nakago1

does anyone knows how to turn off AC without going to

MENU - Climate - move cursor down to "AC" and click it off. (3 steps)

anyone figure out how to this in less steps? i find it a real hassle. most cars have "AC on or OFF button"

jonmanch

To the right of the "AUTO" button for the AC on the dash is the OFF button. One Step.

jakepdx

jonmanch, if I'm not mistaken, I think that the OFF button turns off the climate control completely (including A/C), but I agree with nakago1 that it would be nice to be able to simply turn off A/C while leaving climate control running, especially since the A/C impacts fuel efficiency.

lesz

Yes, you are correct. Pressing the "off" button turns off the climate control system completely. Others have previously expressed their dislike for having to open the climate control screen to be able to turn the AC off.

jonmanch

The A/C is electric and only uses the ICE to recharge the battery along with all of the other electronics. The FE is not affected that much when one puts their personal comfort into the equation.

BTW, it did not appear that nakago1 was asking for anything other than turning off the A/C. There was no mention of keeping the ventilation system on. I took the question literally.

jakepdx

It's all good, no need to be defensive, we're just discussing how it all works.

ElliotB

Except when it is really, really hot and the a/c is really needed (high 80s+ for example), the FE of the 300h is barely effected by the a/c being on, which is why I believe there is no simple 'off' switch - there really isn't a need for one (although I too am one that would like to have one) - Lexus has truly designed an incredibly efficient climate control system.

lesz

I suspect that you are right and that the Lexus engineers designed a system for which they felt that the AC compressor could/should be left on all the time. If I want to override their design choice and shut off the compressor, I don't find it to be a significant imposition to have to do so via the climate control system screen.

What I do find to be a greater design annoyance related to the climate control system is that the system defaults to the recirculate mode whenever the temperature is 75 degrees or warmer outside, and, even if you manually change it to the fresh air mode, every time you start the vehicle when it is 75 degrees or warmer, it returns to that default recirculate mode. While I'm sure that the design engineers thought that the system could operate with greater efficiency in the recirculate mode when it is warm out, many, including me, have found that leaving the climate control system in that recirculate mode results in a more "stale" air quality. Even though it only requires the push of a button to switch to the fresh air mode, I find it annoying to have to do so every time I start the vehicle when the weather is warmer.

liquidz

There's a personalized Climate Control setting that you can have the dealership adjust to make the A/C not turn on when the your the Climate Control to Auto. But then you will be looking for the opposite of trying to turn on the A/C during the summer....

ElliotB

"personalized Climate Control setting" You can set this up yourself, you do not have to take it to the dealer.

ilexusown

Here is what I have noticed. Please let me know if that it normal.
Even after I press the "off" button, whatever was the last temp setting (before I pressed the off), kind of remains. The air coming in corresponds (on the hotter side or the colder side) to that last setting. Maybe this is how it is supposed to work? I would have imagine that once I have pressed off, the car should have no idea on temp setting.
Makes sense?

ElliotB

ilexusown, I have found the same thing.

lesz

I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, but I'm not sure that I understand why that is a problem. When you press the "off" button, you are getting no heat or air conditioning. The climate control system is truly off. When you press the "auto" button again to resume the operation of the climate control system, it has to start at some temperature, and it makes logical sense that it would remember and resume operation with the last set temperature.

jim256

I think what the poster is saying is that, at speed, there will still be ambient air forced through the system. It likely stays at the last temperature setting relative to the outside air. If it's 40 outside and was set at 70, the air coming through will still be heated, if it's 80 outside, but the last setting was 65, you're not going to cool it but you'll get ambient air. Makes sense as much as anything would--it has to default to something while it still maintains some airflow for CO build-up prevention. If you want it really "off", also press Recirc.

nakago1

Thank you for all the replies.
what I wanted to know originally was if there is a Way to turn the AC off only, leaving the FAN on. sure if i press the "off" button it would turn off AC and FAN, the ambient air flow is too weak to my liking, i like to have FAN on but AC off, which i cannot find anyway to do except to go through the three step i described .