OK, YOU asked for it, Gary.

If you turn the key "ON", but don't start the engine and then hit the button for the top, the inductive load of the pump motor can cause voltage spikes and sags. Things are milder if the engine is running and alternator is charging.

I put my top up on the SE back in 2017 one night, too lazy to start the car first. The top and pump stopped just as the lid was raising (the motor cuts out after each phase then starts back up with each phase, sending spikes and sags thru the system leading back to the battery). I turned key off and on, no but no good. I put top up manually with key off (mistake #2).
I had to raise the top manually. Next morning, the top would not move at all, it had lost sync, cause I finished putting the top up with the key off. I started car and put top up and down, fully, manualy, and got snyc back. Top worked fine.

But I noticed that the seat belt light was on, the seat belt module died when the spike/sag went thru the system. I was lucky, it didn't kill the SKREEM.

You REALLY should not put windows up or down without the car running, either, but they are way less of a load than the top pump motor.

See, people think that SKREEMS and seatbelt modules and other modules just "Fail". Sometimes they do. MOST of the time, they fail for a reason external to the module, just like with all electronics.

And of course, this is not just my opinion, this is the way it is; as this stuff is how I've earned a living since 1981. 29 years of my career focused on a strong emphasis of putting electronics in motor vehicles (as aftermarket accessories). Of course, the anonymity of the internet means that I could be any kook with an opinion, so, let's deal with that in this way.........

Mark Christopher
Field Applications Engineer
JVCKenwood Corporation
Communications Sector | Research and Development
Irving Texas