Hey guys,

I had the same problem a month or so ago--progressively worse sticking of the key. It even got to the point for me where it would take 10-15 minutes to get the key to turn in the ignition. I didn't take it to the dealer sooner because a) I'm lazy, and b) none of you would complain about service problems with your dealer if you had experienced life in Dubai.

Anyway, went out for some dinner at a hotel, begged the valet not to remove the key from the ignition as leaving it in had been my brilliant solution to the problem. Went to retrieve my car after dinner, and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . . and I knew they had taken the key out and couldn't get the car started.

So . . . after trying to turn the key for 45 minutes myself, I finally gave up and took a taxi home. My car was stranded in a tight parking garage. Of course, they couldn't tow the car because they couldn't turn the steering wheel to move the car out of the parking space. Two days later, the dealer managed to get somebody over there who could get the steering wheel operational again.

Total cost to replace the ignition assembly was $340--the part itself was $150. They only replaced the ignition assembly and it works perfectly (knock on wood). Not sure what conclusion you can draw from that other than maybe people are having similar but not the same problem?

I also finally had to cave in and buy a new key--the final abuse to the key in the parking garage was just too much. I didn't want to take the chance I'd be stranded when the key disintegrated one day.

Attached are some photos showing the offending part and the damage to my key. Obviously they let me keep the old ignition . . . kinda like keeping a kidney stone, I guess.