will go through all the dealer controllable settings individually. And we did, and we fixed it!

He had me sitting next to him as he hooked the laptop with the customized settings application to the car and went through all the settings. We concentrated on the AC settings (obviously), but he flipped through all the others, which was educational. I wish I could take pictures.

It is true what the told me, there is no special setting for this. However, what we did was change everything we could to manual instead of automatic. There are maybe 5 or 6 settings for AC, I believe we changed them all to manual except the one that automatically adjust the fan to regulate temperature in the cabin when AC/heater is on (I like that one). I can tell you there was nothing we changed that I didn't want to change, although I am bit of control freak so I like it when the system doesn't go off and does it's own thing.

Anyway, this fixed it! The AC stays where it was set, I'm sure it goes for both intake and recirculate.

I hope my story helps someone out there. Just ask the dealer to go through these settings with you, if anything it's a good thing to learn.

 

Not an easy solution, but interesting.

One question, does the fresh/recirc maintain it's previous setting when you restart the car?

 

Yep, everything works exactly as it would in an "old" car (at least for now, and it's been a month since that visit to the dealer).

 

For those that have the service manuals (from Toyota, or elsewhere), the dealer programmable options are in the section IN or "Introduction.pdf". Options in the A/C section cover many of the comments above. But it requires the Toyota software to do the changes. ( I particularly like the option called "Auto Blow Up". Use with caution! )

 

Is this possible to change in a 2012 Prius as well?

I have asthma, and it's hazardous for me to inhale vehicle exhaust when my Prius randomly switches to outside air intake mode.