Steering wheel locked up while driving! Yikes!

[guinnessbrewer]

On the way to work this evening, I made a right turn onto a main street and after I completed the turn the steering wheel locked in a right turn. Luckily I got the truck stopped before I hit the new car that was parked on the curb! Once I got stopped I noticed that one of my keys on my keyring had swung into position to become jammed in the back of the steering wheel. There are two holes back there for the mounting hardware for the airbag; which just happened to catch the key! I think I am going to remove all other keys from my truck keys until I can figure out a fix for this. I seem to remember 1993 Dodge Dakotas had a recall for this and issued a fix which consisted of plastic plugs to fill the holes to prevent this from happening. Is my truck supposed to have plugs installed that just did not make it? Just fyi, you all might want to check this out, this could have really been UN-GOOD if it would have happened in a place with more traffic, or pedestrians. GB

[Heavyd1980]

wow that sucks, im glad you were able to get it shut down before you wrecked your truck!!! you could possibly fill the holes with black rtv it shouldnt be too bad to remove if needed!

[flagmanruss]

Yes YIKES!! Maybe get those plastic push ins used to secure interior panels with the fins sticking out. Cut to length. If they work, could be painted to match. I'm going to check my keys now. Thanks,Russ

[dracozny]

i looked at my steering wheel and the holes are tapered and fairly large, i cant figure out how you managed to get anything stuck in it let alone the keys

[white01]

glad your ok tho.

[Dieselpwrram]

There was a Dodge recall for the 2nd gen. trucks for just that issue. I believe the fix was placing plugs in the holes in the back of the steering wheel. I only have a couple of keys on my ignition ring which also helps to prevent that problem. I read somewhere if you have a lot of keys dangling from the ignition it tends to loosen the ignition switch.

[Old_Sparky]

I have read that having a heavy key ring is hard on the ignition switch. I usually only have the truck key and a house key on that ring. Since I bought my truck used, I will have to check and see if the plugs are in the back of the steering wheel.

[BobCat]

Glad you are OK! And thanks for the "heads up!"My ignition key and the key to my truck box are alone on one ring. All my other keys - house, barn, all kinds of stuff, and spare ignition key are on another ring that lives in another pocket.Reason for carrying a spare truck key is that sometimes the electric locks lock me out with the engine running. I don't know if it is me, hitting the button out of habit or accident, or the truck is just trying to mess with me, but having a spare key has saved my bacon a couple of times. First time it happened, I stopped at the front gate for the mail, and the truck was locked and idling when I got back to it. Walked to the house for the spare and carried it ever since.I though your thread was going to be about the steering wheel lock that is supposed to keep your truck form getting stolen, that locks the wheel when the key is removed. Scary if one of those malfunctioned!

[Green Moose]

GuinessBrewer, I have my ignition key on a separate ring that is detachable from the rest of my retarted collection of keys. This also comes in handy if you don't want to shut off your truck while you unlock something else or move another vehicle you have with the main key ring. Just a thought.