Just wanted to throw an update into here, in case someone was having similar issues and was looking for another possible path.
First off, I read the manufacture date wrong and I have a 2006 and not a 2004
I checked the fuse box by the passenger footwell, everything seemed fine. I ended up removing the rear A/C blend door actuator, which was super easy to get to and I remembered some plastic grinding noise when we first got the car, and lo and behold the common gear teeth breaking was there. Got a replacement from Dorman, like 40 bucks.
I noticed that after consultingthe owner manual a bit, when I try to turn on the rear A/C, the airflow indicator light under the rear auxiliary control panel's right dial was not lighting up, so it gave me an idea. I removed the cover panel from the rear center console, also really easy (two 7 mm screws on the rear side you can see when you open the cup holders, two Torx T20 screws at the toponthe frontside you can see when you open the center console compartment, then peel backwards solidly). I used a multimeter to test the connector continuity, and noticed that the plug was in fact receiving 12V power in 4 out of 5 pins (last one I am assuming is ground). This I assume likely means the actual control panel is shorted or busted inside, so I am gonna go to a salvage yard this week sometime and grab one, throw it in, see if it fixes the issue. Hopefully I will remember to update this.
