I have posted this question on a few other boards and have not been able to get an answer. One night I had a valet park my FX. It has the tech package. I was using the "no" key. Rather than give the valet the key fob, I turned off the car, put in the valet key and restarted the car. After dinner I saw that the car had been moved only a few feet. The valet said they could not get it to start and did I know what was wrong. I tried starting it without a key, with the tech key and with the valet key. The ignition had locked. I tried turning the steering wheel and pushing the shift lock button thinking it was one of those causing the problem. Nothing worked-the ignition would not turn. I called Infiniti and they sent a tow truck. He towed it to the dealer. It was a Saturday night, so I figured I would talk to the dealer on Monday. As we were getting into the cab to go home, I got a call from the towtruck operator. He was at the dealer and got the car started. In my excitement I did not remember the whole story, but he said that the owner's manual from his Chev. explained how if that happened with his car, you put the key in the driver's door, lock and unlock it 3 times, and do something else which I can't remember. I realize that the car probably thought it was being stolen and locked up for safety. That is fine, but I can't find any information about this or what to do if it happens again. My dealer said he never heard of this and has no idea what went on, and I e-mailed Infiniti and never received a response-great customer service. Is anyone familiar with this lock up or what to do (besides calling for a tow) if it happens again?

I can't help you with your lock up problem, but agree about customer service. Infiniti has by far the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I used Volvo, Toyota, Honda and best ever Lexus service.

the Nissan and infiniti have a lock out system if you try to start the car without the programed key. did the tow truck driver use the valet key or the intellakey to start it? my thought here is the valet key is not programmed. After five attempts cranking the vehicle with the unprogrammed key it will lock out the system. If this happens you will need to remove the unpogrammed key from the interior of the vehicle and attempt to start it five times with the known good key on your sixth attempt it should fire up. with your type of ignition system with the intellakey which nissan is not using yet it is improtant to remove the bad key from the interior since it detects the signal via radio frequency through a triangular pattern of recievers in the cabin of the vehicle. you can test your key by removing al keys from the interior of the vehicle ,enter the vehicle attempt to start it one key inside the vehicle at a time,exiting and entering between each key. do this untill you find the unprogrammed key. once you find it mark it and head to your dealer and have it reprogrammed. you will need to bring all keys when doing the reprogram proceedure since when the system is put in the program mode it erases any other keys already programmed.

Thanks for the reply. From what I remember, the tow truck driver used the valet key. I have used the valet key once since this incident and the ignition turned fine. I wonder if the valet parkers had done something to cause it to lock up. Being a new vehicle, they may have played around with the car, especially to watch the steering wheel and instruments lower and raise. I wonder if they shut off and restarted the car a number of times and the car "thought" it was being stolen. The tow truck driver used the key in the driver's door and did something else to reset it. I would think someone from the dealer or Infiniti should have some information on this. It would be nice to know what to do if it happens again.

since this is a relatively new technical system on infiniti I would suspect if any one at the dealer knew about it it would be a technician that has been to a new model training course. this is how I know about the intellakey feature. most everyone at my dealer except the techs are just now begining to understand about the chip key that came out in 1999 on the maxima. That system is begining to become old technology with the new intellakey feature on the infiniti I suspect that system will gradually come over to the nissans. Then my self and my fellow techs get to spend another 5 years beating how it works into the rest of the people at the dealership.

Thanks for the information, I valet park alot next time if this happens to me I know how to solve the problem.