Alright so I did some digging around to find that Lexus feature on the new Prius' climate control system. It's the icon with the "head" mode with an arrow going through a set of dots and lines that look like a filter. From the Lexus IS manual: Outside air mode switches to (recirculated air) mode. Pollen is removed from the air and the air flows to the upper part of the body. To stop the operation, press again. Ok it's not very descriptive. It also begs the question: "Isn't the cabin filter always there? What makes this mode so special?" Note that it isn't in the ES350 or the LS460, just the IS and GS (I don't know if it's in the SUVs). This mode also takes the climate control out of AUTO.
Recirculating the air is useful for quickly eliminating strange in-cabin odors that may have entered the car as well as it can help recycle whatever air is already in the car, thus no need for the engine to heat or cool incoming outside air. It just takes whats already in the cabin and reuses it. It should only be used for brief periods of time though, 10 mins or less.
no, it doesnt go through carbon filter always, it goes through normal one... when you click on icon, it goes through carbon filter that "cleans" the air better... its feature usually found on more expensive vehicles.... before carbon filters were standard but that caused them to be spent too soon, and some people didnt like replacement costs so now it is done differently... old Prius just had normal pollen filter.
It is to remove odor for those with smelly foot. Well, you don't want the fresh air blowing down there.
Ohh... is it activated or just a normal carbon filter? So there's two filters? and Plasmacluster? Isn't that a bit of an overload? That is true but I just find it odd that it removes the pollen (so says the manual) in recirc mode. Guess it's after you discover the smell and you have to recirculate and thus it'll help remove the odor much quicker than normally recirculating it without the filter. It also takes it out of AUTO though so I guess it's not gonna be used very often?
