Does she have a gargatuan wad of keys and decorative fobs, flashlights, mace, and a Swiss Army knife on her keychain? I used to carry a 5lb wad of keys on my ring when I worked at the museum and it beat the switch out of my car at the time. Now, I have ONLY my car keys on a separate ring and all my other keys on another. She could have also possibly not returned the key to the run detent after starting, but gone a little past the detent position. When she smacked the dash, it maybe jarred it into the full position.