Transmission Not In Park error

[Nuwin]

Looking for ways to troubleshoot this on my own and avoid a dealer visit if possible. 2020 XLT with approximately 5200 miles.

Only appears when shifting into Drive. Goes away upon acceleration and returns again when slowing to stop. It does not put itself back in park as others have mentioned.

I have no door ajar messages or anything else that might hint at what the vehicle is upset about.

Vehicle has been to the dealership twice for a "Check Brake System" error. Parts have been thrown at the vehicle twice. Only mentioning in case there is some that had to be moved or removed to access other components. It started after the 2nd visit.

Only other potential visual queue is the rear driver side door doesn't sit perfectly flush when closed. But you really have to be looking for it to see it.

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Looking for ways to troubleshoot this on my own and avoid a dealer visit if possible. 2020 XLT with approximately 5200 miles.

Only appears when shifting into Drive. Goes away upon acceleration and returns again when slowing to stop. It does not put itself back in park as others have mentioned.

I have no door ajar messages or anything else that might hint at what the vehicle is upset about.

Vehicle has been to the dealership twice for a "Check Brake System" error. Parts have been thrown at the vehicle twice. Only mentioning in case there is some that had to be moved or removed to access other components. It started after the 2nd visit.

Only other potential visual queue is the rear driver side door doesn't sit perfectly flush when closed. But you really have to be looking for it to see it.

Probably a defect / broken transmission electronic shift selector, which is sending a message to the car’s computer that the vehicle is not in park.

Does the remote start work?

Do the doors chime when opened, with the engine turned off before exiting the vehicle?

 

[Nuwin]

I don't want to believe it. I want to believe this is something silly caused by my kids or myself that can easily be rectified in the garage.

Remote start DID work according to my wife. It is home today so I will check on the door chimes.

Seems like I'm going to have to find a dealership. The one I got it from likes to threaten me with diagnostics fees and intimidation tactics insinuating I caused issues. They've not followed through with it, but I could see folks falling for it.

Such an aggravating warning dialog. I'm driving. I know it isn't in park.

 

[Nuwin]

Had some time with the vehicle. I can turn off the vehicle. The dialog for the alarm - all sensors or perimeter on the display. Doors do NOT chime.

Had my wife open the manual turning over every stone before relenting to a dealership call. It lists on page 137:

Message: Transmission Not in Park
Action: A reminder to shift into park.

LOL. I'm actively trying to drive. I don't want to be in park.

 

[Nuwin]

Just to follow up on this. Dealership didn't find anything.

Before taking it in I had a few minutes to play with it. I progressively opened and closed the driver's door harder and the issue eventually went away and hasn't returned.

 

[Paul M]

2020 Platinum Max with 17,500 miles and I'm having the same issue and it started after I read your post, so somehow this is your fault...

The remote start works, doors do NOT chime, the message appears in reverse as well as drive, and disappears when driving only to reappear at every intersection I stop at. It went away for about a week but it's back again. I drop it off at the dealer early tomorrow for diagnostics, but they say it may be a day to a day and a half before it's diagnosed, then repaired.

It's more of an annoyance, but we're driving from Oklahoma to Denver then to Idaho to Yellowstone then through Deadwood to Mt. Rushmore and then back towards home later this month so I don't want some faulty sensor to totally screw the pooch and leave me in limp mode or worse stuck on the side of the road.

The way my life works is next I'll read about a meteorite striking some guy mowing his lawn and then... well... I'm dead...

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

2020 Platinum Max with 17,500 miles and I'm having the same issue and it started after I read your post, so somehow this is your fault...

The remote start works, doors do NOT chime, the message appears in reverse as well as drive, and disappears when driving only to reappear at every intersection I stop at. It went away for about a week but it's back again. I drop it off at the dealer early tomorrow for diagnostics, but they say it may be a day to a day and a half before it's diagnosed, then repaired.

It's more of an annoyance, but we're driving from Oklahoma to Denver then to Idaho to Yellowstone then through Deadwood to Mt. Rushmore and then back towards home later this month so I don't want some faulty sensor to totally screw the pooch and leave me in limp mode or worse stuck on the side of the road.

The way my life works is next I'll read about a meteorite striking some guy mowing his lawn and then... well... I'm dead...

Since buying my 2015 Expedition Limited 4x4 new (never wrecked or damaged, other than a windshield replacement), it would randomly display “no key detected” after starting the engine (intelligent key / push button start) - and “trailer wiring fault”. I have never towed or connected anything to the 4 or 7 pin connector.

I took the vehicle to the selling dealer for warranty repair several times for this issue, and showed them photos of the warnings. Their diagnosis was “no codes found” - thus, noting to repair. They were clueless on how to troubleshoot the issue.

To this day, now with 80,*** miles on the vehicle, it continues to randomly display the messages. Sometimes one or the other, sometimes both are displayed.

Good luck with the warranty repair - let us know if the dealer tells you, “no codes found”.......

 

[lv2drive]

mine says this all the time, when i open the door while still in Drive, for some dumb reason like i’m parking the vehicle with the door slightly open to eyeball the parking lines next to me, or driving off before the door is closed. sounds to me like it thinks a door is open. would make sense if closing the driver door harder made it go away for now

 

[Paul M]

2020 Platinum Max with 17,500 miles and I'm having the same issue and it started after I read your post, so somehow this is your fault...

The remote start works, doors do NOT chime, the message appears in reverse as well as drive, and disappears when driving only to reappear at every intersection I stop at. It went away for about a week but it's back again. I drop it off at the dealer early tomorrow for diagnostics, but they say it may be a day to a day and a half before it's diagnosed, then repaired.

It's more of an annoyance, but we're driving from Oklahoma to Denver then to Idaho to Yellowstone then through Deadwood to Mt. Rushmore and then back towards home later this month so I don't want some faulty sensor to totally screw the pooch and leave me in limp mode or worse stuck on the side of the road.

The way my life works is next I'll read about a meteorite striking some guy mowing his lawn and then... well... I'm dead...

Well it quit displaying the message so I'm not taking it to the dealer as it's a little hard to diagnose something that's not happening.

 

[Nuwin]

Sorry to break other vehicles!

It has come back on mine. But it isn't as persistent as before. And a firm re-close of the door usually does the trick for a while. I've learned to mostly ignore it since I don't like having to slam a 2020 vehicle door. I will address it again with the dealer when I'm due for an oil change.

 

[Tuck]

Your door open warning switch may be bad. It's about 20 dollars but I don't have a repair manual to let you know how easy/hard it is to replace. You could probably test it by pushing on it to see if you can recreate the problem.

 

[Paul M]

Well shuckiedarn it all to hell, the damn "not in park" message is back with a vengeance. We leave for Denver-Idaho-Jackson Hole-Yellowstone-Deadwood-Mt. Rushmore-and whatever two headed calf advertisement I see in the Expedition on Friday so I guess it'll go in the shop after the 4th when we return. Hopefully by then one of you drivers will have a solution I can pass along to the service writer.

It's just the wife and I and I'm really looking forward to see how the Expedition road trips. I'm getting too old with too little patience to deal with airlines and idiots anymore...

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Well shuckiedarn it all to hell, the damn "not in park" message is back with a vengeance. We leave for Denver-Idaho-Jackson Hole-Yellowstone-Deadwood-Mt. Rushmore-and whatever two headed calf advertisement I see in the Expedition on Friday so I guess it'll go in the shop after the 4th when we return. Hopefully by then one of you drivers will have a solution I can pass along to the service writer.

It's just the wife and I and I'm really looking forward to see how the Expedition road trips. I'm getting too old with too little patience to deal with airlines and idiots anymore...

It has been my experience with the 2015 Expedition Limited 4x4 that I purchased new, that Ford dealer technicians have very little ability to trouble shoot problems.

Other than basic mechanical issues (brakes, oil changes, etc), they are clueless and are nothing more than code readers who replace whatever part the Ford system tells them to.

 

[Nuwin]

Welp, this never did get fixed on my watch. Dealership saw the error a couple of times but had no answer and were "waiting on Ford" for a resolution. The promised callbacks never came. Ended up trading it in as it continued to have warranty issues to the point where I lost confidence in the vehicle. Too bad. Was nice to drive, but I sure ended up with a poor example. Quite a few of these running around the neighborhood and folks seem happy and didn't have near the trouble I did.

 

[Going_Going_Gone]

Have you tried shutting the engine off while still in D? The transmission is supposed to shift into P when you do that. I have no idea if this will cure anything, but maybe worth a try as it won't damage anything as long as you're standing still.