Steering Column Locking Position

[Napalm]

Hi All, Was hoping to get some help, and sorry if this is posted in the wrong area. I am not for sure if the ignition switch on this car is electrical or not. Anyhow I noticed something last night about my steering wheel. The problem is i can not rememeber if this is normal. The steering wheel only locks in like one position. After placing the car in park and removing the key you can turn the steering back and forth it only locks if you turn it a large amount. I am curious if anyone else has noticed this and if it is normal. I have tried several times to start the car move it around a bit and then placing it back and park with the same results. I always thought in the past the steering wheel would lock almost instantly with any amount of turning. I have a 2006 AWD Automatic @ 52000 milesAny help is appreciated.

[lovemyraffe]

Never seen anything like that. I know that my steering wheel locks in almost any position.

[prathman]

Sounds normal to me depending on what you mean by a "large" amount. Every car I've driven since steering locks came out around '68 has only had the lock apply at certain specific positions. I presume there's a pin of some kind that drops into one of a set of slots around the steering column. But there are quite a few positions that will lock in a full turn of the wheel.

[RePo]

The steering colum will have a pin that falls into a slot about every 30 degrees of steering wheel rotation to lock it there. This is my Monte Carlo, but the Vibe is built similar. Notice the distance to each slot varies.

[Napalm]

Thanks for the response guys!! Yea I have confirmed that my steering wheel only locks if turned to around the 2 O'Clock position. That is the only place that it will lock at, wonder why that is? Anyhow I guess it's not a huge problem considering it still locks in one position.