My key won't come out of the ignition when I turn the car of

Asked by Taylor Nov 02, 2015 at 12:57 PM about the 2006 Dodge Charger SE RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

1 Answer

165

TAYLOR, Yor problem is one that has plagued vehicles since the inception of NHTS safety requirements of a shift interlock which prevents the car from being knocked out of park,,causing cars to coast unintentionally and with deadly results at times, into objects, people or traffic. There is an interlock device, which prevents the key from being fully rotated to the LOCK position , unless the shifter is fully in PARK. On early vehicles, this was a cable, which could be adjusted,operating a solenoid, which only operated when the foot brake was engaged. on newer vehicles, the cable was eliminated, and computer controlled solenoids were used exclusively to determine the input status of the brake pedal,Puashed or not pushed, and the position of the gear selector itself. the computer then sends an output command to another solenoid to allow the key to "LOCK", and the key released. On your Charger, I believe the cable has been eliminated, I am not sure if there is still an adjustment possible, but your problem MAY BE either a damaged wire, connector, or one of the solenoids itself. ALSO POSSIBLE is an internal malfunction of the processor{S} that control these solenoids, or one of the INPUT signals that tell the processors what gear you are in,{TRANSMISSION RANGE SENSOR or wiring. Its important to remember that cars are not purely mechanical devices anymore, ther are many,many individual modules {processors,computers,, call them what you wish} all of which "speak to each other over a BUSS circuit} long story short, if no broken or corroded wiring is found, the best, and believe it or not, often the cheapest, answer is take it to the DODGE dealer, who can connect a scan tool to determine the fault. Your local garage MAY be able to "fix" it, but may also hang parts, EXPENSIVE parts in an effort, hit or miss which can end up being MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE than the dealer route. Hope this helps at least understand the problem.

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