Air coming out the vents with dial set to off?

I thought I knew how to use my climate control but after reading this, I now realize I know nothing. Nothing at all.

 

There is still airflow. It may be through the foot vents. If you look at the dampers and inlet/outlet piping, or the design of the car in general, there is always somewhere they are purposefully letting air leak through. The car would be atrocious to be in otherwise. Try locking yourself in a 6-foot square air-tight cube for a few hours and see how you smell, let alone breathe.

 

I think this is typical for most all vehicles. Some have it more noticeable than others. Some have the air blow through the bottom heater vents when everything is set to off. I know the 1979 Chevy truck I owned way back when always had the fan on at a low setting when the engine was running.

 

This makes perfect sense, I never checked the foot well vents.

 

It could even be entering the car through the firewall in a location you can’t directly feel it.

 

My truck came with a bunch of papers glued together in the glove compartment that contained a remarkable amount of information related to the truck. There is even a list of areas on this document near the front that contains descriptions and numbers. Coincidentally those numbers are also at the top of each page. The page with a “430” has some writings that provide guidance on how air works.

Incredible find I know!

 

One odd thing I've noticed on mine (that i'm sure is by design) is that the outer dash vents receive airflow in any position (floor, defrost, etc).
This has been nice for my left hand on chilly mornings.

And while we're talking climate control, shout out to Toyota for giving these trucks an instantaneous electric heater core to compensate for the slow warm-up times of the 3.5l

 

that's why there is body vents, doubt they design the hvac to leak

 

The body vents are typically what draws the air out that comes in the front of the car, and also prevents your eardrums from bleeding when the Airbags go off.

A single static hole will not have circulation taking place, you need two.

There is actually a fair amount of information on the web regarding automotive ventilation. There was concern recently that the benzene coming out of the plastics (AKA “new car smell”) was actually harming people. One of the solutions was to increase interior ventilation.

 

Outside vents being always open is a pretty common thing in Japanese cars (I've owned 10+ of them over the years). I think it's how they get air to prevent the side windows from fogging up.

One typical design is to have a small set of vents in the dashboard that kind of diagonally point to the windows. But since the Tacoma is going for least amount of vents possible...

 

The Tacoma also has those - and they only kick on with Defrost

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this was driving me crazy for a few days. This is my first Tacoma (and Toyota) and I've never seen a vehicle do this before. Both my previous Wranglers didn’t and neither does my Mustang. You guys are correct though. In order to turn airflow completely off, you have to press the recirculate button (make it show a green light). Otherwise, you are going to drive down the freeway wondering why you think your fan is blowing in your face when everything is set to “OFF”. This is weird to me, but it is what it is.