| Re: Starting car without Key?
My key did this when I first bought my car. The thing is that the lock does need to be lubricated sometimes. I don't know if they make it any more, but I used a special lube that is in a special tube with almost a needle on the end to lube up all the locks, and the ignition lock stopped turning without the key being in place. The key still pulled out of the lock whenever it wanted to, because it was flat on the tumbler side except for one tiny little bump.
Now, mine won't turn without the key, but I can pull the key out when I want to. Don't think the backup key does this, though. Not yet, anyways.
And yes, the only way to fix this for good is to replace it. Although buying the $30 worth of tools to replace the $15 lock isn't really worth it, unless you also need to tighten your steering column as well (for those with tilt columns). | 
