my wife got a BRAND new battery in her 99 bravada a month ago, & car's been working fine daily - there's only about 60K miles on it. this AM in garage I'm out having a cig in the driveway, nearby, as she turns the key to go to work, and I hear the dreaded 'single electrical click', then her yelling "it won't start AND key won't come out of ignition, either". I _didn't_ hear the typical 'this battery is in too low a charge state to crank it over' type solenoid buzzing for a few seconds - just the one, single, solitary solenoid "we're stone dead electrically right NOW _immediately_" type click....
more: no electrical functions work: underhood lite, headlites, dome light, none. key IS stuck in ignition, and shaking the strg whl AND stomping brake pedal at same time is no help. jiggling key inward, wiggling steering wheel, and key at same time, outward, back and to, up and down, pressing inward, outward, all around all no help. key is in 'off' position, and will only go into (what I assume are) the off, ignition on, and start (spring-loaded) positions, all of which are 'no use'/no change/stone dead. shifter also stuck in park, and depressing it's side button while standing on brake to TRY moving it is ALSO no help (so car can not even be backed up by pushing it backward from it's pkg place). there are no indicator lites on dash lit with key in 'on' or off positions (no change), nothing electrical works, no bulbs glow anywhere of any sort. also, battery screw-on terminals clean, cable connectors appear clean, AND cables at batt _are_ tight. like I said, battery is very recently new...
the bravada was working & driving fine as of last evening...had no typical 'battery is near defective' type indicators as prelude to this recently, either (no dim headlights, trouble starting it or cranking it over, etc)
checked and read some google searches text and newgroup texts looking for recalls/similar problems/solutions, to no avail. found no hidden 'small round hole' to push a pin into by or next to the ignition switch-which was mentioned as way of releasing stuck keys in some post I read). sheesh, what to check (or do) next?
"best guesses" as to cause, and possible cures welcomed ..... ;-\
question, in case it's neccessary: under the plastic, is this column-locking ignition switch held to the column with: a. factory 'break-off-head' bolts? or maybe b. by 'security torx' fasteners or c. normal torx heads, or d. some other 'proprietary weird-headed' fasteners of some sort? I'm guessing it's _not_ held to the column by regular allen heads or normal bolt heads, right? am I gonna need my die grinder, welding grinder, or dremel for this job?
so, guys, what should I checking for (or do) next? seems highly unlikely the battery could go from 'known new' yesterday' to 'totally shot' today...but??? so, uhh???