So I gave my cube it’s first bath today (bought it clean in late October and then winter hit and it really didn’t need a wash until now). Hopped in to leave the car wash bay and the key wasn’t detected. The key WAS detected outside the car and allowed me to lock/unlock the doors. But the key dash light came on as soon as I pressed the brake pedal. oddly there was water dripp8mg from the rear view mirror to the dash. Are there electronics/sensors in the mirror arm or in the dash under the mirror that might have got wet?
Had the cube towed home, assuming it needed to dry out whatever got wet.
It got cold last night (so anything wet was now iced). This morning I went out and it started up. I had no intention of driving it anywhere so I left it to run for about a half hour. When I went out to turn it off the VDC, ABS and low traction dash lights were lit. I pushed the button to turn it off and left it for the day. Came home and battery was completely dead. Pulled battery, charged it up, put it back and when I connected it, all dash lights including dash illumination lit up. Pressed start button and engine cranked but wouldn’t fire. Pushed button to stop the cranking, all lights went out but then all came back on again. Tried pushing start button without brake depressed and same result - everything turned off but then came on again. So without a way to turn the car off I disconnected the negative battery terminal. I’ll try a cold start again tomorrow morning and if it fires will turn heater/blower on high and leave it run to fully fully dry out.
Thought I’d start this thread in case anyone has had similar behaviour/issue.

I don't think the '09 Cube was available with a sunroof and there are no vital functions in the mirror, but water at the roof console is never good. Water there will run across the headliner and down the A-pillars behind the trim, usually inundating the Super Multiple Junction (SMJ) connectors near the kick panels on one or both sides. The SMJ's connect the Main Harness under the dash with everything else in the car, so what happens when they flood will be anyone's guess. If they did get wet, you need to soak them with WD40 pronto to chase the water out before it corrodes the connector pins. That also goes for any connectors in the kick panel areas that may have got soaked. You probably also want to pop the door sill trim and pull the carpet up enough to see if there's water in the floorpan. The Cube has foam spacers under the carpet that are at least an inch and a half thick in front, so you can easily have gallons of water in the floorpan without knowing it. Leaving it there will eventually result in driving a mold-mobile.

Lovely! Ugh.....I'll be sure to have a look behind all those panels for any signs of moisture intrusion. Hopefully I can dodge that bullet here.

It got cold again last night so I reconnected the battery, all dash lights illuminated as soon as the connector went on the negative post (almost seems like it goes in to "run" mode??). I pushed the button and nothing happened so I then depressed the brake and pushed button. Cube started up but the VDC, Slip and ABS lights stayed lit. Some digging suggests this could be because I disconnected the battery and that the steering center point sensor needs to be reset which happens when you start the car and drive straight for anywhere from 50-100 feet. I'll try that later on. For now I have the cube running and the heat (floor and defrost vents) on high and will leave it running for a good two hours. I want to be absolutely certain it's dry dry dry. I'll try driving it around the block but that wont help me with the reset mentioned above. I'll have to be brave and head to a parking lot where I can turn the car off and leave it if it doesn't restart for me. What will be interesting to watch is whether I'm actually able to turn the car off.

Yesterday when I turned the car off, the engine stopped but then moments later the dash lights all came back on as if the ignition was stuck in the run position. Pretty sure that's why my battery was dead when I looked into things further yesterday afternoon after having run it with the same issues described above for about a half hour in the morning.

vdc-slip-and-abs-lights-t385454-30.html

Update, five hours later.

I left the cube running (heater on high) for five hours. Got in, lights all still on. Drove forward and back just a bit. Seemed OK. Decided to drive to the corner (staying along curb in case it died). It didn't die. In fact the lights went out and everything was normal.

However, when I tried to turn the cube off ir didn't turn off. The dash illumination went out and the gauges dropped but then it all promptly came right back on. Tried turning it off in neutral. Same result. I disconnected the negative battery cable and pushed the button and it cut immediately.

What the heck?! Any guesses?

I already gave you my best guess. Virtually everything on the car goes through those connectors in the kick panels.