Inevitably, on a long enough timeline, any car will go seriously wrong. If a car really, properly breaks down, it helps to put it in neutral and get it out of the way. Sounds easy enough, but these days, it’s a little more difficult than it used to be if you have an electronic shifter.
You know how you have to put your foot on the brake before you can shift an automatic car out of park? Not only does this function prevent cars from rolling away while parked with a simple bump of the shifter, but a shift lock solenoid is also required by federal law. As per NHTSA:
Each motor vehicle manufactured on or after September 1, 2010 with a GVWR of 4,536 Kilograms (10,000 pounds) or less with an automatic transmission that includes a “park” position shall be equipped with a system that requires the service brake to be depressed before the transmission can be shifted out of “park”. This system shall function in any starting system key position in which the transmission can be shifted out of “park”. This section does not apply to trailers or motorcycles.
This shifter interlock function is well-intentioned and historically easy to work with. When a car dies on the side of the road or in a parking garage with no hope of hooking up a jump box for ignition power, overriding this safety function has usually been fairly easy, but circumvention of it for the purposes of moving a broken car has been complicated by electronic shifters.
In the past, automatic transmission gear selectors were connected by a cable, which was connected to the transmission. By simply popping an easily accessible release usually located near the shifter with your key, the shift lock solenoid would release, the gear selector would move and let a driver put a dead car in neutral so it could be pushed out of the way. However, electronic shifters are only connected to transmissions using wires, which means automakers have needed to get creative with emergency shifter lock releases.
The 2019 to 2023 Porsche Cayenne features one of the better examples. As Assistance Services Group highlights in a handy PDF, Porsche includes a special tool in the vehicle that can be inserted into a slot in the floor and then turned 90 degrees. It’s a touch more involved than pulling a tab near the shifter and pressing a button, but it’s easy enough.
On the old Jaguar XF, one of the first cars with a rotary-style shifter, you had to pry off an unlabeled access panel just ahead of the cup holders, twist a release, and then pull a red strap. The car would then go into neutral, and the crazy part is, that’s the easiest Jaguar Land Rover has ever made it with this shifter. Mid-2010s Range Rovers had the emergency release under the cup holder, and that just isn’t an intuitive place at all.
So far, we’ve covered electronic shifters with obfuscated emergency shift releases in an unintuitive way – but at least they didn’t require workshop tools. Enter the Lincoln Aviator, which makes you use a tool that isn’t included in the vehicle to put it in neutral in an emergency. Most tow truck drivers probably have a small flathead screwdriver on their rigs among other tools, but I bet most Aviator owners don’t.
Oh, but it gets worse. F82 BMW M4 and F80 BMW M3 owners who didn’t opt for the row-your-own option don’t have a shift lock override inside the cabin. Instead, you’ll need to jack the car up, crawl underneath, remove a Torx bolt from the side of the transmission, and cable-tie the gear selector shaft into the neutral position. Needless to say, this is absolutely insane, and enough to cause some head scratching for those who work on vehicles for a living.
Those who drive cars with manual gearboxes are likely feeling a bit smug right now, but here’s the thing: Occasionally, people require rental cars, and things can still go wrong on rental cars with fancy electronic shifters. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to easily put a dead car into neutral and push it, but automakers seem intent on making things more difficult than they need to be.
(Photo credits: BMW, Assistance Services Group, Reddit)
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That BMW example… wow…. classic modern german car fuckery.
Lexus is the same way. There is no way to shift to neutral without power, short of pulling shit apart and putting vice grips on the actual actuator.
I stand corrected
But.. why?
I am thankful that our fleet is too old for this tomfoolery. Our 2016 Mazda has the simple flip up and push with a screwdriver and everything thig else is early oughts with a mechanical column shift.
Meh, not all older vehicles were as easy.
I was getting gas at a busy station when I noticed the family next to me flipping out in their mid-’90s Ford Explorer. It was running but wouldn’t shift out of Park. After filling up, I moved my car and went back to help. As they ran around yelling and calling other people, I asked whether the brake lights worked. “Of course they do!” I had them step on the brake, nope. I asked if I could borrow the owner’s manual, “sure, fine.”
The interlock override ended up being under the steering column/dash area. I got it shifted and told them to be VERY careful, drive with the flashers on, and to shut it off in neutral with the parking brake engaged when they had to stop. I also showed them where the override was. They probably did none of those things, but I tried…and also freed up a lane at a busy ass gas station!
I thought I was going nuts when this happened to my wife. She was driving home from work when the alternator started to go, and her Grand Cherokee died 10 minutes from home in the middle of traffic at a red light. I came over thinking I could just have her put it in neutral and I could push it to the side of the road until I could arrange a tow. Instead, I had to borrow a jump-pack, start it, drive with the hood open into neighboring parking lot and arrange the tow… Turns out, there is a cord behind a piece of plastic near the cupholders I needed to pull and I’d have been golden. But, with cars honking at me, I was too panicked to figure it out…
I had an ex call me to help her when her Escape died in the middle of a street and I told her to just shift it in neutral and roll/push it to the side and call a tow truck. She said something nicer than but the the effect of “no shit, but it won’t shift” and I rolled my eyes on the other end of the phone and drove to where she was. Sonofabitch, the POS really would not shift into neutral. I tried rocking it a bit and everything to see if maybe it was hungup. Didn’t see anything online, but maybe I didn’t search for the right thing as it didn’t occur to me it might be something intentionally stupid like this (though, I’m not sure that vehicle had electronic shifting, so maybe it was another issue, IDK—the thing got junked).
I feel like they really should put these instructions somewhere obvious in an emergency, like the back of the sun visor or something.
Sun visor is for the airbag warning on the back, and hopefully nothing on the side right in my face when it’s flipped down.
Sincerely,
someone who unsuccessfully tried to peel and even iron the airbag warning off the visors in their Prius and ended up buying a new sun visor when it didn’t work and looked really bad.
(but the sticker that had been on my old van’s visor had peeled off with little difficulty…sad. Miss how clean that looked.)
The sun visors on my older Jeeps have instructions for the 4wd system on the bit that faces you when down – that’s the spot I was thinking of!
Did you have to give that BMW a prince albert?
Wife’s ’19 XT4 has a handy little lever behind a cover on the side of the center console which, once pulled, would put the car in neutral. It also automatically engages the parking brake which stealthily re-engages itself almost every time you come to a stop; super handy when you’re trying to winch a car into a trailer or roll it off.
However, they’ve since taken away that lever and you’re expected to go underneath the car and do it your damn self using a wrench.
https://gm-techlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GM_TechLink_21_November_2020.pdf (page 8)
I finally looked up the tool for the transverse transmissions. It’s literally the cable and lever that used to be installed in the car. So yeah, you get to to take an immobile car, jack it up, crawl underneath and install this cable. All so the silly thing will roll. Thanks GM.
C4 Corvettes with the 4+3 manual have a shift interlock. You have to put it in reverse to release the key, and it’s locked in reverse until you turn on the ignition.
Kind of (or exactly like) older stick shift Saabs? I didn’t know the C4’s were like that
Prediction: The article is about cars that have automatic transmissions and or electric parking brakes.
Edit: Half right and yes I’m smug
Seems to be a trend here that if the car has a strong stance, it just won’t do neutral.
In my Subaru SVX every year when the transmission would blow, you’d need to take the transmission apart and remove the metal bits that made their way into the center differential. Talk about a needlessly complicated process when you’re stuck in the middle of an intersection. 🙂
I had an SVX. Auto trans was the biggest POS of anything I owned. It failed even after I added an external transmission cooler. Otherwise, I loved the car. Only one of two cars with automatic transmissions I have owned. Wish they would have come with a stick. I might still own the car if they had.
I’ve always wanted a manual swapped SVX. My local Subaru guru said it’s a fairly easy swap too.
Another win for manual transmission. Just sayin…
There’s a time and a place for both, but I’ve personally known far more people be left stranded by manual transmissions (clutch issues).
Yes, unfortunately manuals expose user error at higher rates. 😉
The manual failures I’ve witnessed were nothing to do with user error – they were issues with clutch cable/hydraulics.
Or just mechanical automatics
The electronic shifter solves 0 problems and introduces a bunch
My understanding: It solves packaging and cost problems. They don’t need a hole in the passenger compartment to connect a lever to the transmission; processing/labor cost save in making the chassis. Then, They don’t need to route a gear selector through the floor; processing/labor cost save on assembly. Then, if they did want a hole in the floor for for a gear lever, they maybe would have to recertify the chassis with a hole. I believe this is why we did not get a manual Dodge Charger. The chassis was different enough than the Challenger that it would need to be recertified and it was not financially viable to do so for the Charger product.
So, while I rag on the lack of manuals, I’m well aware why. I just wish more people saw the beauty in them in order to keep them around. Cheaper all around. But cheap for us and the OEM doesn’t make the OEM as much money, so we don’t get it.
Beyond Bjorn’s excellent points, I’ll also say that the electronic shifter in my Prius takes up a hell of a lot less dash space than most other shifters I know. I bet the rotary ones can be even more compact.
No they had that figured out half a century+ ago: column shift
And the prius shifter being on the dash is such an eyesore
I mean, the column shift on my van occupied a lot of horizontal and vertical space once you rule out using any space (for controls or a screen/gauges) on the dashboard behind its entire range of motion.
The Prius’ shifter, including the Park button, takes up about the same area as a big handprint, and then it has the stalk for windshield wipers (front & rear) where a column shifter would otherwise be.
As for eyesore…I don’t think so? The blue contrasts nicely with the rest of the dash, I think, but either way I’m a function over form kinda guy.
I read stuff like this and can’t help but think of this: https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/306407128/Every-day-we-stray-further-away-from-god
It’s hard enough when the car is *running* to get some of them into neutral. With these electronic shifters now, you have to tap them *just right* to get it into neutral. I’ve fought with a few cars at the car wash, going from Drive to Reverse, trying to get the damn thing into neutral.
Coming to a BMW subscription near you. You can now shift back into neutral
I remember my ’02 BMW had the slot, but the intent was to jam the physical key/fob into the slot to release the shifter. In light of some of the other ones that sounds downright simple.
Look folks, there is ONE advantage in having an Electronic Shifter and that is that it makes the vehicle more difficult to steal! You just can’t manhandle the gear shifter into neutral like you can with a mechanical shifter and roll the car away.
That just means they are going to trash your car even more trying to steal it.
They will just bring a tow truck. Buddy I went to college with had his Honda pilot stolen out of his driveway and they came with a flatbed while he was sleeping.
Yes that is a possibility.
But let’s digest your buddies story.
Was it stolen or repo’d? Why would someone with access to a tow truck waste their time stealing a ~$20k-$40K Pilot when they could steal any number of other more valuable cars? Sounds like a repo to me. 😉
Most sure it was stolen unless he was lying but doubt it as he was an older married gentlemen that was going to school to be an engineer while he was working as a manager at a bakery. More common cars like that are much better to steal then something more valuable much as it is easier to sell parts for a common car like a pilot that will share parts with something like a ridgeline vs stealing something that sells is lower volumes at a higher price as it will be much harder to find buyers for those parts. He also lived near Chicago which is going to have a lot of shady chop shops around there.
You’re most likely right. Good thing I don’t steal cars. I would steal the wrong ones and get caught. 🙂
it may have already been said, but Volvo OTR tractors have to have the driveshaft disconnected from the transmission to get towed. SMH.
I used to drive a bus that also required the drive shaft to be removed for towing. Found that out the hard way.
A lot of heavy trucks need the drive shaft disconnected because even the manual transmissions have oil pumps
the electronic E-Brake is also a bit of an issue if the car is completely dead as well.
That BMW video had me saying no F’in way the entire time. Zip Ties? WTF?!?!
Thanks for pointing this out, because I hadn’t thought of this possibility on my eGolf, so I found the video, and it is far easier than the ones highlighted.
Thomas: “Make me a gear shifter with a padlock on it.”
Peter: “…Where? If it’s around the shifter, it doesn’t impede shifting.”
Thomas: “I don’t care, fine, then just put it through the handle.”
Peter: “But that still doesn’t…”
Matt: “Hurry up, we haven’t posted this hour!”
Peter: [grumbles, defies physics and reason]
Thomas: “And make sure there’s a BMW!”
My 40+ year-old mower, a Woods zero-turn, has a hydraulic transmission; two of them, actually. To allow them to free-wheel, you have you pop the hood, er, actually the seat, and move two small levers.
My old Countax had something similar. A handle right up inside the rear wheel arch. I think I finally discovered how to use it the week we sold it to a breakers.
A lot of hydrostatic drives have a similar setup. IIRC to tow a Bobcat loader you insert two pins in the gearbox to disengage drive. These are supposed to be stored on the machine under the seat which is only slightly inconvenient.
So are towing companies for high-end cars now sporting F1 style cranes that can lift an entire vehicle off the ground to place it on the flatbed?
Or is this why some of the those high-end car companies now have mobile service, to send a tech with tools and a zip tie to you?
I witnessed a flatbed chain up a car and drag it against it’s will along the pavement and onto the flatbed. Damage to car be damned.
Similarly: I’ve also witnessed the same being done to a motorcycle that had crashed. From my vantage point: it looked perfectly suitable to being pushed onto the flatbed – but, no, they’d rather drag it along its side down the pavement and onto the flatbed causing untold damage to the side of it (cheese grater style).
This is a bit beside the point, but a 2010MY vehicle could have been built without a shift interlock???
I would have thought that was required much earlier.
Right? I can recall when they became widespread…in the ’90s.
My 1969 chevy Malibu convertible with a Muncie M22 stick shift had this insane linkage between the shifter and the steering column so that you could only take the key out of the ignition if the shift was in, I believe, reverse. So you get a stick shift with all the crazy linkage of column shift just for the ignition interlock. By the time I have the car, it was so worn out and sloppy that it also enabled you to shift it into two gears at the same time which was extra extra fun.
Same. I’ve driven many 90s/early 2000s cars and I don’t remember any of them letting me out of park without the brake pedal depressed. Though, I have always done it from habit, so I guess I wouldn’t really know anyway. I’m curious what cars didn’t have this interlock between 2000 and 2010. Certainly helps explain the news stories about dogs putting cars parked cars in gear and rolling into things.
Once started up and running, my 1999 Durango could be pulled into gear without the brake being pressed. I remember being surprised that no brake press was needed.
My 2022 RAM however will not let me drive in reverse with my door open and automatically throws itself in park. So strange.
I wonder if that was broken? My 1998 Jeep XJ and 1997 Jeep ZJ both need the brake applied to shift into gear, but the mechanism is broken in the XJ so it will shift without the key or brake.
I know the Durango shared a lot with the ZJ, so I’d imagine it would have a similar system.
I got it in 2002 with low miles so I doubt it was broke, but maybe it was. It was a great truck overall – aside from gas mileage (about 11-13mpg) but sounded great burning it up.
Apparently, it was mandated for September 1, 2010. I had no idea it was that recent.
I wonder if in a few years there will be an update to this topic, where in some new vehicle the process is “remove axle shafts”
On the plus side, this reminded me of one of our techs who apparently enjoyed as a prank crawling under vehicles to put them in neutral and roll them to a different parking spot
We used to take friend’s pickups in high school, lift the rear tires off the ground and roll them to a different corner of the lot. Took like 4 of us to do a dakota or s10
We had a lot of Dodge Omnis at my high school. We’d regularly fuck with a couple of my buddies by picking up their Omnis and rolling them to different parking spots.. or onto the tennis court.
This reminds me of my favorite part of my 03 Z4 owners manual.
Changing the headlights, step one: raise the vehicle and remove the front wheels.
For my ‘74.5 MGB the first two steps in the shop manual for replacing the windshield were to disconnect the battery and drain the coolant. No, there was no electricity or coolant running to, or even near, the windshield. Yes, these were nonetheless necessary steps.
That’s nothing. You want to jack up an S1 Lotus Elise? The rear jacking points are on the rear subframe, the subframe is above the aero floor panel.
So step one for jacking up the car is to remove the diffuser panel and then the floor, both of which bolt on from under the car.
Electronic shifters are stupid and an answer to a question that literally no one asked
Yup only makes sense for EVs
Funnily enough my (sorta) EV has a cable shift. I had assumed it was electronic, but when I popped the hood I saw a cable going straight to the gearbox/motor housing (2017 Volt)
Oh come on. Some CEO somewhere asked “how can I save 12 cents per car?” and this was the completely obvious answer!
I don’t really know much about auto boxes, because I’ve never had a car with one, but aren’t electronic shifters necessary for all the fancy stuff like the up/down semi-manual shifting thing BMWs have on one side of the PRNDL?
It takes up a hell of a lot less space on my dashboard than an enormous column shifter, or the garbage can/tissue box space of a PRNDL dash or floor/armrest shifter.