i think i've noticed that after i turn the auto button on the climate control off, and turn it back on, the recirculate air setting will be selected although before turning it off it was on the non-recirculate setting.

does this happen to everyone else? if so, why would they have designed it this way?

 

they do that so that at 52k miles, the mechanism breaks and you pay $1400 to fix it. No really, it is just a setting, you can have lexus change it so that it stays on whatever you left it at, which is what I did so that it does not constantly change back to recirc. You need to ask your service advisor, mine did it for me without charge recently.