Single zone vs. Dual zone A/C

They've done a very odd regional mix - Japan gets more stuff out of the toybox than other markets, including a much wider range of paint colours.

We do reasonably well with some equipment not offered in USA or Canada, but we aren't offered automatic parking, sunroof, different coloured upholstery (black or ... black), dual Climate or solar roof.

Our base model with auto-fold mirrors, RADAR Cruise etc is better equipped than the base USA model, though their 2017 model is apparently getting more goodies as standard - which, knowing Australian trends will drift in a mid-cycle update, I'd guess more likely to be in another year or so.

 

The dual-zone system in the US can almost be considered 3-zone. When Front-only is selected, the climate control detects if no passenger is present and focuses on the driver side front, with more limited air flow to the passenger side.

 

Yes, ours is the same - it just swaps side of the car

 

No, I don't think so - TOYOTA has just announced a ramping up of ELECTRIC technology which will include Hybrid. There have been quite a few Corolla Hybrids I've seen around here - probably because it's about $8000??? cheaper - my local dealer has 2 in stock, hasn't had another PRIUS since mine in June. I don't know why supplies have been so slow with PRIUS, though - there was the earthquake in Japan put back production by a couple of weeks, but that was well over 6 months ago.

Petrol prices went down a few years ago - artificially - but with OPEC changing their quotas, and Russia changing theirs too, I'm suspecting that petrol will skyrocket in the not-too-distant future. I pity those who lashed out on thirsty SUVs and Twin Cab Utes when fuel goes up - PRIUS will be much more attractive.

 

The decision about which markets got the dual zone option was based on ethnic profiling. Dual zone option was delivered in those countries where spouse disputes over the cabin temperature could have serious consequences.

 

The dual-zone switch on my car selects between front-only or front & rear. It sounds like yours just does left/right side zones.

 

Depending on what options you have installed, there can be two switches. One does as you say: selects between front-only or front and rear. The other (additional) switch allows each front-seat passenger to control the temperature on his (or her!) side of the car.

 

My low end Trim Two just has the switch, not the dual zone temperature control. I believe higher trim levels have that as a feature here, though.I forgot about dual-zone referring to temperature controls.

 

Ha - dealers and salespersons in general. In my search for a car January to June this year, I ran into far more ignorant (as in didn't have a clue about product) sales people than I've ever done before, and, in general didn't seem interested. In anything much. When I knew my local dealer had a car in stock, I said to the receptionist "if you put me onto a salesperson who doesn't know the product, I'll be leaving immediately" - she did her homework and, I suspect the salesman did too - he knew what he was talking about when I went there the next day.

CAMRY prices are artificially low, have been for a few years, lots go to fleet and government sales, and, with the latest model they only ½ did the upgrade - exterior, but didn't put in the new interior which the likes of USA got. There has never been a day when Camry hasn't been on "SALE" or "SPECIAL OFFER" When production ends at the end of this year, it'll become fully imported, and I suspect 1) upgraded; and 2) quite a lot dearer. Which will affect the pricing on PRIUS, making it much more competitive.

The biggest difference in Corolla is inside, with a PRIUS-like gear selector, a POWER Button and these gauges. There were some exterior differences, but I can't remember what they were - might have included wheels & tyres, spare wheel etc. The Corolla is basically a Gen 3 PRIUS in a Corolla body.

 

I had a THAI built FORD Fiesta Diesel - build quality was great - 100% over my previous South African built FORD.

 

Well, and S-Flow wouldn't be able to be set to driver priority if there's someone in the front passenger seat. The options are either to apply HVAC to the occupied front seat(s) or to all seats regardless of occupancy.

Now, if S-Flow isn't ignoring dual zone settings when a zone is unoccupied... That's dumb.

And, S-Flow isn't a true dual (or triple) zone climate control - it merely tells the HVAC system to focus air delivery to occupied seats. I'm curious what it would actually take to retrofit true dual zone to a US Gen 4, as I could use it...

 

My climate control has a switch to restrict rear air flow. Doesn't yours?
From the manual:

 

Mine has that as well, but that's just for restricting airflow (it's not just for rear seats - it's occupied front seats vs. all seats, so if you have a front passenger, you can't select driver only, and if you have no front passenger, you can't select both front seats).

In any case, I've looked through ToyoDIY's parts catalog, and I've come up with three differences in parts between a US car and a LHD R-134a European car, as far as the HVAC system.

Those parts are:

Control assembly: 55900-47190 for US cars, 55900-47220 for European cars (I was expecting this)
#2 damper servo: 87106-47180 for US cars, 87106-47170 for European cars (interestingly, the 2015+ Lexus NX and 2016+ Lexus RX are sources for this part in the US)
Evaporator assembly: 87050-47330 for US cars, 87050-47340 for European cars with R-134a refrigerant (note that this includes all damper servos, the heater core, the evaporator core, and a thermistor)

Wiring harnesses and everything else appears to be the same.

So, my suspicion is that the actual HVAC box (the box that all of the evaporator assembly parts go into) is the same between US and European cars (and I think S-Flow requires it to be the same due to how it works). If that suspicion is true, then it should be possible to install the #2 damper servo from those aforementioned Lexus vehicles, install the European control assembly, potentially do something in Techstream to get it working, and get dual-zone climate control.

For those in RHD countries, the control assembly for single-zone is 55900-47250, for dual-zone is 55900-47230. The servos are the same, but the whole evaporator assembly is 87050-47300 for single-zone, 87050-47310 for dual-zone R-134a.

 

Do you have face-level vents in the back? I didn't think any PRIUS Gen4 had that available. The only way to get air flow to the rear on mine is by directing it to FLOOR+FACE.