Its stuck in park. What do i do!!!!!!!!!!!!

My car started fine at home this morning, I drove about 60 miles today, stopped by a Starbucks got out and when i came back, the car will not shift into Drive. That Car starts fine, only when i depress the thumb thing to move it into drive, nothing happens. Its hard and will not depress.Its stuck in park. What do i do!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have about 120k. It worked fine till today.

help!!!!!!

Reply to
naijainc
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You learn how modern cars work.

There is a switch under your brake pedal. When you depress the brake and hit that switch, it releases the shift lock so that you may shift the car.

The shift lock mechanism is broken somewhere. You need manually to release it using the system the auto mfr included for that. This entire system has been on cars for 20 years now, and every car has some way of manually unlocking the shift lever.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I assume you have a Honda, by your screen name.

The brake switch underneath the brake pedal is probably disconnected or broken. Your foot may have kicked the switch behind the brake pedal by accident, and over time, the switch becomes loose and eventually becomes disconnected.

The shifter locks as a precaution, because if the brake switch becomes disconnected, NONE of your brake lights will work when you step on the brake pedal. You need to get down with your head near the driver's side floor and look up and behind the brake pedal to see if you can reattach the switch.

The same thing happened to me in my Mercury when the odo was close to

100k miles.
Reply to
Paul

I assume you have a Honda, by your screen name.

The brake switch underneath the brake pedal is probably disconnected or broken. Your foot may have kicked the switch behind the brake pedal by accident, and over time, the switch becomes loose and eventually becomes disconnected.

The shifter locks as a precaution, because if the brake switch becomes disconnected, NONE of your brake lights will work when you step on the brake pedal. You need to get down with your head near the driver's side floor and look up and behind the brake pedal to see if you can reattach the switch.

The same thing happened to me in my Mercury when the odo was close to

100k miles.
Reply to
Paul

Close, but no cigar.

There are TWO switches: brake lights, and shift interlock.

The shift interlock came about as a result of the Audi "unintended acceleration" debacle whereby stupid Americans (who can vote! and be on juries!) were buying into this idea that cars can just suddenly LEAP forward without the driver doing anything. One way the automakers try to work around this is to force the driver to have his foot on the brake before moving the transmission lever out of park. This ensures that the driver is engaged in the process, and is doing so in a way such that the car CANNOT move, period. (No car can overcome its brakes like that, so the chances of the car "running away" are about zero.)

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Thanks for the info. I just responded to this guy in the other group with almost the same explanation that Paul gave. I was not aware of the Audi "issue"...

I like learning new things... ;-)

Reply to
Joe LaVigne

Not sure where the override button is exactly, but in order to drive it to a shop or something you should look for a "shiftlock override" button. On my Volvo it's right near the shifter, but on my Pilot I can't remember (the wife has it at the moment). It should mention it in the owner's manual.

Reply to
Robert

On my accord it's to the right of the shifter on the console, and is labeled. I've never had to use it yet, or read the instructions, but from the looks of it, you stick a key end, small screwdriver, etc into that slot, and it releases the shifter. MK

Reply to
nm5k

Make, Model, Year might help.

Reply to
Gordon McGrew

Joe LaVigne wrote in news:elup8l$fmu$ snipped-for-privacy@news.datemas.de:

You're a bit younger than I am, then.

In the mid-'80s, a couple of women drove over their kids while driving Audi vehicles. Of course, Audi was blamed for something called "sudden acceleration", which was alleged to be a defect in Audi automobiles. It turned out in court that these women had had their feet on the gas the whole time, and didn't realize it. In their panic, they were convinced thay had their feet on the brake, so simply pressed even harder on the pedal, turning Junior into a pancake in the process.

Much investigation ensued, with various testing labs and the governments of several countries coming to the conclusion that it was entirely driver error and that Audi was blameless. The US NHTSA called it "pedal misapplication". It further came out that this "pedal misapplication" phenomenon was pretty much spread out among ALL automakers, with Audi cars not being any more prone to it than anyone else's.

Audi was eventually cleared of negligence or wrongdoing, but by then the damage was done. Audi lost millions of dollars in sales and was in financial trouble for a while. It took years for them to claw their way back.

The experience, and the threat of emormous lawsuits, was so frightening that all the automakers were installing brake interlocks by about 1990.

During the fiasco, the TV show "60 Minutes" produced a horribly twisted, biased and mean-spirited program on the issue. It was essentially a smear- job on Audi, empty of facts or objectivity, and packed with hate. This episode colored many peoples' attitudes towards Audi and was a significant factor in lost sales. To this day I refuse to watch that left-wing, Naderite, Communist program.

Reply to
Tegger

It was the 'Alar' hoax that drove me away from that unprincipled show, and from the CBS news department in general.

But the "sudden acceleration" reports continue to mount. The common thread is that all the cars have automatic trannies and in every case the brakes do nothing while the car rockets forward. In alt.autos.volvo a while back a poster complained his Volvo 140 did that. We pointed out to him that the engine is incapable of overcoming the parking brake, much less the service brake. The unfortunate chap got his pedals confused.

I have heard of one convincing story of sudden acceleration, in late model Volvos. They have a known problem with the throttle control module. A poster reported he was stopped at a traffic light when the engine went to full power and dragged the car, rear brakes locked, into the intersection. The engine redlined when he shifted out of gear and stopped when he turned the ignition. Continuing on, the symptoms repeated at the next traffic light but the car behaved the rest of the trip.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Perhaps... 35.

In the mid-80's, I was thoroughly enjoying my teenage years... ;-)

I'll agree on that. There are so many examples of their slanted, and sometimes fabricated, reporting that I just can't bear to deal with them...

Reply to
Joe LaVigne

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