atrac7

So in our car the whole S-Flow system is touted as automatically shutting off passenger side fans (both middle and extreme right vent) if no passenger is detected, and allow airflow to occur if it detects a passenger.

Lately though i will start my car and find that cold air is blowing from the entire right side. My side has warm air blowing, per the 78 I set on the climate controls. On the screen visual under climate, i see that the passenger side is greyed out, indicating that there should NOT be any airflow coming from passenger side. Anyone have issues with this feature of the car?
When i first heard about this feature i was very excited, since i would always manually close the vents for the passenger side in previous cars if i was riding solo. This is a bit of a letdown.

2013 GS w/Lux Pkg

bclexus

I suspect it might take a minute or two for the car's HVAC computer system to analyze all the parameters before making final adjustments thereby sending signal voltage to the various damper door servo motors to close off certain vents. I would not expect the vents for the empty passenger seat (on a Luxury package) to immediately be shut Off upon first starting the car.


S-FLOW Mode Button - Operates S-FLOW mode On/Off
When the S-FLOW mode button is pressed, the airflow changes as follows:
Without rear air conditioning system: Air flows to the front seats only.
► With rear air conditioning system: Air flows to the front seats only, and if the passenger seat is unoccupied, the set temperature, outside humidity and temperature inside the cabin are assessed, and air flows to the driver seat only. If air flows to the driver’s seat only, the temperature setting for the front passenger’s seat is not displayed.

atrac7

BC, as always your posts are extremely informative. I've learned more about the system, but unfortunately my issue extends beyond the first few minutes of starting up the car. It can last an entire commute if i don't manually start to tweak the HVAC settings in an attempt to shut down the passenger side. It seems that at times, the only remedy is to bring up/down the passenger side temp to be on parity with my driver's side....

Also, is there a "sync" button or quick setting to level the two sides to the same temperature? My previous cars had this, just don't know if i'm missing that feature or not here with our GS

rijc99

Menu button - Climate - Dual.

In this screen there is also an on screen button for you to activate Pollen Removal Mode (which incidentally is also good for removing fast food smells).

bclexus

Thanks for the kind words!

In my opinion the passenger side should not have to be at the same matched temperature setting for the S-Flow feature to work correctly by shutting off the passenger side vents. I am unaware of any 'sync' or quick setting feature to quickly match temperatures for both sides.

I understand that Lexus dealers have very elaborate and extensive diagnosis equipment for testing the complex HVAC systems in their vehicles. I would recommend having your Lexus dealer take a look at it.

dchar

For syncing the temp on both sides, you can also use the pages on the right half of the screen. Click on the Climate tab (I believe it's the middle of the 3 tabs) and make sure the Dual option isn't selected.

spoogenet

In a Luxury package car, the "sync" will be Climate -> "3-Zone" instead of "Dual."

While I haven't tested this, based on the description of how S-Flow works with the Lux package, I would assume it is determining to keep air flowing. This seems evident in your tinkering with the setpoint changing whether it blocks air flow. Is your A/C on when you've observed this? Is the air set to outside or recirculate?