Dash says it's in park, but it isn't.

[Shockington]

Just had this happen to my wife today. She pulled into a stall and instead of pressing P and turning the car off she just turned it off. Everything I've read says the car should go into park automatically.

This was not the case. Infact, you couldn't even start the vehicle. She thought the battery was dead, but I doubted it as she had left in the morning and only drove a few kilometres. The P was illuminated on the dash but it wasn't actually in park. I had to get a ride to her just to press the P button again. It fired right up after that.

Just a heads up for anyone. Shutting the vehicle down without putting it in park may not always properly engage park.

 

[oddball]

I've had this happen when the car was still moving (slightly) when I hit the engine start button. It shut down the engine, but didn't go into park. Easy to tell, because I was on my steep driveway.
Come to a complete stop before hitting the button.

 

[DoctorStiches]

Automatics dont start unless the shifter is in P or N i assume this is a gt2 with that funky shifter as opposed to my gt1 woth a ratchet style