steering wheel issues

[MorganNJSOPe]

My steering wheel locks everytime i turn the car off, i always have to akwardly jiggle the wheel while turning the key every morning, does anyone know why this is?

[Kayakin' Dan]

I think only every car built in the last 30 years does that. Try not turning the wheel after you turn it off. Then it may not lock.

[brendan]

I tend to center the steering wheel before turning the vehicle off. This out of habit due to my old '89 Colt having a rather difficult steering wheel lock.

You might try doing that, it might not quite lock it down as tightly or at all and be therefore it'll be easier to deal with when you start up.

Alternately, try weight lifting!

-brendan

[MorganNJSOPe]

ive never had a car thats done that before, i just wanted to make sure its normal, do you by any chance no why it locks? i mean like technically?

[brendan]

[quote:9dc493faae=" "]ive never had a car thats done that before, i just wanted to make sure its normal, do you by any chance no why it locks? i mean like technically?[/quote:9dc493faae]

Ok, one correction to what I said before: if you're parking on a hill, follow the standard driver's-ed instructions of turning the steering wheel all the way away from the curb if facing uphill, and all the way facing the curb if you're facing downhill before turning the car off. This makes the curb a "wheel chock" essentially, so if your car pops out of park and begins to roll, the curb should save the car from going too far. Also, obviously, the parking brake should be used in this situation as well. This is much less of an issue for automatics and newer cars, but the procedure should be followed anyway. And yes, you might have to struggle a bit to unlock-the-wheel and turn-the-key when parking like this.

The wheel lock is a small security feature against old fashioned hotwiring: unless the lock cylinder is rotated out of Lock, the steering wheel can't be turned - so, even if the car is started, it can only be driven straight/in a circle. However, the sad truth is that, these days, a large screwdriver is all that is needed to break a typical key cylinder and rotate it all the way to ACC/ON/START.

Luckily the Element also has an immobilizer system that cuts power to the fuel pump if there isn't a registered key in the cylinder. Hard to beat that.

The wheel lock is also useful in the hill situation above: if the car starts moving when parked on a hill, if the wheel lock weren't engaged, the wheels would naturally begin to straighten out given enough clearance. The Lock prevents this.

So, basically, the wheel lock is a little bit like the locks on the doors, and a little bit like the parking brake: half security device, half safety device.

-brendan