Help - stranded

[hturnerfamily]

There are several differences in discussions and situations about what happens when you 'open the driver door', whether in Forward, or Reverse:

A) If START the truck WITH the driver door open, or you open the driver door before you put the truck into gear, you can certainly and easily put the truck in GEAR and move forward or backward without issue... there is no safety measure in place here, since you already have the door open...

B) If you open the driver door WHILE IN GEAR, but not moving, AND your foot IS on the brake, the truck WILL immediately move the shifter into PARK. The gear shifter will move automatically into place. This is really the simple SAFETY measure to not allow someone to accidentally 'think' they are already in Park, especially when 'AUTO HOLD' is in play, and then open the door...

C) If you open the driver door, though, WHILE IN GEAR, and moving, and your foot is NOT on the brake, the truck will CONTINUE to drive IF you are already above a low speed, but it WILL make a lot of 'parking prawl' clicking noises as it tries does so - it is probably not going to suddenly slam on the brakes and put itself into park, though.
If, though, you are slow enough, such as with backing, It WILL brake the truck, suddenly, and with a rocking motion, and also put the gear shifter into PARK ... This is probably less than 2-3 mph, but testing might reveal a better number... if you are brave. This is the safety measure it is designed to employ.
The only real way to 'disable' this sudden action is to ALREADY HAVE THE DRIVER DOOR OPEN before you put the truck into gear, whether forward or reverse.

Yes, many of us growing up with older vehicles without these safety features are certainly used to how to handle the times we need to open the door while in gear and while moving, but the 'higher ups', whether in government regulation, or at the manufacturer, are going to side with more safety.

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[TaxmanHog]

IIRC, the seatbelt engaged also inhibits autopark when door is open, not sure If you have enough slack in the shoulder harness to swing your head out of the door opening to eyeball your positioning......

Why is it a problem to just use your sideview mirrors and backup cameras to position truck to trailer?

BTW ... why the divergence from post 1 concern, you guys are going far afield.

 

[TMND]

Conversations change as they happen lol. My reason for keeping the door open when hooking up a trailer is I like to get in and out of the truck multiple times making sure I lined up perfectly and don’t like opening and closing the door. Old habit from not having cameras, but also I can’t accurately gauge depth with these cameras, down to inches at least. Many times hooking up I think I’m centered on it and have to come back another inch or so.

 

[Smokey]

User error, not the truck. What if it was a kid falling out of your truck instead of ice ! The truck did what it was suppose to do, stop and let the driver reflect on his decision.

 

[deltalightning]

For 90 minutes.

 

[chl]

Sorry Man....I didn't mean to offend you. I agree with you 100%. No truck is worth even a slight gamble on your life. To me, that even includes trying to convince them that my truck is a crap EV. A person that is willing to do an armed car jack is clearly not someone that is wanting to have a discussion about the merits of hijacking ICE over EV's. Just talking to him could be enough in his mind to be some form of resistance. My only words would be, "Hey man, just take it" and then get out of the way. Again, I apologize. If it wasn't meant to be funny and you feel it is best to try and dissuade him before handing over the keys, then all the power to you.

Not offended - maybe it sounded like that from my choice of words? if so, my bad. I enjoyed your comment and I get your point, some hijackers are probably on a hair trigger so even looking at them funny would get you shot.

I was kind of joking myself about telling them it's an EV anyway.

But the general public still has a negative view of EV especially the limited range they believe is a big problem so maybe that would actually deter a thief? Hope I never have to find out. I always watch out for lurkers when going to and from my vehicles.

Many years ago, I learned how to disarm a person pointing a gun at me in a classroom, but never had to try it in a real world situation, and I think I never will, unless I think they are about to shoot me or my family - then maybe I have nothing to lose by trying?

I am in my 70's but still healthy and fit but not knife or bullet-proof.

I played drums in a few bands over the years, mostly in the 1970's and 1980's, including rock, jazz, blues and country/country rock (when there was a difference) so as you can imagine, I encountered many difficult people in that profession, mostly guitar players (lol) and drunken "red necks" in bars and other venues, so I know sometimes you have to hold em, sometimes fold em, and sometimes, ask them to give your three steps toward the door.

Luckily, I was always able to diffuse the situation and avoid fisticuffs by 'reading' the other person in a split second and finding a way to calm them down or get the f out of there pdq as the case may be.

This has kind of gotten off the auto-park issue of the OP, but it's been fun anyway!

Take care, and again, no offense taken.

 

[chl]

There are several differences in discussions and situations about what happens when you 'open the driver door', whether in Forward, or Reverse:

A) If START the truck WITH the driver door open, or you open the driver door before you put the truck into gear, you can certainly and easily put the truck in GEAR and move forward or backward without issue... there is no safety measure in place here, since you already have the door open...

B) If you open the driver door WHILE IN GEAR, but not moving, AND your foot IS on the brake, the truck WILL immediately move the shifter into PARK. The gear shifter will move automatically into place. This is really the simple SAFETY measure to not allow someone to accidentally 'think' they are already in Park, especially when 'AUTO HOLD' is in play, and then open the door...

C) If you open the driver door, though, WHILE IN GEAR, and moving, and your foot is NOT on the brake, the truck will CONTINUE to drive IF you are already above a low speed, but it WILL make a lot of 'parking prawl' clicking noises as it tries does so - it is probably not going to suddenly slam on the brakes and put itself into park, though.
If, though, you are slow enough, such as with backing, It WILL brake the truck, suddenly, and with a rocking motion, and also put the gear shifter into PARK ... This is probably less than 2-3 mph, but testing might reveal a better number... if you are brave. This is the safety measure it is designed to employ.
The only real way to 'disable' this sudden action is to ALREADY HAVE THE DRIVER DOOR OPEN before you put the truck into gear, whether forward or reverse.

Yes, many of us growing up with older vehicles without these safety features are certainly used to how to handle the times we need to open the door while in gear and while moving, but the 'higher ups', whether in government regulation, or at the manufacturer, are going to side with more safety.

Never knew it was so complicated.

But even so, I am glad cars and trucks are a lot safer now than when I started driving at 16-17 in 1968 - did not even have seat belt mandates back then, rode my MC with no helmet legally, had to be 18 to drink or get drafted, but couldn't vote unless 21, schools were segregated and pot was illegal...what were 'they' thinking back then anyway? lol

 

[NoRegretFORD]

Shifter is stuck in reverse, light flashing. Cluster shows it’s in park.
Opened the door while slow rolling in parking lot to dump out ice and truck freaked out.
Won’t shift at all. Have tried all the video fixes. 12v is fine, but tried boosting it anyway.


Throws codes. Rattles. And now I’m stranded. This truck is a piece of shit.

It should time out and reset itself. It has when I was locked in drive a couple times.

 

[deltalightning]

It should time out and reset itself. It has when I was locked in drive a couple times.

correct. 90 mins later.

 

[boardriderb]

I found an emergency fix for this situation until you get the recall taken care of and if you get truly stuck.

It requires a 10mm socket with at least a 3" extension, a long tool like a pen or screwdriver, and a flat wedge type tool like a pick or a flathead screwdriver.

You will be removing the gear shift module, exposing the gears and flipping back the linkage that is locking the gears in place.

1. Reference this video for how to remove the gear shift module:

2. Once you have it removed, unclip the face plate from the top of the GSM. It just pops off when you wedge off the clips on the side. Then, flip up the rubber flap on the aft side of the shift lever. It just pushes up from the under-side of the module. It is not fastened to anything.

3. In one of my photos, my tool is pointing to the metal linkage locking the gears. Use a screwdriver, pen or any long tool to just flip this back. It requires almost zero force to move.

4. Once this is back, you can move the shift lever to park. The truck is currently in park and you need to match the shift lever to this position.

5. After lever is in park, move the linkage back to the locked position. I haven't tried not moving it back, so I don't know what it would do if not moved back.

6. Reinstall the gear shift module. Truck should work normally until you get GSM swapped out. Just don't let it put itself into park.

 

[hturnerfamily]

OP, here's another '90 Minute wait' story.... if you will... you're not alone, nor is your LIGHTNING...

back in 2007, with one of the FIRST brand New JEEP JK 4-door Wrangler, from the Teledo factory, and on one of my first trips, I pulled into a nice gas station for some 'gas'...

I was suddenly confused, though, as while I had put the Jeep in PARK, it was still 'moving', when I went to open the door to get out... what?? Oh my!

Fortunately, I was able to quickly apply the brakes, and then get to figuring out 'why' this was happening... the truck was still IN Park.

I put the Jeep in Drive, but, it still would roll, as in Neutral... oh my. So I kept one foot out on the ground, and let the truck move, slowly, until it came to a stop several feet, on 'flat' pavement, near the gas pump.

I was confused, of course, but somehow knew that it was something to to do with the SHIFTER, or transmission. I was hoping the shifter.

I opened the hood and started poking around this new vehicle. I even made a call to JEEP Roadside and had a truck on the way...

Just then, a fellow walked by and asked if he could help, he had noticed my hood was opened - a normal sign of distress -'needing help'... after a quick rendition of the 'issue', he dropped down on the pavement, slid under the behind the front wheels, and almost as quickly slid back out...

clapping his hands together, as to slough off any dirt and debris, he said "you're good to go..."

what?...oh my!

"I put your transmission into gear, you can drive now, although your SHIFTER won't work...just keep it into gear until you get home, and can then remove the shifter and 're-link' the cable..."

"I'm on vacation, heading to Florida, but I work at the JEEP factory in Toledo... I knew your problem the moment you started your story..."

How blessed we are, sometimes.

I arrived home, later, easily removed the Shifter, and found the cable linkage had slipped off...easy fix. It's all mechanical. It's all mechanical.







sometimes it's electronic...but....
This truck we have , called the LIGHTNING, is amazing. It's certainly NOT a piece of ***t.

 

[RLXXI]

Great story. Was this sometime in the late 1980s by any chance?

I recall that this feature was added after a "sudden acceleration" craze in which lots of people claimed that their cars had spontaneously accelerated, overcoming the drivers' attempts to stop them, and lots of attorneys and reporters made lots of money. The brake-to-shift feature was added to prevent people first putting their cars into drive without feet on the brakes, then feeling the cars lurch forward, and then panicking and hitting the gas by accident (it is only human to make mistakes like that). Sudden accelerations became a whole lot less common after that design change.

The Audi Fox of the late 80's era was the reason, the last straw was when a customer got out of their car to do something in the garage before parking and they left it running in park.

When they went around in front of he car it jumped out of park on it's own pushed the owner thru the wall and into the swimming pool in the backyard, killing them obviously, which is where our lovely hit the brake to shift from park came from.

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