I had the same problem with an old toyota pickup.  The key would just
bounce out of the ignition while cruisin down the freeway.  A little
freaky, but never had a problem with it.

jg

                    "Joe L."
                    <jliasse@TOAST.NE        To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
                    T>                       cc:
                    Sent by: Vanagon         Subject:     Re: Can anyone else remove their igniton key with their van
                    Mailing List             running?
                    <vanagon@GERRY.VA
                    NAGON.COM>

                    09/04/99 12:42 PM
                    Please respond to
                    "Joe L."

     I once had a similar situation with a Toyota I had. I could also
unlock
the driver side door with a dime. Drove it something like 8 years with no
troubles.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of David Marshall
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 1999 12:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Can anyone else remove their igniton key with their van
running?

Yesterday I noticed that I can remove the key from the ignition of my 1988
Double Cab while it is running.  The steering wheel doesn't lock and
nothing negative happens it when I do this.  If the van is off I must use a
key to turn it on -a screwdriver will not turn the ignition.  My 1984
Westie does not have this "feature".  Does anyone else have this "option"?
The only reason why I can see this should happen is so that I can open the
doors under the bed with the engine running - which would be helpful if you
are running a delivery service or something.

Thanks!

--   David Marshall -                    - Quesnel, BC, Canada   --
--    78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet   --
--       87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab      --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page        http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning  http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --