I have a 2009 and when I started using the heat this year, it keeps switching from recirculate air to outside air after 3 minutes. When I press the button the green light goes on and it appears to be working well. After exactly 3 minutes the light goes off and the air comes from outside bringing me the exhaust of the cars in front of me. This is irrespective of setting, feet, face or mixed feet and defrost. (full defrost is only outside air of course).
I brought it to the dealer because at first they told me it should only do that on AC, but when they looked it over they said this is normal on the heat setting and only stays inside air indefinitely on Max AC
I could swear it didnt do this to me last year during the winter and definitely not when I wasn't using the heat, so I am baffled by this.
In any case, I am wondering how to disable or bypass the timer so my car will stay on recirculate. any ticks or techniques also welcome.
thank you
JOJO

Check the user manual. There are a few instances where you cannot use recirculate.
Here's one:

Turning the air flow selector to the wind- shield or floor/windshield position turns on the defogging function with the purpose of clearing the front view.

When turning the air flow selector to the windshield or floor/windshield position, the air intake selects FRESH automatically. This is to clean up the front view more quickly. It is not possible to return to RECIRCULATE in this position.

 

Yes. well aware. as I stated in the intial post. I am talking about the 3 minute switch on any setting

 

My guess is that your AC system 'thinks' it's in one of those modes where it needs to switch of 'recirculate'.
Maybe unplug the battery for a few minutes in case it resets something? I don't know of any other way to reset the system.

 

thats not the case. I brought it to dealer and its working correctly according to them. They said its designed to switch off after 3 minutes when on heat. IF anyone knows that this is not true, please reply and explain,. assuming it is true, I am looking for a way to manually override that function.