but been reluctant to employ it for fear of causing problems with modern day auto electrics.
Not from an auto-electrics, but from an electronics point of view; shorting the power rails (after removing the power supply), is a good way of resetting microprocessors etc. i.e. if your TV is frozen, even after turning it off and on, shorting the plug pins may help.
Shorting the rails will discharge the capacitors, draining residual charge from the circuit - in low powered electronic devices, this isn't a problem, the capacitors don't store a significant charge - this should be the case with auto-electrical systems.
The issues come from large capacitors on high voltage systems; for example, choosing the wrong place to discharge a capacitor on a microwave oven, could cause a significant current discharge at a high voltage, that could fry you and the circuit board!
This shouldn't be the case for auto-electronics, but I won't be attempting it on an EV anytime soon!
There is also the option to gently discharge the system, instead of using jump leads etc. make the connection with a large resistor, or a lamp - this slightly slower discharge, would be kinder to older capacitors.
Or, as in post #2, leave the system without the battery connected for 30 minutes - most large capacitors will have a discharge resistor to slowly bleed charge away.
So, the electronics would still likely be functional after a 'hard reset', but what status the system may be in, is another question - do you still have the radio codes etc?
