I got my alarm installed on my car while it was in the shop getting repared since it was broken into. And they had to totaly redo the whole steering column, from like the dash all the way back, new everything including the ignition lock.
And when i got my keys, the first thing i noticed was that it didn't have the resistor on it. And i asked them why they disabled vats, and they told me that they had to because they couldn't find a column housing peice that would work with an 88 VATS. that the 88 VATS system was different the 89+ models, so needless to say VATS is bypassed, but the alarm is SUPPOSED to take the place of it. Now I know that a New alarm (Clifford Concept 200) alarm will probaly protect better then VATS, but you never know. especialy since VATS was the only thing which kept my car from getting stolen when it was broken into.

SO is there a difference in the VATS system from 88 to 89+??
Also, the piece that the ignition lock goes into, does it differ by whether or not you had the VATS ignition lock? in other words, can i put VATS back into my car??

one more qustion. is there a difference in a column that houses a VATS ignition lock, and one that houses a regular ignition lock?

 

Well, I have a steering column from a '88 GTA? (Pontiac anyways) in my '89 IROC.

Vats module was not touched, I used the lock cyl from my '89 column.

Could be the column they got you did not have VAT's, or they couldn't figure something out...so they bypassed it.