Steering Lock: cut one wire. /switch optional

bdl99

There are lots of discussions in various threads and I have received several PMs asking my take on the pros and cons of each solution. I've always responded privately up until now and didn't post publicly because I thought that some might think I'm biased. Those who know me or have dealt with me will know that I'm not like that at all. I'm happy to adjust the information below if the facts are incorrect and of course can be backed up with data.

Before I go any further I first want to acknowledged Fritz's work, because without it the plug and play harness wouldn't have been created and I'm sure that the pull the fuse solution wouldn't have either. Or at the very least the other solutions wouldn't have been developed as quickly because Fritz's work proved that removing the power from the lock while in the unlocked state was the key to a solution. Regardless of which solution you go for most of the credit really lies with Fritz.

Pros and Cons of Plug and Play harness vs Pulling the fuse

Plug and Play Harness

Pros:

• The easiest and quickest solution to perform where no trim needs to be removed whatsoever
• Full instructions provided with pictures and a video of the install process
• Fully reversible, either temporarily via switch or by just removing the harness and returning car to factory state
• It only cuts the power to the lock and not the ECU. When pulling the fuse the power is also removed from the ECU. Some have speculated that this has no downside and that appears to be the case except the delays in starting that many have seen.

Cons:

• It costs $50

Pull the fuse:

Pros:

• There is nothing to buy
• It is also reversible - Just put the fuse back in

Cons:

• Although straight forward, it is not as quick and easy to install as the harness. Some have broken clips etc and you do need to be careful, but to be completely unbiased many have done this without issues.
• As mentioned above it does appear that this solution does sometimes cause delays in starting. There are theories that the ECU will learn and adjusting for this and that might be the case. However, typically with ECUs they learn by acquiring data and if that is the case it would normally log that data. The data the ECU would be logging is that it issued a pulse to activate the relay but didn't receive the confirmation via the positive feed from the relay to the ECU. If it is really doing this I would expect this data to be presented/reported when a Consult unit is attached by the dealer. To date no one has confirmed if this happens or not.