A/C button

[deedz1]

Whats the purpose of the A/C button?

I never use auto, I like to manually control the fan speed. Every time the A/C button defaults to off. Even with it off, the truck is still blowing cold air, pressing the button makes no difference.

 

[lowrange44]

Is your GX equipped with the cool box? If it is, check if it’s turned on

 

[cmfhsu]

When there's no "blip" above the AC button, it's on auto. That's what it defaults to every time you start the car.

A yellow "blip" means AC forced on, and a grey "blip" means forced off.

 

[rent]

In software engineering, we usually frown upon junior code monkeys using this technique called a tri-state boolean. A boolean variable is either true or false. But a tri-state Boolean can be true, false, or null. This usually causes confusion and makes things overly complex.

This is what's happening here. A three-state AC button:

• Blue blip on top: AC is manually turned on
• Gray blip on top: AC is manually turned off
• No blip on top: AC is "automatically" turned on or off as determined by the car - but we don't know if AC is on or off because there's now no indication!

The air recirculate button behaves the same way. So in "Auto" mode, you don't know the state of air recirc.

This is a WTF kinda thing until you figure it out. Toyota / Lexus really needs to get their user interface act together. If you are listening, Toyota / Lexus:

1) Make all of these buttons two-state: either on or off - for example: blue blip or gray blip.

2) If driver turns on "Auto" mode, change "Auto" button to blue blip, and also indicate status of AC / Air Recirc on their respective buttons (on = blue blip, off = gray blip).

3) If driver manually turns AC / Air Recirc on or off, change "Auto" button to gray blip so the driver knows the system is no longer in auto mode.

 

[cmfhsu]

I think I've seen at least one Toyota interface represent auto mode with the English text "auto”.

That would seem to be fine for me too.

 

[clevelandgrace]

So the AC can still be on even if it doesn’t have the indicator light?

 

[BrimanSC]

Just wanted to add the Car Care Nut recommends running your climate control in auto as these have dedicated cycles to prevent smells and help keep the AC system healthy. Figured I’d share as it’s a good video:

 

[cmfhsu]

So the AC can still be on even if it doesn’t have the indicator light?

For more than one reason, yes lmao.

If there's no indicator above the AC button, it's in auto and it could be on.

Also, I think you could have the AC indicator with a grey blip, indicating AC is forced off, but the AC is actually still on because the cool box is on.

Not the best UX from Lexus.

 

[lowrange44]

When the climate is set to auto and the AC is running, the blue indicator is illuminated on my GX. If I change the setting so that the AC is off in auto then the AC indicator is gray.

With the climate system turned off, if I turn the cool box on, the AC indicator turns blue again. With the cool box on, the climate fan speed is set to 1 and cannot be turned off. The AC also cannot be turned off with the cool box running. Touching the AC button will beep but the blue indicator remains on.

As soon as I turn the cool box off, the fan and AC turn off.

 

[cmfhsu]

Ah, I stand corrected, thanks.

 

[YellowLab]

 

[rent]

When the climate is set to auto and the AC is running, the blue indicator is illuminated on my GX. If I change the setting so that the AC is off in auto then the AC indicator is gray.

Mine ('25 OT) does not behave this way.

When climate is in auto (blue blip on the "Auto" button), there is no blue blip on "AC". But AC is definitely running as it's 100 degrees outside and I can feel cold air blowing. At this point, if I touch the "AC" button, a blue blip appears while there is no change otherwise (cold air still blowing). If I touch the "AC" button again, a gray blip appears and now AC is off and the air coming thru the vents turns warm.

The air recirc. button behaves exactly the same way with this confusing Blue/Gray/No blip indicators.

Lastly, this is all observed with Climate Concierge turned off, S-flow on or off does not matter, and the cool-box not turned on.