I believe there's a setting which can be configured (well I _know_ there is) to make the recirculation come on manually instead of automatically. What I don't know for sure is how this reconfiguration (dealer config) would affect specific aspects of the recirculation usage. I literally just had mine changed this weekend because I get sick of it turning recirc on every time I start the car in the summer when I most want fresh air coming in. I'd actually just written about it in another thread too (bringing back what some may find helpful, but not as obvious a thread as this ). Take a look at the PDF configurable options pages, there's an air inlet option (or something like that) the dealer can change.