oh great... that's MY car

[raysnkaysmom]

Its been one thing after another with this car..

A couple weeks ago, I noticed it was getting harder and harder to put it into gear, just like the notches were off in the shifter. I'd think I was in drive, but it was still in neutral and so on...
Then about a week ago, my car wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery. Turns out, it wasn't in park and I had to place it in neutral with my foot on the brake to start it. Ok... great.

Then, a couple days ago, I pulled in the driveway, went to turn off the car and it started rolling!! Guess it wasn't in park again!!!

So, I started watching to see if the car rolls as I've been placing it in park. Yesterday, turned off the car, and sat for a second. Nope, no rolling...I"m good. Head into the store.

3-5 minutes later, over the intercom "Will the driver of a white Expedition please come to the front". As soon as I heard that, I feared the worst.
Well, it could have been worse I guess - but my car rolled over a lane and a half, veered to the right and went into the side of a Chevy Impala.

Barely scraped my fender, but it put a good little dent above her tire, and added a little white to her bronze car ..

What a day

 

[disbridemimi]

Thats stinks! Embarrasing and expensive, but alas no one was hurt, that is the most important thing! Time to have it towed in to be looked at.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Thats stinks! Embarrasing and expensive, but alas no one was hurt, that is the most important thing! Time to have it towed in to be looked at.

I'm taking it to my mechanic in the morning... and, in the meantime, ENSURING the car is truly in park

 

[Michelle67]

Ugh, that's a bummer. Glad it wasn't toooo bad. Was the lady kind and understanding about it all?

 

[Imzadi]

OUCH!

Sounds like the transmission.

 

[MoniqueU]

I have never heard of that before. My stepdad was a mechanic so we always had at least 7 dead cars and I thought we had every car problem known to man. We had one truck with a missing floorboard and one car you started with a roach clip. None of our cars ever rolled away though!!! I have had 2 expeditions and the only problem I had were brakes but I think that was because of the size an I drove too fast and put alot of stress on it stopping it.

I am glad no one was hurt and i hope it is under warranty and you have a low deductible.

 

[pyrxtc]

what about using the emergency brake every time you park it and that will stop it from rolling even if it isn't in park. That would have been the first thing I did if I wasn't sure park was working.

Take it to a mechanic and get it checked out.

 

[pooh17]

Something similar happened to my Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was about 10 years ago. It had the same shift issue that I too ignored until one day when it wouldn't shift into gear at all. Thankfully it was in park when that happened. I had more problems with that car!!

 

[SaraJayne]

My 09 Traverse was just part of a recall for the exact same thing....that even if it was in park, the notches or something were off on the gear switch.

Luckily, my car was okay.

Definitely get it checked out!

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Ugh, that's a bummer. Glad it wasn't toooo bad. Was the lady kind and understanding about it all?

She was pretty nice...it was her daughters car, so her daughter came out too. They were all nice. It wasn't major damage, you just hate seeing the smallest mark on someones nice car.

what about using the emergency brake every time you park it and that will stop it from rolling even if it isn't in park. That would have been the first thing I did if I wasn't sure park was working.

Take it to a mechanic and get it checked out.

This issue is when I learned that my emergency brake doesnt' work either.. Nice huh
Anyways.. the car is at the mechanic now.. He thinks its just cable or something that is broken, he's replacing it...
I still have to get the timing chain fixed too...
Its 285k miles... don't know if all this is worth it!!!

 

[sbell111]

Why did you go a couple weeks before having it checked out. Seems like that was asking for trouble.

 

[almacdonald]

Its been one thing after another with this car..

A couple weeks ago, I noticed it was getting harder and harder to put it into gear, just like the notches were off in the shifter. I'd think I was in drive, but it was still in neutral and so on...
Then about a week ago, my car wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery. Turns out, it wasn't in park and I had to place it in neutral with my foot on the brake to start it. Ok... great.

Then, a couple days ago, I pulled in the driveway, went to turn off the car and it started rolling!! Guess it wasn't in park again!!!

So, I started watching to see if the car rolls as I've been placing it in park. Yesterday, turned off the car, and sat for a second. Nope, no rolling...I"m good. Head into the store.

3-5 minutes later, over the intercom "Will the driver of a white Expedition please come to the front". As soon as I heard that, I feared the worst.
Well, it could have been worse I guess - but my car rolled over a lane and a half, veered to the right and went into the side of a Chevy Impala.

Barely scraped my fender, but it put a good little dent above her tire, and added a little white to her bronze car ..

What a day

(I know i'm not the first response but someone had to quote it!)

WHy on earth would you drive a car which obviously has a problem which could endanger the safety of others and yourself. You knew about the problem and did nothing. You're lucky it hit another car and not a person.

 

[finallygoingtoWDW]

This issue is when I learned that my emergency brake doesnt' work either.. Nice huh

No it's not nice. You knew this was a problem and you didn't take care of it immediately. I don't think you'd be so cavalier about this if one of your children had been injured or worse.

 

[MAH4546]

How irresponsible. You could have killed somebody.

You knew the brakes were not working. Brakes are the single most important feature of any car. The momet something was wrong, it was time to go to the shop!

Another reason why people should not "run cars into the ground."

Take advantage of the cash for clunkers program, please, and get more unsafe cars off the road.

 

[PatsMom]

I have to agree that it was pretty irresponsible to drive around in a car you knew was unsafe. Thank heavens it just hit another car and not a human. And that your children weren't in the car when it happened.

 

[kirbsam]

here is a question. and i hope you are honest. how long would you have waited to get it checked out, if it didnt hit another car? lets, see. my car drives away when i leave it in park, and my emergency brake doesnt work. hmmm, i guess its ok. lol.

 

[sbell111]

How irresponsible. You could have killed somebody.

You knew the brakes were not working. Brakes are the single most important feature of any car. The momet something was wrong, it was time to go to the shop!

Another reason why people should not "run cars into the ground."

Take advantage of the cash for clunkers program, please, and get more unsafe cars off the road.

Settle down. The brakes were working. The emergency brake merely needed adjustment.

There has been way too much piling on in this thread. In reality, there was no need for any scolding. The OP has recognized the importance of the issue and has taken it to the mechanic. I suspect that it is a simple problem with the linkage cable.

I will add that in a prior post, I asked why the OP waited so long to take it in. That was actually a dumb question since the answer is obvious. It seemed like it was transmission related. Transmission-related problems get expensive quick. Sometimes, you have to let big dollar things go for a little bit. The reality of the situation is that the problem likely is not going to be hugely expensive, but the OP didn't know that, so she took the normal corse of action and attempted to put off the bad news. We've all done it. Usually, teh problems either doesn't turn out to be as bad as we'd feared or putting it off makes it even more costly.

Human nature is a funny thing.

 

[robinb]

Well, that stinks and hindsight is always 20-20. I'm glad that you are getting it fixed now. Unfortunately, you will be amazed at how much that little dent will cost you .

 

[ryanshana]

Settle down. The brakes were working. The emergency brake merely needed adjustment.

There has been way too much piling on in this thread. In reality, there was no need for any scolding. The OP has recognized the importance of the issue and has taken it to the mechanic. I suspect that it is a simple problem with the linkage cable.

I will add that in a prior post, I asked why the OP waited so long to take it in. That was actually a dumb question since the answer is obvious. It seemed like it was transmission related. Transmission-related problems get expensive quick. Sometimes, you have to let big dollar things go for a little bit. The reality of the situation is that the problem likely is not going to be hugely expensive, but the OP didn't know that, so she took the normal corse of action and attempted to put off the bad news. We've all done it. Usually, teh problems either doesn't turn out to be as bad as we'd feared or putting it off makes it even more costly.

Human nature is a funny thing.

I wasn't even going to write on this thread because I thought I might say something I shouldn't....but seriously, settle down? Someone could have really gotten hurt. OP knew the car had a not going into park and rolling issue but yet still decided to take her chances? She only recognized the importance of the issue once there was an accident! That is not being responsible. I can't imagine going weeks w/ an issue that big regardless of how expensive the repairs may have been! The safety of myself and my family and innocent bystanders are far more important. I am sure that if you were the person's car that got hit or if you or your family got hit by a neglected run away car you'd be feeling differently!

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Lucky no one was hurt or worse.

Does your state have safety inspections? It doesn't sound like your vehicle is fit to be on the road. Broken emergency brake. Not staying in gear.

Accident waiting to happen.