Not yet tested
Switch to recirculate when outside air is bad
If the outside air-quality reading gets poor, the car switches to recirculate and tells you why.
WHEN
Outside Air Quality — Outside air quality worse than your threshold (e.g. AQI above 150)
THEN
- Intake Mode — Recirculate
- Voice Announcement — “Outside air is poor. Switched to recirculate.”
Why it’s useful
Wildfire smoke and heavy traffic happen without warning. This reacts faster than you would notice the smell.
How to set it up
- Open AutomationsWith the car in Park, open the App Launcher on the touchscreen and tap Automations.
- Create a new automationTap “Create an automation”.
- Set the trigger: Outside Air QualityUnder Trigger, open Environment and pick Outside Air Quality. Set it to: Outside air quality worse than your threshold (e.g. AQI above 150).
- Action 1: Intake ModeTap Add action, open Climate (HVAC), pick Intake Mode and set: Recirculate.
- Action 2: Voice AnnouncementTap Add action, open Voice, pick Voice Announcement and set: “Outside air is poor. Switched to recirculate.”.
- Name and saveName it “Bad Air”, save, and make sure its card is switched on.
- Test itTrigger it once while parked with the screen on, and check each action happened.
Menu names come from the English strings found in current firmware and may change slightly at launch. There is no way to import automations, so you build each one on the touchscreen. Full walkthrough
Limits to know
- Depends on your car reporting outside air quality. On long drives, switch back to fresh air from time to time to avoid stale cabin air.
- Outside Air Quality: Depends on the car’s air-quality sensing; not every trim reports it.
- Automations only run while the center screen is on, and never while Autopilot or FSD is engaged.