Hi folks, For those that have been fighting this issue, I fixed it today and thought I would share the process. This car has 141K on it so these kind of things are normal. In the shifter, there is a button that is activated by the button on the side of the shift knob. I removed the shift knob and the plastic cover that snaps over the shifter. Remove the screws that hold the larger plastic cover. This cover is held in place by 4 screws....two of which are under the drink holder. Now remove the shifter gear indicating plastic piece. It takes 4 screws to remove it and takes a little patience to get it out. There is a pin that fits through a hole on the button shaft. This pin closes contacts on a microswitch when the shifter is in Park. This in turn, releases the lock cylinder so the key can be withdrawn. The pin on my Impreza had managed to work its way out so it no longer made contact with the microswitch and release the key.
A little JB weld on the button shaft plastic piece (which was cracked) that the pin fits through did the trick and secured the pin. Seems to be quite secure.
Regards, Jim, Redmond