Recirculate Turns off on Low Battery

Toyota Rav4 EV Forum

Help Support Toyota Rav4 EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Sun2Drive

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
13
I understand shutting off climate controls when the battery gets to "LO", but I don't understand disabling recirculate because it doesn't suck any juice to keep recirculate on. Imagine you're almost to your destination and your heater turns off, and then the car opens up the vents so you get frigid winter air in the cabin. Conversely, you're already sweating over the LO battery in the summer, and suddenly hot air starts blowing in your face. Gah!

The recirculate switch should continue to function when the battery reaches LO.
 
The corollary to this is that the recirculate is disabled when the ventilation system is in "OFF" mode. The best you can do to minimize energy use and keep outside air out is ECO HIGH with recirc and minimum fan.
 
miimura said:
The corollary to this is that the recirculate is disabled when the ventilation system is in "OFF" mode.
That's not true - you can enable/disable the recirculate function while in OFF mode. It defaults to disable (i.e., air comes in from the outside), which is why it can feel like the A/C is on even after turning off the A/C system.
 
Blastphemy said:
miimura said:
The corollary to this is that the recirculate is disabled when the ventilation system is in "OFF" mode.
That's not true - you can enable/disable the recirculate function while in OFF mode. It defaults to disable (i.e., air comes in from the outside), which is why it can feel like the A/C is on even after turning off the A/C system.
My Bad. I just went out and tried this in the car and you are correct. If you press the "OFF" button it will display the icon for the Vent mode and the recirc icon will not be visible. Pressing the recirc button will show the recirc icon. Pressing it again will show the fresh air icon. Pressing "AUTO" will resume normal operation in the previous mode (Normal/ECO LO/ECO HI) but the seat heater icons are not shown. Cycling the ECO mode will show the seat heater icons indicating the they will automatically be turned on as needed.

I wish I knew this when I needed to maximize range driving the car home from the dealer.
 
Back
Top