Help! Why won't my key work?
 

My car has been acting strangely lately whenever I put the key in the ignition to start it. It takes a few moments to get it to turn. But today, it went into total lockdown after several attempts to get the key to turn. Then I watched the whole dash panel go dead. I'm assuming that was a safety feature because the car thinks it's being stolen. The lock and unlock features work on the key so I don't think it's the battey on the key itself, and I've used this key since I had the car. I don't know what's going on. Is this what the car does if the battery goes dead? Does anyone know? I'm worried that I won't be able to get to work tomorrow.

Re: Help! Why won't my key work?
 

If the key is hard to turn or won't turn the ignition it sounds like there is a problem with the ignition switch.

Re: Help! Why won't my key work?
 

Thank you, robby. I didn't even think of that.

Re: Help! Why won't my key work?
 

I'm not sure if you're saying if the key won't turn, or that the key turns, but the engine won't start.

In one part you mentioned that the whole dash panel went dead. That's not a typical security feature that I know of. When I was experimenting with ebay key fobs, I found that if the security system doesn't recognize your key (even though it turns), the car will still start, but within a second or two, the security system kills the engine. So the problem you're describing doesn't sound like a security measure. It sounds like an electrical problem.

Re: Help! Why won't my key work?
 

It turns out that you were correct. The ignition cylinder and housing have to be replaced. This is going to cost over $700 and is going to take about 5 days to get the part. I'm assuming this is normal.

Talk about wrecking my day.... :(