Smoke is rising from my steering column

The Steering shaft is encountering some sort of interference with the wiring harness along the Steering Column......Look under the dash at the Steering Column and make sure all harness plugs are pushed into the connectors tight.....Make sure any harnesses are not rubbing on the rotating Steering Shaft....If Tilt Column, Drive with the Tilt function in the Straight Position...The only time Column should be Tilted is when Entering or Exiting the vehicle.....Be sure to disconnect the Negative Battery Cable when working with any wiring harnesses.....

Hi Jeri bring the car some where and have it checked. Thers no smoke without fire. It's too risky. Regards Jim...

is it puffs of smoke or like a vapor. does it smell like coolant

My friend had the exact problem on his truck (2003 GMC Sierra) and found the cause!
Nobody could tell him what was causing it so finally out of frustration he took apart the steering column and found a wire that gets pinched and shorts!

You need to take off the top and bottom plastic covers (between the wheel and the dash) on the steering column (probably recessed screws from the bottom and some plastic tabs sticking out of the covers that interlock and snap together (careful not to break these off).
Look for a wire or any plug close to the gear shift lever. My friend found the wire that the lever cut when shifted to the lowest gear position. The cut wire was shorting and causing the light (and presumably the transmission) to shift in and out of tow mode.

Apparently, the wire was made too short during manufacturing (or routed wrong) and breaks later in the field (disclaimer-don't know this for sure). He had to lengthen the wire when he repaired it so it would clear the gear lever when it is shifted into first gear!

I was surprised to see someone else experiencing the exact same symptom!

Good luck,
See if this is your problem and I am anxious to read your findings!

It is the turn signal/wiper switch right there on the steering column.
It is called the multifunction switch.There are three phillips screws
from the bottom of the steering column shroud to remove then pop the
shroud off.There is one small electrical connector on the switch and
two more phillips screws that hold it to the steering column.It is a
very quick and easy job.

take apart steering column and look for charred wires 

A friend took the steering wheel/column apart and found the horn wire and it had a tiny cut in it from the metal part of the wheel...taped it and put it back together

sounds like you got some wires shotring, did they check wiring? remove column panels and inspect wire contacts, plugs and harness for signs of scorchining or arcing or burnt insulation, repair as nessasery

I think its only by happenstance that the smoke came out of the column at the moment you tried to start the car while it was running.
If you took apart the steering column I am sure you already have noticed that there are a billion wires, and doodads in there. Any one of those could have burnt and you wouldn't be able to tel right away by looking at them. The smoke is usually an indicator that your ignition has burnt up, but it could also have been a fused link, a wire you happen to miss during inspection, or any number of control switches inside the column. I would recommend taking it to a shop and putting it on a computer.

The wiring harness that run the multifunction swith has broke. I took my column apart and soldered the wires back together for the mean time. I dont suggest tring to do that its not a good fix. i found your post looking for the harrness. If you disconnect the battery you disconnect the airbag system