After all the reading I did that seemed to be the case too. Yesterday I got prepared to start drilling and grinding by hitting up Harbor Freight for their Chicago Electric "Heavy Duty" rotary tool, but luckily I watched this one last video before starting in. Cutting off the face of the black bezel was a huge step forward in getting access to the tumbler assembly. I went through about a half dozen of the little carbide cutting discs to get through all that hardened steel. When I finally got it removed, the face plate of the tumbler and about 12-14mm of the key slot came off in my hand, revealing just the naked guts of the tumbler behind it. The tumbler had snapped in two thanks to the drill driver method employed the day before.

From there some judicious drilling, starting with about a 4mm (~3/16") bit and working my way up to about 12mm (~1/2"), staying as centered as possible the whole time, then some precision attacks on the remaining bits of tumbler with diamond bits on the rotary tool, followed by some meticulous chisel strikes against any stubborn bits to get enough of the original tumbler removed got me to screwdriver mode. It was getting dark at this point, but at least I am now able to roll the windows up and start the car. Yahoo!!!

One thing I should note is that the key switch is loose in the dash. It can move up and down about 5-6mm in each direction, and I assume this is because the clamp that holds it into the steering lock housing is not as tight as it should be. This actually made it easier to do both the grinding of the black bezel and the drilling of the tumbler, because I was able to gain crucial clearance top and bottom as needed, without marring the dash or removing the steering wheel. Anyone else stuck in this situation may want to loosen that clamp first before going forward.

My initial thought is that the switch and steering lock are in great condition. The turning action with the screwdriver is actually much smoother and more precise than it ever was with the key, so this points to strictly tumbler failure. Now if I've done a clean enough job of removing the old tumbler to allow a new one to work in the housing, I'll be home free. We shall see...

One more thing I should note is that when the front portion of the tumbler fell off, there was a fair amount of rust that had collected inside it. I'm a surfer, and I take my key with me out in the water when I surf. The key gets a little rusty, but I never thought it was an issue until now. It's not like huge chunks of rust were flaking off, but apparently enough small particles over time led to the tumbler's early demise. Let this be a warning to other watermen out there, get a waterproof case for your key if you're going to take it with you into the ocean, or find another way to hide your key while you go play!