Does anybody know where the cabin air is taken from to get recirculated? I thought it was taken from the foot well of the passenger, but based on the position of the air filter there (behind the glove compartment) and presence of dirt on the top (and not the bottom) of it, it seems that air is pushed out (downwards) and not taken from the foot well. So, where does the cabin air being pulled from to get recirculated?
Found it! When you change the cabin air filter you can see an opening into the airbox with a rubber flap. When vents to the outside are closed, the fan pulls open the small rubber flap and cabin air is pulled in.
I've heard about a bi-level climate control system and I thought our Prius was equipped with it (at least when the 2G was around). Can anyone confirm that feature (if it exists at all?). What it is, is that in recirculation mode, it recirculates the air around the foot to heat up the air faster but blows fresh air near the top to keep the windows clear. Looking at that diagram, it appears that there's only one blower fan so all air has to pass through that and then onto the air filter... so this bi-level filter that's somehow stuck in my memory vault seems implausible.
