Help! Climate Control and Radio Annoyingly Coming on When Starting Car

[esdrs7]

I recently traded in my 2021 Audi RS7 for a CPO 2021 Audi S8. I live in the United States (Indiana). The user interface for both cars is pretty much identical. I am the key user, and no one else drives my car (there are no other users/drivers). If I have my climate control system on at the time I shut off my car, I always turn it off. I've done that with every vehicle I've ever owned. Whenever I use/used my climate control system in both Audis, I always have "sync" turned on. Also, I only listen to music via Spotify on my cell phone. Whenever I start the S8, after a few seconds, the climate control system turns on at 60 degrees and sync is not turned on, and it switches to the FM radio. It's so annoying. I cannot figure out why this keeps happening, since I always turn the climate control system off every time I shut off the car and I never listen to the FM radio.

I've done a ton of research online, I've called Audi customer service multiple times, I've read the owner's manual, etc. Nothing has helped. My research has led to confusing information. First, I've watched official online videos from Audi showing how to set up a "user profile" such that the car remembers your personalized settings, but my S8 definitely does not have that menu/option (i.e. only certain Audi vehicles have this feature). Second, I've scoured my Audi cell phone app and there's nothing in it allowing me to set personalized preferences. Third, the user information screen in my MMI says that settings are linked to the key (I'm assuming that means key fob). I've tried both key fobs, and the climate control system and radio comes on identically regardless of which key fob is used. My theory, which may not be correct, is that somehow the car has memorized a "profile" that I never set.

I've deleted myself as the key user and then re-added myself, I've done a "soft" reset of the MMI by holding down the volume knob, I've done a full factory reset through the MMI, I've removed my car from my Audi cell phone app and re-added it, and I've deleted the Audi cell phone app and reinstalled it. Nothing has helped. Does anyone have any information? From the other forum posts I've read, this is a maddening, somewhat common problem and there's seemingly no clear answer provided by Audi and there's plenty of confusion regarding the possible interplay with the MMI/Audi app/key fob/user profile/driver's memory setting on the driver's door. Thank you in advance.

[engage]

With the older D3 it would memorize the seat position when you hit 8 mph and equate it to the key. I also have a 2021 (A8 60TFSI) and it's more confusing now. I "think" it memorizes the seat position when you lock the vehicle with the key. I've found the owners manual isn't a lot of help. There is so much "stuff" on this car they I don't think they can actually document it without writing something a few thousand pages long.

Concerning the climate control, I have not had this issue. It faithfully remembers my last settings, including seat hearing and cooling, but I went through a lot of frustration getting there - mine is a CPO vehicle as well and I played with the key user stuff as well and went thru everything you did. It finally started working, but I'm not totally sure why. I wish there was a way to bypass the whole user thing.

Concerning the radio, mine always remembers the last thing I listened to, be it the radio, Spotify from my phone, satellite radio etc. my challenge is different. I don't always listen to anything and I want a way to keep the MMI active for navigation and phone, but turned off for any listening source.

Since your car is a CPO vehicle, take it to the dealer and see if they can figure it out.

[esdrs7]

Original poster here. After doing some research online, I was able to fix the problem. It's all related to the key fob. My S8 does not have the ability to save preferred settings or preferences in the user profile menus in the MMI, despite Audi's video tutorial (it's obvious that only certain Audi models, probably newer than mine, have this capability). After some trial and error, I was able to fix my problem by selecting "Guest" when I started the car (which I had never done before), then setting everything the way I want it to be when starting the car (e.g. climate control turned off, all seats adjusted the way I want them), then shutting off the car and locking it with the key fob. Next, I re-started the car, selected myself as the key user, set everything the way I want it to be when starting the car, shut off the car, got out, and locked it with the same key fob. This time, for the first time I've ever seen, the little red light on my key fob blinked rapidly multiple times, as if it was indicating that it just memorized the last settings. I'm glad this annoying problem is solved, and I hope that this post will help another Audi owner suffering from the same issue! Thanks.