i recently had the service steering column message show up and did a TON of research on it. after finding out it was a recal item i decided to call a GM dealer instead of my mechanic. i called once while i was at work to check to see if the recall was still open on a 9 year old car, and the guy told me it was and that they could cover towing and the whole fix once they got my VIN number which i had left at home. after finding the VIN number, i called back and got a different guy. he ran my VIN and told me the recall was performed in 2004 and it was no longer available. after that i asked a few questions and started to get alot of fumbling. i asked how they fixed the problem if it was still there, and he decided to research the cars history to find out exactly what was done. he listed back every single detail of the car down to a window motor replacement, and then apologized because he wasnt able to find a date the recall was performed or what was done to fix it. i decided i wanted to go in and talk in person. after work i headed to the dealership and was told that the recall wasnt valid anymore because it was not GM's problem it was a customer error. supposedly when you start your car, you have to turn the key to the "on" position, let it do a full sweep of all the gauges, then crank it over. apparently gm says that starting without letting the cluster do a full sweep can damage the DIC and lead to the column lock failure. after literally a good 8-9 hours of research all weekend, i know just about every step GM has taken to fix this problem, and found not one single item reguarding the "cluster sweep". can anyone vouch for the cluster sweep argument? should i argue further to have this covered? i know after the recall was performed that the column can fail again, could i send reciepts to GM and try to have them reimburse me? ive read through most of the "service column lock" thread and havent found an answere for this, although there was a ton of good info. thanks for any help guys

 

yeah i understand the recall was to make sure the fuel shut off because apparently having a low voltage could cause the fuel shut off to fail and alow the car to be driven with the coumn lock, but i think its BS that a4 owners got plates without holes in them to prevent the column from locking up and m6 guys basicaly got " if your car still moves when we're done with it, we did something wrong". i dont understand why GM would deem it a "fix" to make the car even more immobile than to do what everyone wants and alow the car to be driven without having to worry about if youll be stranded because some guy decided the car would be so much better if the key went in the dash instead of the column. honestly id rather have the car get stolen and have my insurance cover the cost of the car than have to put up with this crap. ive already orderd the CLB and will be installing it the day i get my car back up and running