Couple days ago it's -24C and I jump in car and head off to hardware store. Shop for 30 min and return and start the car. Starts ok but I notice that I have all sorts of warning lights on dash (ABS, Airbag, Parking Brake) and no power to my center console ie radio, climate stuff, fan etc. Also I can't move the shifter from Park.

Car's running so I dig out the manual to check the warning lights info and look at the fuse diagram cause maybe it's a blown fuse. Anyway 3-4 min after this, the power starts coming back to my center console, I hear the radio, then the fan then everything seems back to normal, except i still have dash warning lights and no shift action out of Park.

A few minutes later my dash warning lights start to go out, one at a time until only the ABS light is on. And my shifter now works. I wait a few minutes, make sure I have brakes, and drive home. Start it a few hours later and all is normal. And has been since.

A few days previous to that, in -27C weather my brakes froze and I had to do some serious pumping to get them to unfreeze. Maybe the two event are related?

 

Yea. Its called freak in cold. Number 1 rule of thumb if you can't park in a garage on such cold days is to start the car and let it warm up for at least 15 minutes. I'm talking the temperature gauge at least half way to normal warm. Also, when you turn the car off, have everything turned off you can. Stereo. Lights off. (Not on auto). Fan. Etc... today's cars have a number of computer systems in them. They don't like it that cold. And while an engine heater can help the engine, it doesn't help the electronics.

I wouldn't worry about it currently. Keep an eye on it. But once you get into the negative temp numbers, turn off everything prior to shutting it down.

One last thing. When starting, don't put foot on brake and start car normally. Push start button once and get electricity flowing. Push start button 2nd time to get electricity going to all the gauges and computers. Then after about 10 seconds each, put foot on brake and start car. Remember to let it warm up a long time. Then turn on radio, heaters, lights, etc. For the older cars without push button, turn key on for 10-15 seconds before starting it.