When out driving yesterday, all of a sudden, the car just shut off. All circuits went dead except for the hazard lights. When this happened I was moving about 60 mph, and looked down at the gauge cluster too see what had happened..

tach=0,
mph=0
oil press gauge=0
coolant temp=0 as well.
No idiot lights were on except for the battery symbol which it does briefly when the key is turned to the off position. The car would not turn on, crank or do anything, regardless of how much futzing I did with the key.

I would seem to me that the ignition did an uncommanded powerdown, albeit with the key in the II postion.

My guess would be bad ign. switch... can anyone else confirm similar?

PS... one additionl bit of info that makes me think ign. switch... occasionally the "key in ignition, open door" chime will remain on in the wrong position...IE key out of ignition, or occasionally when the door is closed and the car is running. You can also make it come on oroff by rocking the key around when either of these problems occured.

The best part is after the car had been picked up by the towtruck and delivered to a nearby relatives house (approx 1 hour downtime) so I could look at it, everything was OK... dash lights back on, accessories working, car starts and stops as it should.

Help! its very un-nerving driving a car that can just go dead at any point!