NHTSA Complaint #10160555 — 1997 PONTIAC GRAND AM

SEPT. 2005 MY 1997 PONTIAC GRAND AM WOULDN'T START. THE STEERING WHEEL WAS COMPLETELY LOCKED. COULDN'T GET THE KEY INTO THE SWITCH,TRIED TO SHAKE STEERING WHEEL AND TRIED BANGING ON THE SWITCH AND TRIED FORCING THE KEY IN, BUT NOTHING WORKED. HAD TO TAKE COVER OFF UNDER THE STEERING WHEEL AND PUSH A BOTTOM THAT I FOUND AND IT UNLOCKED, THEN IT STARTED. EVEN THE DASH LIGHT STOPPED WORKING. BEEN DRIVING WITH NO DASH LIGHT FOR A WHILE. IT STARTED DOING IT AGAIN, BUT HIS TIME THE BUTTON UNDER THE STEERING WHEEL WOULDN'T WORK. HAD TO PUT A TOGGLE SWITCH IN, TO EVEN START. I TURNED THE KEY ON PUSHED THE TOGGLE SWITCH AND IT STARTED. THAT LASTED TILL 6-7-06. THAT DAY I TURNED ON THE SWITCH AND IT SOUNDED LIKE THE STARTER WAS HUNG. NOW MY POWER WINDOWS WONT WORK, THE POWER DOOR LOCKS STILL WORK. FOUND RECALL ONLINE, THE CODE NUMBER IS 02008B, IT SAYS THE ENGINE FAILS TO START WHEN THE DRIVER HOLDS THE KEY IN THE START POSITION FOR A PERIOD, HIGH CURRENT FLOWS THROUGH THE IGNITION SWITCH, AND SOMETIMES PRODUCES HEAT TO MELT INTERNAL SWITCH PARTS. TOWED CAR TO PONTIAC DEALER 6-22-06 THINKING MAYBE THE RECALL WOULD FIX MY PROBLEM. I TOLD HIM TO DO A DIAGNOSTIC TEST ON IT AND IT CAME BACK THE IGNITION LOCK CYLINDER IS BAD. THEN HE TOLD ME THE PRICE AND I SAID, I CANT AFFORD THAT. HE SAID, THAT IT HAD TO BE FIXED BEFORE HE COULD FIX THE RECALL. THEY WANTED $222.86 FOR THE PART AND $275.88 FOR LABOR, $7.27 FOR MISC. $14.58 FOR TAXES THEN HE CHANGED IT $20.00 FOR MISC. TOTALING TO $533.32 TO FIX THE CYLINDER. I TOLD HIM I FOUND RECALLS ONLINE AND EVEN COPIED THEM AND BROUGHT IT TO HIM. BUT HE SAID, THAT HE'S GOT TO GO BY WHAT HE HAS ON HIS RECALL FROM GM. I SAYING IF ITS NOT ON HIS RECALL THEN IT SHOULD BE. THIS SHOULD BE A RECALL ON THE IGNITION LOCK CYLINDER. SO I HAD IT TOWED TO ANOTHER PLACE THAT WOULD PUT THE IGNITION LOCK CYLINDER IN FOR $239 INCLUDING PARTS AND LABOR. *NM