After turning off the engine and removing the fob I didn't hear the sound of steering column lock engaging. After re-inserting the fob there was no disengage sound and when I pressed the start button all I got was "steering column locked" message. The lock itself was disengaged as I could turn the steering wheel. I removed the battery leads for two minutes and the car started up again.

After reading many possible causes (faulty sensor, lock assembly, steering column etc.) I became to wonder if the lock can be disabled all together. It has very limited purpose and if someone wants to nick the car it will not stop the .

So is there a way to disable the lock and make the car think all is fine?

After looking at the wiring diagram and playing with steering column lock fuse I've discovered that in my case it's the instrument panel that doesn't always give the steering column lock the signal to engage/disengage since every time the lock stays on or is not enabled at all I cannot hear the clicks from the relay nor the noise from the lock.

I will try to get the software in the instrument panel updated. I hope it will fix the problem.

It can be dissabled after CCF edit to "no steering column lock" or something similar.

attrs wrote:

After looking at the wiring diagram and playing with steering column lock fuse I've discovered that in my case it's the instrument panel that doesn't always give the steering column lock the signal to engage/disengage since every time the lock stays on or is not enabled at all I cannot hear the clicks from the relay nor the noise from the lock.

I will try to get the software in the instrument panel updated. I hope it will fix the problem.

I haven't got mine sorted yet. After doing some reading the lock can be disabled and has been on NAS (North American Spec) models. The option of deactivating the lock exists but dealer refused to carry out the operation and quoted me ~1500£ repair price (new instrument panel, new steering column and new steering lock). That's 20% of the value of my '07 freely.

I will try to get directly in touch wiht the guy that does electrics/diagnostics at the dealership. He seems to be frend-of-a-friend.

ATTRS, I'll send you a PM with my "update".

Yeah, thanks for the update.

Local dealership still claims that this is the first time they have ever heard about this problem