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A word of warning for new Explorer owners.


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So, I had the terrible misfortune of discovering that the new Explorer will roll backwards if you turn the vehicle off and forget to shift into park.

 

Long story short:

 

There was an impending hailstorm near my area, and I was in a hurry to pick up dinner from a local restaurant for the family.

 

I turned it off via the push button start after parking in a space at said restaurant. However, I forgot to shift into park after the engine was off.

 

I went into the restaurant quickly, grabbed my order, and on my way back to the new Explorer, discovered the horror that the car had rolled backwards into another vehicle, ruining the lift gate and rear bumper.

 

Bizarrely, the Explorer had somehow turned itself back on after rolling back and hitting the other vehicle.

 

Makes me wish it had a "safety" feature that wouldn't allow it to be shut off unless in park, but it is what it is I suppose.

 

It wasn't a steep incline, either, so be aware that the car will roll on you if you forget to shift into park after shutting her down.

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So, I had the terrible misfortune of discovering that the new Explorer will roll backwards if you turn the vehicle off and forget to shift into park.

 

Long story short:

 

There was an impending hailstorm near my area, and I was in a hurry to pick up dinner from a local restaurant for the family.

 

I turned it off via the push button start after parking in a space at said restaurant. However, I forgot to shift into park after the engine was off.

 

I went into the restaurant quickly, grabbed my order, and on my way back to the new Explorer, discovered the horror that the car had rolled backwards into another vehicle, ruining the lift gate and rear bumper.

 

Bizarrely, the Explorer had somehow turned itself back on after rolling back and hitting the other vehicle.

 

Makes me wish it had a "safety" feature that wouldn't allow it to be shut off unless in park, but it is what it is I suppose.

 

It wasn't a steep incline, either, so be aware that the car will roll on you if you forget to shift into park after shutting her down.

 

Did any of your other cars do the same?

 

I know of no cars that prevents you from turning off the engine when in gear.

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Sounds like driver error to me.

 

Did any of your other cars do the same?

 

I know of no cars that prevents you from turning off the engine when in gear.

My '06 F150 will allow you to turn it off while in gear, but will not let you remove the key from the ignition. So in a way, I guess you could consider that sort of a safety feature, if you want to take the keys with you that is.

Edited by V8-X
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  • 5 months later...

Just about any automatic transmission equipped automobile will allow you to turn off the engine with the vehicle still in gear.

 

Since an automatic transmission has a viscous coupling, it allows the driveline side of the transmission to move without the engine turning over. On a manual transmission, the link is physical, by way of the clutch plate, so that in order for the wheels to move while the engine is off, enough force will have to be applied to actually turn over the engine, not an easy thing to do.

 

It is always a good idea to set the parking break to avoid these types of problems.

 

I hope they were able to get your Ex back into shape :)

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...Makes me wish it had a "safety" feature that wouldn't allow it to be shut off unless in park....

...and if your floor mat was stuck under the accelerator and you could not seem to stop the vehicle as it was accelerating, you would not be able to perform an 'emergency shut down" of the engine to regain control of the vehicle...not a real good idea to attempt to shift the vehicle into park while the vehicle was moving....if you did and then did a 'shut down' your steering wheel would also lock in place and you would likely grenade the transmission in the process as well.

 

Might want to just chalk this up to experience and next time, take the two seconds to put the vehicle in park and engage the parking brake.

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  • 9 months later...
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I would have expected a warning of some sort once you turned the car off (while not in park).

 

 

How many more warning lights should be included? A warning for leaving the car running in a garage? One for getting out of the car while it's still moving? there has to be some point where the driver must assume some sort of responsibility to operate the car. Systems that park it for you is beyond what I will accept. As most every vehicle on the lot has that system I won't be buying one of those. Not wanting to wait by ordering these systems are pushing me to an alternate brand.

 

But it could have been much worse as no one was injuried. Live and learn.

Edited by rscalzo
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I think the issue here might be keyless start.

 

Traditionally, most will shift into park after shutting off the engine because the key wont release from the ignition until then.

 

 

 

Yes this is driver error, but I think it might also be a small learning curve on remembering to shift into park for those new to keyless systems.

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