In my 2019 SE with auto climate control, I've noticed that whenever it's warmer than about 75F outside, the system defaults to recirculated air mode when I start the car and it never switches back to fresh air mode on its own. That eventually makes the air feel really dry and stuffy on longer trips. As a result, I have to manually switch the system to fresh air mode every time I drive the car.
I looked it up in the owners manual and it says that the system is designed this way to reduce power consumption. It doesn't seem like you can change the default setting anywhere on the infotainment screen or via Techstream.
Am I crazy, or does this seem like a problematic design, especially now with coronavirus concerns? Tons of Camrys are used as taxis/rideshares and I imagine a lot of people are driving around not knowing that they should switch the A/C to fresh air mode.
In all the older Toyotas and Lexuses I've driven, the the auto A/C system would start off in recirculation mode for max cooling, then automatically switch to fresh air mode after the cabin has cooled down, so you never had to think about it as long as you had the system in "auto" mode.
I looked it up in the owners manual and it says that the system is designed this way to reduce power consumption. It doesn't seem like you can change the default setting anywhere on the infotainment screen or via Techstream.
Am I crazy, or does this seem like a problematic design, especially now with coronavirus concerns? Tons of Camrys are used as taxis/rideshares and I imagine a lot of people are driving around not knowing that they should switch the A/C to fresh air mode.
In all the older Toyotas and Lexuses I've driven, the the auto A/C system would start off in recirculation mode for max cooling, then automatically switch to fresh air mode after the cabin has cooled down, so you never had to think about it as long as you had the system in "auto" mode.
