I jump-started my friend's Jeep Wrangler this afternoon. Performed the jump-start procedures by the book from beginning to end. Once his Jeep was up and running and everything was put away back into my trunk, we sat around for awhile letting his car get a good charge going - mine was off.

10 minutes later, I get into the 8 to leave, turn on the car, no power steering. Shut it down, restart, again with no power steering. I rev the engine up to 6k-7k for 5 seconds, shut it down and restart once more and the power steering is back.

I assume it's related to the boosting of the Jeep, correct?

*Note* The PS light never came on.

 

That's a pretty good assumption because the RX-8 steering is 'electric assist.'

My bet is that you drained enough juice jumping your friend's Jeep to momentarily disable the electric assist.