The car has to start first.

I love Kalispell! Unfortunate transplanted Missoulian here..

It has to at least be in the accessory mode (switched on without holding brakes) or hold brake & let it start...I seen a couple video clips of people doing this on YouTube.
If key fob battery & engine battery are both good; and the door locks work with the fob & icon of key is illuminated in dashboard (thinking in tachometer gauge cluster),,,then highly likely yours has failed.
They recommend wiggling the steering column a bit & gently tapping the box ( kinds like tapping on an old starter back in the day or a gas tank,to make fuel pump turn on)... hope all of this helps & you don't have to spend a small fortune on it!

As before, Others please feel free to jump in; as I haven't personally experienced this issue as of yet.
Montana; you may want to identify & slide up fuse block first-so you will know exactly where the fuse is...and heck,it may be blown...haven't heard that mentioned yet.
Good luck. ✌️

I powered up my ignition & removed fuse (preventive medicine).
I haven't had any issues & can visualizing removing lock assembly and modifying it to work.
If you're charting the Z's; mine's an 11' Base/Touring Auto w/75,604mi.
Everything seems to be working,,,except you don't hear the steering lock slide noise.
Montana370; Keep us updated.

Tried tapping the box and to no avail :( Called Nissan to see if theres a recall on my car and no luck. He said he has seen this on the Altima's and they run about $900, so yippee. Gonna take a look at the fuse and see if that's the problem...

No, no, no. That's not gonna do it. Beat it like it owes you money. Seriously, I mean beat the ever loving $hit out of it.

I'm a slightly new Z owner the past few month. What exactly does steering lock do? Why does Nissan install it?

it's an electrical actuated device that puts a mechanical lock on the steering column,,,in the event of theft,etc.....Old school vehicles had them actuated by the key switch on the column.
They had a clock type washer underneath steering wheel,that a pin would retract in-when the key was switched back to off position.
Nissan has this underneath column,mounted in the box shown on page 1 of this thread.
if you have your key fob in hand & don't press brake pedal...press start button & you can hear/feel it unlock the steering wheel.
Like a Safety Device.

Great news! After replacing the fuse and that not working, I tried the hammering way. Got under the dash with a rubber mallet and hit the steerling lock box while hitting the ignition and boom it turned on! Pretty happy, saved me about $1000!

:iagree:
Glad to hear it worked out for you! :tup:

Hopefully you removed fuse after it unlocked.

First trip out since removing steering lock fuse & very noticeable sound difference when starting,,,,,no sliding/click noise!
I often wondered what that sound was;but now i know.

Nicely done! :tup:

And YES I did remove the fuse after all of that. Has been working perfect since!