I have a 2012 Tucson and when I start the car it starts just fine and everything works fine (except the radio which stopped working 2 years ago ) when I go to back up out of my driveway about mid way through my turn ( turning wheel to left when I back up) the steering wheel just locks up. Its completely locked so I turned the car off and then on again and the steering wheel was back to normal for about 3 seconds and I tried to get back into my driveway and it locked up completely again . I had to turn the car off and on again 3x before I could manuver my car into my driveway straight enough. I am not sure if this is an EPS malfunction. I recently had my car stolen and had to replace the lock cylinder .... could that be an issue ? I had to have the keys to the car rekeyed by a locksmith who gave me two new keys , a new door lock on the drive side, a new lock cylinder and a new fob . Please let me know if you know what the issue could be and can advise me how to fix it or had this issue before and what was done to your car to fix it .

 

I would indeed look first at the lock cylinder, it's connected to the steering lock mechanism by a small metal tab. In theory the steering lock should never engage when the key stays turned to ignition position, but if something has been bent or damaged (quite probable since the thief did force on it) or not correctly installed, it may malfunction. When you go in reverse you try turning the steering which engages the malfunctioning lock. . When the steering is locked it's quite easy to see, it can still be turned very slightly but it's locked sharply on both sides. In my experience a failed EPS will be crazy hard to turn but can still be turned if you hang all your body weight on one side of the steering. I would not drive the car on the road until fixed, for obvious reasons . As for the key, I would not suspect the key cut if the key turns smoothly all the way and starts the car. However, 'maybe' the fob transponder has an issue and is loosing contact with the car which may result is some behavior - not sure if the engine would shut off but I would not expect the steering to lock while the key is still turned in, the steering lock is purely mechanical to my knowledge

 

As was mentioned in an earlier post, this is a safety issue.

The better way to diagnose this problem would be to have a tech present when the condition happens and then checks can be done to isolate the problem area..

I would suggest to not drive the vehicle with this problem. Because there can be more than one reason for this ,it is not wise to attempt to diagnose the problem over the net.