Jim Schnabel

I parked my 98.5 A4 2.8 with Quattro on a 15 degree incline with the wheels slightly turned to the left (the steering wheel was 180 degrees from neutral position). When starting the car, the steering wheel was locked to the left. I turned it to the right to loosen it and locked it in that direction. The ignition key could then not be turned in the steering column, and in fact I could rotate the entire mechanism three times in my key without effect. The transmission could not be moved from park when I pushed down on the brake.

I called my dealer, which sent a tow truck. Predictably, the service rep calls me and says the car is functioning completely normally, even when he tests the car on an incline. They'll look at the lock to see if I damaged it.

The manual makes no reference to this type of incident. I'm curious if I could have done anything differently. I'm off from work this week, so it was not particularly catastrophic. Thanks in advance.

98 A4 2.8 TQS
02 S6 4.2

RKA

it's because I've mixed up the keys for my two cars...and tried to use the wrong key in the wrong car. I was a little puzzled the first time. I notice you have two Audi's...

Jim Schnabel

That's not the cause. The keys are distinctly different. My S6 is on a keychain, and the A4 is separate.

The incident was enough to make me think about going to the dark side, and getting a Bimmer the next time. Perish the thought.