WTF just happened? My truck bent my key, truck won’t turn

I wont say always, but my wife is pretty accident prone...and if its something mechanical...shes bound to break it.

 

Superhuman strength

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-wife-drove-my-truck-and.618872/

 

The key here is to not blame it on GF. She will bend your key. It might not turn right, but it's better than driving in circles. That's the key. Until the next bend. You don't want to turn against key elements, it can lead to binding situations. The road less traveled is sometimes due to key malfunctions.

That's all I got

 

I'm surprised I found this old post because this happened to me, too, and it doesn't make sense to me, despite my 3 decades of wrenching on vehicles. Forgive my resurrecting the thread...I don't own a Tacoma but maybe this could help me and the OP.

I was completely awake in the morning, driving my 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix (with 160k miles on it) to work through 40 mph suburban streets yesterday. I was stopped at a traffic light, waited for a gap in the traffic and then made my right turn. I think adrenaline made my memory spotty for the following events: The car "kept turning" after I expected the wheels to straighten out after the turn, where I (assume I had) let go of the steering wheel. The car drove over the curb, ending up on a pharmacy's lawn. There was no damage.

I remember grabbing the wheel, probably afterwards, (again, blanked memory), where the wheel resisted me and I heard the telltale "clanks" of the ignition lock detent. It sounded like the (mechanical-only) detent was half-deployed--a little more and the steering wheel would have locked completely, a little less and the wheel would have been completely freed.

The utterly unexplainable part is that I saw that my key in the ignition lock was now bent! I would have noticed the key being bent before I started the car earlier. My knees can't reach the ignition lock to have bent it; the lock has 2 "fins" anyway, protecting either side of the key, making for easier key turning. Did I tug really hard on the keychain during some sort of panic during the accident? It doesn't sound like the OP did.

On the keychain are several keys, a small, light, remote-unlock fob, and a small, light can of pepper spray. I experimented in the driveway and don't see how keychain momentum could have shut the engine off, let alone bent the key. I experimented in a parking lot and shutting the engine off (without engaging the lock detent) allowed the wheels to naturally return to their straight position without power steering.

From an engineering standpoint, I don't see how the key could have been bent without a counteracting force upon the key's head, assuming the ignition lock can been internally, forcefully rotated. I'm stumped; did I do this and simply not remember?

 

anyone else here thinking.. this is bizarre? whats going on here? haha. pretty weird. i guess the timeframe of the thread just adds to it, somehow.

 

AI is trying to communicate with us through a story about a pontiac key.

 

If I were even artificially intelligent, I'd be able to figure this one out!

 

OP, I’m glad your truck is back to driving just fine. So much comedy in this thread though!

 

Idk if anyone else has this issue but I can just pull they key back out after it’s running or in any of the ignition positions, I guess my cylinder is on the way out?

If that’s the case with the OP it could’ve come out at least partially from the cylinder and caused some interference.

 

This... moving on...

 

did they do my mod? Asking for a friend

 

#CryMore

 

This is a reasonable guess, but this did not happen to me: There is nothing for the key rings to get caught on on that side of the steering column in my car. I will continue to investigate as I don't want my evil car to kill me.

 

I’ve never had a key bend. I’ve had an old Land Cruiser key break off in the ignition and then spent half an afternoon with some needle nose players prying it out.

 

That sounds like a crummy way to spend an afternoon. Worse: You can't do anything else until you fished that out!

 

It’s Peyronie’s disease

 

Nice. Practice safe starting...

 

I had a key get bent by a certain female passenger moving around in the front seat. But the vehicle was parked when it happened