Just had a bit of a freak issue with my firebird last night as it started like normal about 5-10 minutes later.

I went out and tried to start it, nothing.

All my lights came on as they should - however when I turned the key to crank - nothing happened - no clicking sound or anything. However my Brake light would come on every time I turned the key to crank it.

My car does have VATS - I'm wondering if it could be VATS related?

One thing I'll go ahead and do is get a new key made tomorrow as my current key is the original, I figured maybe the chip's age is causing issue.

 

The brake light deal points to bad connection somewhere. Check your battery cables and clean the connections. Is the starter weak, not cranking fast? That could give you an intermittant problem if its on the way out. The VATS supplies the ground to your starter relay when your ignition swith provides the (+). You can rule it out by jumping the relay straight to a ground.

 

I'll check the connections.

I know the starter is fine - it looks like it did when it was brand new.
When she fires up you turn the key for less than a second and it fires up, starter is extremely strong.

I haven't had it happen again since last night, so I guess I'll see.
I'll clean the battery connections since they are pretty grimey - then I'll just assume it was a freaky thing until it happens again.