My mother-in-law has a baja(me=04WRX) and she is having a issue where the key gets stuck. The steering wheel can be fully turned in either direction w/o locking when this happens. The first time it happened was in our drive way after a four hour trip. I tinkered with it for about 5-10mins, then I turned the car on, put it in neutral, turned the car off(key could not come out), put the car in park and then the key came out.
It happened again two days later so she had them come get it. When they got it they said the key game right out( ) but she insisted they check it out. They keep it over night and the next day said they couldnt find a issue.
Well 3 days later and the issue happened again. She called them and they told her to do pretty much what I had to do the first time. After messing w/ it a bit it came out. Well she said she wanted whatever the issue was fixed and they pretty much said they were not sure what it might be.
I think it has to do with park area and shifter not engaging properly, what do you guys think?

 

Are you saying that the key only wont come out when its in neutral...cause it wont come out...itll only come out in park

 

Are you saying she has an automatic or a stick? (coz it sounds like a stick to me) In an auto, key won't come out until it is in Park .... ummmm this is true for any auto .... In a manual, it will come out in any gear. Hope this helps