Model Year 21/22 Car would not start - Move steering wheel message

[Andy.M]

Had a strange one yesterday. Went to start car, ignition was on but no starter motor engaging.
Message on dash saying move steering wheel. Wheel was solid. After 3 or 4 more tries, getting worried I was stuck, I yanked the wheel harder than previously. There was a loud click and the wheel was then moving. Car then started.
Anyone else experienced this?

 

[James_R]

Your electronic steering column lock jammed.

 

[Andy.M]

Your electronic steering column lock jammed.

First time in nearly 4 years. Is likely to become a problem do you think?

 

[James_R]

I'd monitor the situation and see if it reoccurs.

 

[trew]

When I owned Nissan 370z's they were prone to this problem. If the steering column lock packs up when the ignition is off, you're in trouble - the car just will not start.
Sometimes people were able to sort it out temporarily with a sharp tap of a hammer, while others proactively deactivated the column lock by removing the fuse (replacing it with a duff one). This is all very well, but if you need to make an insurance claim and the assessor discovers that you've disabled the steering column lock, it could invalidate your insurance.
Nissan, of course, denied there was a problem with the units, despite it happening to quite a few people. Steering column locks shouldn't fail on relatively new cars, should they?

 

[serdar_18fr]

Steering column locks shouldn't fail on relatively new cars, should they?

My one and a half year old '25 Cupra Ateca (bought new) started doing this very early. Sometimes it fails to unlock, retries up to three times and then prompts me to move it by hand. But most of the times it works normally so I didn't feel the need to take it to the dealer yet.