NHTSA Complaint #11500018 — 2005 CHEVROLET CORVETTE

2005 Corvette coupe, manual trans, Z51. Intermittent problem: Electronic steering column will not unlock when attempting to start or will not lock on shutdown. Vehicle inoperable, sometimes in potentially hazardous situations e.g., late night in parking lot, and compromised anti-theft feature. Possibly relevant: When parked but steering failed to lock, continuous battery draw is 4 amps, which might contribute to the "dead battery syndrome" that 2005 M6 Corvettes are known for. Hard to separate the two issues since either way the starter will not engage. Problem has existed since new (2005) but has gotten progressively worse. GM nonresponsive to multiple owner complaints. Aftermarket "Column Lock Bypass" work-arounds have been sold for this problem, but they are potentially dangerous since they simply spoof the BCM into thinking that the lock is fully released when it is simply unpowered and can easily move into a partially locked position with vibration and time. This is what I recently observed that motivated this safety complaint. GM finally issued a recall in 2018 (13 years after MY) for this problem, but for some reason did not include manual transmission cars in the recall, possible because production was small compared with automatics. But from internet forums, it is clear that this problem affects all 2005 M6 Corvettes.