for the corvette guys it appears when the battery charge is low the lock sometimes can not get enough juice to unlock. the bcm appears to receive an error message from the steering lock and prevents the car from starting. for the corvette giving it a nice battery charge fixed it for some folks.
this can be the same issue on ours as edmund's GTR had the same problem and the blog mentioned his battery was weak and died the next day or something and had to be jumped. with the cooler weather it's maybe possible the battery charge has something to do with it too...(?) i dont know how many amps these locks take but it is a motor driven lock and doesnt look like a real precision device. lol
im pretty sure these locks are made by TRW at their germany facility...someone correct me if im wrong, but the GTR's locks were made in germany per reading online posts and articles.
here's some reference from the corvette folks...
Steering Column Lock FAQs - please read before you post (sticky please) - Corvette Forum