I think if the AC is on the coldest setting it will do that. You need to move it one setting warmer so it will come from the outside

 

Yup, I bet you are turning the temp knob all the way to max AC. That will force to recirculate. Otherwise it should remember the last setting.

 

Good thinking and this is what I too thought, but even when I have it set a few clicks from max, it still defaults to recirculated air on every start of the car.

 

My 2012 Camry XLE is in outside air most of the time. It recirculates if it is real hot and been sitting.

My 2014 Avalon is the opposite. It is usually in recirculate unless it is cool out and then if will finally drop to outside air.

This is with the both temps set at 72.

I have hear this is done to make cooling more efficient for better MPG ratings. I'd like to change the Avalon. I'll bring it up to my dealer at the first service.

On the SE I don't know if you have auto climate control. If not, and every time you start the car it goes back to recirculate, that would be a pain, unless as stated above, you're in max air.

 

You are correct! Toyota 2021 Avalon is STILL messed up in this regard. What idiots. My last prior buy was a 2004 Camry 4-cyl. None of this techno goofyness. Sorry my next purchase was 17yrs later, and Toyota Marketing has gone stupid over gas mileage numbers. Too bad, Kia and Hyundai will eat their lunch.

 

I think there is a post about this somewhere. Mine goes to recirc with every restart and the temp knob is not at max. I thought I read that Toyota does this for a certain reason but cant remember why ????
I have become accustom to turning it off after a few minutes just because its recommended to do so that the condenser gets outside air before shutting down so that the mildew smell doesn't return, and so far so good
NSF

 

If you got 2014 and 2014.5 Camry. I'm pretty sure that every time you turn the AC On the re-circulate mode On too. Funny thing about my 2012 Camry SE doesn't do that, I'm guessing all 2012 Camry doesn't do that. Don't know about 2013 though. :grin:

 

Mines a 2013

 

I feel your pain. My wife's 2007 Camry will stay on fresh air. My 2009 Highlander keeps changing to recirculate every time I start my car.

 

When all else fails read your owners manual, seriously, not being a smart ass either because I have done it and there it is in plain English
NSF

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. I did read my Owner's Manual first before posting. In my manual, recirculated air is mentioned on 7 different pages but none of the references I found mentioned how to change the default. For what it's worth, mine is a 2014.5 Camry SE without dual-zone climate control.

Could you please share what you found in your manual? Perhaps I was overlooking something.

 

im not sure if you can change the default with a techstream. I would have to check it out on mine. But I always like mine in recirculate.

 

Car manufacturers have different schemes for handling hot weather. At startup when it's hot in the car, some will run fresh air for a few seconds to flush out the hot air, then change to recirculate if it is too hot out side. Our 12 Camry rarely uses recirculate, while the 13 RAV4 seems to have it on most of the time in the summer.

We have had cars that let you easily program the HVAC start configuration by setting the mode, fan, etc, the way you like it, then pressing a couple buttons
simultaneously to save the selected start configuration.

 

I went to Dealer the other day and they told me they couldn't program, can you believe that?

 

I work at a dealer, and was farting around with the techstream on my '13 and there is no way to change the a/c default setting. I was upset, but unfortunately we will just have to keep pushing the button...

 

There is no way to change the a/c default setting. I was upset, but unfortunately we will just have to keep pushing the button...

Oh, dang it. I was thinking about go to different Dealer but no need now.

 

I actually heared from a dealer that all cars are supposed to default to fresh air because of a buildup of CO2 when in re-circ mode. It makes people sleepy

 

Here's the earlier thread on this subject:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/310-7th-generation-2012/803834-normal-12-camry.html

When new, my 2012 Camry XLE hybrid would go to recirc when A/C turned on and I would have to manually switch it to outside air. I never turned the A/C off when turning off the car, so when I restarted the car it automatically went back to recirc. Then at the 1st service I asked dealer to change this. Now it stays on whatever it was last on when I turned the car off. Dealer did not charge me for this.

 

Can someone tell me exactly how to change this default to recycle on to fresh air on by default for my 2014.5 Camry? I find the air feels a bit staled at times and wish I can default it to fresh air like my 2012 Camry. I can take it to the dealership to have them do it but they are a bunch of pricks and charge for every little thing even tho it is under warranty.

thanks

 

There's a lot of back and forth misinformation (some of it) in this thread. It's an old thread but since it's been resurrected- AFAIK, and including my 2013 Camry LE I4, these cars (2012-2014.5) or possibly 2012-2017 default to recirculate every time they're turned on. One post from a "Toyota Dealer" employee said this behavior was fixed and even Techstream could not change it. Other posters claimed their car default to fresh air. Very strange.

I have recently learned to deal with the default recirc function. I open the window to release hot air and it works well when getting started. If you want fresh air periodically, it's easy enough to do.