I have my 350h on ECO mode. I noticed when I just turn on the fan it blows cool air without the AC light being on. Then when I touch the AC button it just gets colder. Would that be an ECO mode function which uses the AC in a minimum mode perhaps?

 

I experience the same thing in Normal mode. If I shut the car off with the AC light on, it is turned off the next time I start the car. Once it only blew hot air until I pressed the AC button, other times is cold are with the AC light off.

 

It does the same in Normal mode as well. I am not really sure what the AC button does, the auto climate control seems to be working all the time and brings the compressor in if it needs to.

 

I see three settings. One with the indicator on above "AC", "AC" without the indicator and "AC" greyed out.

 

The Ac lettering is always showing. When you touch it a blue light comes on to show that AC is on. But what I am experiencing is:

• Not using the auto
• Not turning on the AC
• just moving the fan from off t level 1, it produces cool air as if the AC is in a minimum mode and the AC light is off.

 

I think it's the climate concierge that turns on the AC as needed. Try disabling it and you'll see what I mean. In my car once disabled, it turned off the AC.

 

Here I was thinking this was a software bug

 

I checked. The concierge is off. The only thing that is on is the S-flow to occupied occupants.

 

Doesn't make sense to me. Turn on AC button, turn on auto mode, and it turns off the AC light. But then the air is cold and stays the same temp.

 

I was confused as well, but there is a subtle difference as someone already noticed above.

There are three states, On (blue), Off (grey) and AUTO (white).

In AUTO mode you cannot see when the system is active or not, except feeling it.

I only noticed the three state for the first time, when I changed the temperature settings with the HUD wheel touch buttons, because there it actually shows whether the AC is in AUTO or On/Off mode with text.

It’s rather bad UI design. But luckily it functionally works.

 

Our observations of the AC control:

We like to turn off the compressor during our last couple miles of a trip. This reduces the possibility of smells in the system from dampness. It also minimizes the wet puddle in the garage.

Seems that achieving this requires you to hit the AC button TWICE. First press, the blue light comes on; second press, the light goes off and you can FEEL that the air is warmer.

 

Here is the assessment of my findings for RX350 hybrid only:

• If you press Auto- there is no AC light but the AC is on and system manages the temperature of the cabin based on your temperature setting. let's say 73 degrees.
• If Auto is OFF and you just touch the AC and adjust the temp and fan speed it works based on your settings.
• if everything is OFF and you just turn the fan on, it either just provides room temperature air or uses the AC without the AC light being on, in a minimum state, which maybe due to wanting to get the cool air through the read vents by the rear seats to cool off the battery under the rear seat.!!!

Note- It is so crazy that we have to sit here and guess, as opposed to having clear instructions in the manual. Perhaps the Administrator of this forum can invite a Lexus specialist to this group to provide realistic information. There are so many unknowns that we need to understand like the gas tank level issue in the other thread.

 

It looks like another setting has to be turned on each time you start the car. If you want the rear vents to blow cool air (and there are no passengers in the back) you have to go to the climate settings and turn off the option where the rear vents only work if there is someone sitting in the back.

 

That is the S-flow option.

 

Ok so I am not going crazy, good to know. The AC is on with auto, just doesn't tell you at all except by "feel" (I don't have the HUD)