[Arcanox]

As I approach my 2-year purchase anniversary, I guess my car decided to celebrate by presenting another annoyance.

Yesterday I parked at my neighbors' house and shut the car off. It dinged and said "Shift To Park" so I restarted it, observed that the shift indicator was indeed showing "P" (on both the shifter and dashboard), and shut it off again. It was fine for several starts/shutdowns after that.

Then today, I pulled in my garage and it happened again. Right as I was about to restart it, it also said "remote not detected, press brake to restart". So I did. Once again, I observed that "P" was shown in both places, shut it down again, and it was fine. I got out of the car and used the outside button on the door handle to lock/unlock the car, so I know the remote proximity is working fine.

I'm not sure if I really need to be worried, as it could have just been that I didn't wait long enough between shifting to park and shutting down, but this is the first I've ever had this happen and I haven't really changed anything about how I drive it.

 

[jeff_h]

Exactly what my 2016 Volt did about a year ago, there's a thread here on it somewhere - service advisor said he's seen it before and suspected it was the shifter assembly, so they replaced it. My car was out of warranty due to miles so it was I think $525 IIRC, but has not happened since.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

It sounds to me like a mal-adjusted switch that is right on the edge. I would think that a competent DIYer could fiddle with that switch and save some big bucks.

 

[AZ EV Driver]

Do your doors unlock when you shift to Park? Mine do when this happens to me, so I think the switch is just fine and at least the door lock ECUs is fine. On my 2011 this seems to pop up every now and again, but then goes away. I do wiggle the shift lever and the message will disappear usually. I've kind of thought that it might be caused by shifting to Park and hitting the Power button to quickly.

VIN # B0985

 

[Arcanox]

Do your doors unlock when you shift to Park? Mine do when this happens to me, so I think the switch is just fine and at least the door lock ECUs is fine. On my 2011 this seems to pop up every now and again, but then goes away. I do wiggle the shift lever and the message will disappear usually. I've kind of thought that it might be caused by shifting to Park and hitting the Power button to quickly.

VIN # B0985

They do unlock, and the dashboard and shifter both show "P" (steadily, not like the switch is loose or anything). I'll start waiting longer before I shut it off to see if that prevents it.

As to the remote thing, the second time I shut it down, it didn't complain...I had the remote sitting on the right edge of the passenger seat, so maybe it was just in a bad location.

 

[dannycamps]

It's a known issue with the shifter assembly. Had the same thing happen to my car - had it replaced and the problem hasn't happened since.

You can search the forum for the other thread with more information.

 

[Arcanox]

I found stuff on Gen 1; haven't seen anything on Gen 2 although I'm not sure the search feature is super thorough.

It happened a third time today; I actually waited a couple seconds, made sure the doors unlocked and that "P" was displayed on the shifter and on the dashboard, and then hit the power button. "Ding ding ding! Shift To Park". I restarted it, waited for all the warning lights to go out, shut it off again, and it was fine. Very confusing. It sounds more like a software glitch than a shifter assembly problem because restarting the car and shutting it off again fixes it, without needing to touch the shifter lever at all.

 

[chevyman142000]

Same thing happened on my 2017. They replaced the shifting mechanism. Sounds like GM updated the design of it as well. No issues since.

 

[Loboc]

My 2014 ELR had the shift to park error. Dealer replaced the shifter under warranty. Tech said this is common even in other GM cars.

 

[Arcanox]

I have an appointment this Saturday morning; I'm hoping they don't have to keep it, but if they do, I might be back in a base '15 Malibu again >_>

 

[timoshev]

I have fired off a letter to Chevy Customer Service, probably futile, complaining that this failure is not mileage-related, but due to a component that should last the life of the car but is failing prematurely. I included pdf's of the posts from the last 2 years on this subject. I even offered to pay dealer labor if they would man up and supply the improved part on extended warranty.
While waiting for my form letter reply I offer these work-arounds for this intermittent problem: stop in N, shut off, shift to P; pause for 5 seconds in P before shut-off; open door before shifting to P; placing remote in glasses pocket next to shifter before shut-off. Sometimes these work, sometimes not. The problem seems to be confined to '16's/17's.

 

[dannycamps]

Here's a link to the other thread (you can go back to the first page if you want):

https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?291665-Totally-different-shift-to-park-issue/page5

 

[Arcanox]

Here's a link to the other thread (you can go back to the first page if you want):

https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?291665-Totally-different-shift-to-park-issue/page5

That sounds like different symptoms; I'd expect if it were the micro switch, I couldn't resolve the issue by simply restarting the car. It also unlocks the doors and doesn't re-lock them at all, so at least part of the car knows it's firmly in P. Unless there's more than one switch for detecting when it's in P...

 

[Arcanox]

Finally got a video of it; tried 4 times and it didn't happen at all. Fifth time was a charm this time. Now at least I have something to show to the dealer to prove there's a problem.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrNU6JiQDTXUruEY7

I know I shut it off pretty fast after shifting in the video, but I waited >10 seconds the other day and still had the issue, proving it's not related to how quickly I shut it off after shifting to park.

 

[Logical1]

My 2017 is doing the exact same thing. Mostly the "Shift to Park". I took it to the dealership once and they updated the software but that didn't fix it. I tried resetting by disconnecting the 12 volt battery, but that didn't fix it either. It seems to me that it helps to forcefully put it into park, but that might be my imagination. I hesitate to take it back to the dealership because they'll probably not be able to replicate the problem and therefore not fix it.

 

[KenX]

Same here.

Our 2016 just started doing this too. I recently posted about my experience when the car did an insane light show before killing its own battery and dying in my driveway. That was of course just two weeks' of driving past the 36k mile mark so it was not covered. Now this shifter problem. I am so angry about this car.