This is one of the very few annoyances I have with the car. My Ram truck resets everything, steering wheel and seat heaters with an ignition cycle. I VERY rarely use the seat heater so the Auto position wouldn't satisfy me as I don't want it to come on unless I specifically set it to. The heaters are also some of the biggest electrical draws in the entire vehicle so not crazy about them being on as the car is starting. That's why I've always made sure HVAC system is turned off before I turn the ignition off. Been doing that for most of my life and traditionally have pretty long battery life and have never had to replace an alternator.
Heated/Ventilated Seat Buttons
I noticed that once the heated or ventilated seat function is activated (on), they will stay on in the last known position no matter if you shut the car off and restart it later... they must always be manually turned off even if the seat has been empty for a day or two. Is that a user definable situation? Is there no time when the car is shut down and restarted later that the seats will default to off?
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If true that's good to know about the MDX. Certainly not the case with all vehicles.ALL electrically operated accessories are set to be unpowered while the vehicle is cranking.
That's actually exactly how I know that it hasn't always been the case with all vehicles. Being able to see lights dim or other accessories falter when cranking are proof enough. Pretty sure radio/stereos have always had current cut to them during starting. I'm willing to go along with most, and possibly all new vehicles behaving this way today, but a mechanic told me when I was a new driver (admittedly a long time ago) to always turn off any accessories (especially the A/C) before you kill the engine and you'll make things easier on your battery and alternator. Still seems like a decent habit as you're asking the car to do less switching and interrupting during cranking.In the old days you could prove it to yourself... If you set the heater fan on hi when the engine was off, then turned the ignition switch slowly to crank you would hear the heater fan first come on, then shut down as the ignition switch entered the crank mode, then resume operation as soon as the key was released. Push button start? Not so easy to demonstrate.... but its all in the programming. Cranking takes a lot of juice, especially in the winter up north.
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