Car people

[Joyride]

I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. I can turn off the car and take out the key with the car still being in drive or reverse or whatever.

I have no knowledge of cars but is this normal? I didn't think you could do that

Please help.

 

[Aimster]

I can't do that. Car needs to be in park

 

[imported_goku]

What kind of key is that? Is it a metal key? Plastic? What kind?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Nope, not supposed to do that.

 

[Ornery]

1. Sounds like a "feature" to me. No problem that I can think of.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
Nope, not supposed to do that.

Not all cars care... you can do that in most cheaper cars I know that...

 

[Joyride]

It is a metal key. No clue why that would matter.

Hopefully you weren't making a crack that my car is cheap. It may not be as nice as most cars out there but it is the nicest thing I could get so please CraigRT you may want to rephrase that sir.

I think I am just gonna call the dealership and see what they say about it. That is pretty messed up.

 

[Ornery]

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

 

[Fenixgoon]

happened on my friends F350 truck.. not sure the cause/fix for it, but AFAIK it doesn't cause any damage

 

[rmrf]

there is no recall for it, as far as google can tell. see what the dealer can do since it's under warranty. maybe it's a fluke thing, maybe it's made to do that.

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: Joyride
I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. I can turn off the car and take out the key with the car still being in drive or reverse or whatever.

I have no knowledge of cars but is this normal? I didn't think you could do that

Please help.

It's a worn ignition switch. It has happened on many of my GM cars, although they had a lot more use on them when they failed. I replaced the ignition switchs. Although sometimes I miss that "feature".

Take it to the dealer.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Ornery
That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: SuperSix

Originally posted by: Joyride
I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. I can turn off the car and take out the key with the car still being in drive or reverse or whatever.

I have no knowledge of cars but is this normal? I didn't think you could do that

Please help.

It's a worn ignition switch. It has happened on many of my GM cars, although they had a lot more use on them when they failed. I replaced the ignition switchs. Although sometimes I miss that "feature".

Take it to the dealer.

the worn ignition switch would cause the key to come out when the car was still running. that's not the problem he's having.

 

[Ornery]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Ornery

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

Oh please. :roll:

On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being a safety hazard, where would this "messed up" issue rank?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: Ornery

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Ornery

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

Oh please. :roll:

On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being a safety hazard, where would this "messed up" issue rank?

It's simple, really.

The key isn't supposed to come out until the vehicle is turned off and the transmission is in Park. If the key is removed with the transmission in Neutral, the vehicle can roll away, hence it is a danger.

 

[Spineshank]

My gfs Accord does that. Problem is that my car is stick and hers is auto and sometimes ill shut it up in drive not thinking that im driving an auto.

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: Ornery

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Ornery

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

Oh please. :roll:

On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being a safety hazard, where would this "messed up" issue rank?

It's simple, really.

The key isn't supposed to come out until the vehicle is turned off and the transmission is in Park. If the key is removed with the transmission in Neutral, the vehicle can roll away, hence it is a danger.

The key isn't falling out. He's turning the key off while in drive and in neutral which is normal. There are situations where you would need to turn the engine off immediatly while in drive. One example might be when your throttle gets stuck wide open. You'll lose power stearing, but at least you saved yourself and the car.

 

[hx009]

Originally posted by: Joyride
I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. I can turn off the car and take out the key with the car still being in drive or reverse or whatever.

I have no knowledge of cars but is this normal? I didn't think you could do that

Please help.

Do you have 50 million keys and keychains dangling off the key you use to start your car? Thats one of the fastest ways to cause that problem. I did it to three GM cars already before waking up to that fact (and actually switching to a German car )

 

[Ornery]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

It's simple, really.

The key isn't supposed to come out until the vehicle is turned off and the transmission is in Park. If the key is removed with the transmission in Neutral, the vehicle can roll away, hence it is a danger.

At least that makes some sense. I'd put that on the scale at about 3.

 

[imported_ALien]

my '99 ford f250 does that too, i think its pretty nice but i dont know if its a problem or not

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: AdamK47 3DS

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: Ornery

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Ornery

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

Oh please. :roll:

On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being a safety hazard, where would this "messed up" issue rank?

It's simple, really.

The key isn't supposed to come out until the vehicle is turned off and the transmission is in Park. If the key is removed with the transmission in Neutral, the vehicle can roll away, hence it is a danger.

The key isn't falling out. He's turning the key off while in drive and in neutral which is normal. There are situations where you would need to turn the engine off immediatly while in drive. One example might be when your throttle gets stuck wide open. You'll lose power stearing, but at least you saved yourself and the car.

that's called "put it in neutral"

 

[wasssup]

I had a rental car that used to do that..I think it was a focus? I did it right before I hit a sharp corner and didn't realize power steering would go..took me a moment to realize wtf happened before I could compensate...

 

[talyn00]

Originally posted by: wasssup
I had a rental car that used to do that..I think it was a focus? I did it right before I hit a sharp corner and didn't realize power steering would go..took me a moment to realize wtf happened before I could compensate...

just why would you do this right before a sharp turn?

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: AdamK47 3DS

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: Ornery

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Ornery

That is pretty messed up.

Why, what's the difference?

the car is not working as it should. i know you're stuck in the mid 20th century, i'm sorry.

Oh please. :roll:

On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being a safety hazard, where would this "messed up" issue rank?

It's simple, really.

The key isn't supposed to come out until the vehicle is turned off and the transmission is in Park. If the key is removed with the transmission in Neutral, the vehicle can roll away, hence it is a danger.

The key isn't falling out. He's turning the key off while in drive and in neutral which is normal. There are situations where you would need to turn the engine off immediatly while in drive. One example might be when your throttle gets stuck wide open. You'll lose power stearing, but at least you saved yourself and the car.

that's called "put it in neutral"

The point I was trying to make was that there are some situations where turning a car off in drive might be usefull. I had to do it once when an old 305 V8 started dieseling after switching it off in park.

 

[wasssup]

Originally posted by: talyn00

Originally posted by: wasssup
I had a rental car that used to do that..I think it was a focus? I did it right before I hit a sharp corner and didn't realize power steering would go..took me a moment to realize wtf happened before I could compensate...

just why would you do this right before a sharp turn?

I did a lot of things to that rental car, a lot of which you can ask "why"...