It sounds like she may be locking the steering wheel on her
way in/out of the car. If she turns the wheel a little bit with
the key out of the ignition, it will lock the steering wheel.
The key won’t turn when the steering wheel is locked, so
she has to put the key in the ignition, turn the key as much
as it will let her and turn the steering wheel (kind of rocking
it back and forth) at the same time to unlock the steering
wheel. It may seem hard to turn the wheel at first, but with
practice it gets easier. After having the same issue over and
over again, I would practice locking the steering wheel and
unlocking it to get comfortable. I used to have the same
problem when I first got my Optima. Hope this helps