Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 22:11:42 -0600 From: "Walt Kienzle" <wkienzlenopsam.net> Subject: Re: Ignition Key won't turn - 900NG
> to be on many cars years ago, in the days when there was a separate > ignition key and starting button. Wow, that's going back quite a few years. You don't really need to go that far back, though. Until about 1969, US cars had the ignition/starter switch on the dash. There were two problems with this -- neither were safety related. 1) Dashboards were open on the bottom, so it was easy to get to the wires, short them together and hotwire the car. 2) The government decided that cars should have steering column/transmission locks (either one was acceptable for the government, but most manufacturers implemented both). To resolve these two issues, most manufacturers moved the key cylinder to the steering column. BTW, Toyota also has a few models that have the ignition key in the dashboard like the Malibu you mentioned. In fact, I think they had that a few years before this latest version of the Malibu and its counterparts from Oldsmobile and Pontiac were introduced. "Kenneth S." <nimrodnopsams.com> wrote in message news:3E7D2D98.7F43nopsams.com... [snip] > If there were anything in the safety argument, Saab could put the > ignition key in the dashboard, instead of the steering column. That's > the way it was in the Chevrolet Malibu that I rented while my 900 SE was > being fixed a few months back. Incidentally, it's also the way it used > to be on many cars years ago, in the days when there was a separate > ignition key and starting button.
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