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This is true for both the old and the new cars. You've parked somewhere and want to charge your phone. Nope. Can't do. Why? Because for no reason the cigarette lighter is not hot wired. You have to switch to "Accessory" for that. Well, I don't want to do that and light up the entire dash. When I set up something similar on my motorcycle, I made sure there was a direction connection to the battery.
It's live on my F150 as well as other Fords, as well as a couple Chevys, I've had over the last twenty years. I don't remember before that. It is not live on the Forester.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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On my Challenger, the outer console outlet is keyed, but the one inside the console storage bin is always hot. There is no lighter, I haven't seen one in a car since about 2008. Just sockets with little doors on them.
Always hot on my Toy truck and VW car.... easy enough to make it always hot with the Most basic of wiring skills. Probably smarter to just install a dedicated USB charging port, you can then have 2 2A ports for "fast charging"/AC mode and skip the junky adapters.
As others have already pointed out . . . varies by Vehicle Manufacturer and possibly year / model.
The Lighter Socket on my 2005 Chevrolet along with two AUX Plugs in the cab and one AUX plug in the bed is HOT regardless of the Ignition Key position.
On the flip side . . . my 1986 Jeep CJ-7 requires the Ignition Switch to be in the ON or the Accessory position.
Most cars now shut things down before the battery is drained past a start charge.
I have a 2012 Toyota and a 2017 Mercedes. Neither gives power when shut off.
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