Quote:
Originally Posted by grafwick
Any suggestions on how to disable the recirc button? Or how to make the default 'off' instead of 'on' when not using the a/c in warm weather? I have recently purchased an 06 Avalon Limited and love it except for this feature.
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Every so slightly off-topic from your original question, but that has been at least partially answered already, so FYI here is the text of a letter I sent to Toyota regarding this issue. I received the standard boilerplate reply saying "there is no defect". Because of the distraction that this issue presents, it seems to me that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen for Toyota, but I'm not an attorney, so what would I know...
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This e-mail details a safety hazard that has been incorporated into the climate control system of the Sienna. Toyota removed the driver's ability to control whether or not air is recirculated within the cabin of the vehicle, and this has led to a variety of driver distraction scenarios and unnecessary risks posed to some drivers and passengers with certain medical conditions. On earlier model years, if the driver wished to have air recirculated in the cabin of the vehicle, it was a simple matter of pushing the “Recirc” button on the climate control console, but this doesn't function manually anymore, as the system overrides to produce its own preferred air supply configuration (and what this almost always seems to mean is an absolute refusal to recirculate air). In thirty years of driving, this automatic override is the single most distracting feature I've ever seen installed in any vehicle, and here are a couple of reasons how and why:
(1) Drivers and passengers with asthma need to be able to control their air configuration in order to minimize the triggering of respiratory distress while the car is in motion. I don't have asthma, but I have carried passengers who do, and it is absolutely essential that roadway pollutants including combustion products from heavily-smoking vehicles in the roadway, as well as volatile organic compounds from environmental pollution be excluded from the cabin to the extent possible. I live and drive in Houston, Texas, which is home to the world's largest petrochemical and petroleum refining infrastructure. Certain areas of town can expose motorists to levels of reactive airborne chemicals that do pose an immediate risk to asthmatics. With my previous 1999 Sienna, I simply kept the cabin air recirculating 100% of the time, to minimize air pollution intrusion, but my 2011 Sienna doesn't offer this option. I can't tell you how many times I've become distracted because I've had to fiddle with the climate control system in order to achieve as much recirculation as the system will permit. Sometimes this means literally turning my attention away from the roadway every 60 seconds to re-press the Recirc button to at least achieve some degree of air recirculation.
(2) Even if neither driver nor passengers have asthma, being assaulted with combustion products from oil-burning vehicles in urban roadways can be a significant distraction, especially if family members are not accustomed to that because the principal driver usually keeps air recirculating 100% of the time. Upon smelling smoke inside the cabin of the car, the driver thinks, “Is that MY car that is burning?!” and frantically starts searching the vehicle for a potential cause, again, not paying maximum attention to the roadway in the process. Children start howling in the backseat: “Mommy, please get rid of that horrible stink!!” Once again, instead of paying maximum attention to the roadway, the driver is left trying to find ways to compensate for a climate control system that should have remained under the driver’s direct control in the first place.
Disable Recirc button
Dealer says can't be done!
Many Thanks!!
to all the service confusers that don't take the time to research their TSB or LISTEN to their customers. Great job Tom in Tacoma and the previous postings on the recirc button...
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