Damn it! Forgot to put the car in park.
 

Well, I stopped by work for a minute (literally) today to drop off a key for someone. I ran in the building, did my business, and came back out to find that my car was GONE. :eek: I look down the slight incline from where I had left it, and sure enough, it was sitting in the parking garage entrance up against the back of the property's salt/plow truck. What's worse is that is had gone over a 4" high curb and shattered the oil pan into tiny pieces. It was sitting there idling with no oil for approximately 1 minute.

Now it's off to Don Pool for damage assessment. I can't believe it. I was in such a hurry that I completely forgot to put it in park. I've gotten myself out of the habit of setting the parking brake because it has a tendency to freeze in this weather.

I'm a lucky SOB that someone wasn't standing in the cars path, or that it did any damage to anyone else's vehicle.

Thanks for listening, I'll update you all on the repair process.

Oh my.. didn't you feel or see the car rolling as you got out and started walking? Sorry to hear..

Nope. I shut the door and ran inside the building, without looking back. :confused: I'm not usually in that much of a hurry.

I've done that too. At a gas station, ran in to pay first. Guy said which pump, I said it's that one right......wait.....it was right there.....it rolled back 30 feet into a pole.

It was a 79 Scout II, barely dented it.

Um, it was a stick tho....good luck bud!

Must have been a mighty stout Pole, I witnessed a Yugo rolling into an obese Czech with nary a scratch.

Add a Shift Lock?
 

I'm guilty of doing the same thing - goes back to the days when I drove my 240D manual. I've been lucky, though in that I set my parking brake religiously, which has prevented (so far) any rolling back. This annoys my wife to no end.

The "shift lock" found on the '90 and later models seems to address this problem. Basically, it's a cable going from the ignition tumbler to the shifter, which prevents removing the key unless the car is in Park. I thought of this as a vanity feature, but I see value in it now. I have a steering column from a '90 300SEL, which has this. I'm considering adding it to my '86 SDL, since I'm also changing out the wheel. If I do so, I'll let you know how it goes.

- Casey

You reminded me of a story from my car's history that I had completely forgotten. When I was about 11 or so, my mother drove me and my sister to the library to drop off a book. She parked it outside the front door (and I use the term "park" loosely ... ) and left my sister and I in it. Well, she didn't put it park. After she had gone in the library door, Bo started going backwards down the hill in front of the building. Quick thinking 11yo that I was, I jumped over the console, leaned down and pressed the brake with my hands (I was really short; no way my feet were getting there). I had no idea about the parking break or putting the car in park, so I just sat there squatting beneath the wheel with my hands on that brake until my mom came back out. What a funny memory. My sister, who was about 8 (and has a mild mental handicap), had no idea what was going on. Who knows where we would have landed, but I think it would have been a tree or a small revine.

And that's how I learned that one should always put the car in park ...

I don't understand how this is possible. With the ignition off, I get it, but with the vehicle still running (with an automatic) I don't get it...

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
Somebody damaged my car last night as well...

I don't understand you left it running in drive? If the car was left in gear with the engine off I don't think it would roll?

Hopefully you didn't do any damage to the engine, probably not it wasn't running long enough or under load.

If it's not in park, it WILL roll.

Scott

i just had a moment of silence for you.
but on a brighter side :sun_smile no one was hurt

I did that once in a Saab. Stopped for gas at one of those stations that you could buy gas after it closed by using a card at the pump. It's about midnight, and I'm doing my deal with the card at the pump, grab the nozzle and turn around, no car. Just the weirdest feeling, I'm looking around thinking maybe I got turned around and was at the wrong pump, nothing. Turns out the car rolled down the hill, through a pretty busy intersection and came to rest in a field about 50 yards away. I'm amazed it didn't hit anything because there were several cars stopped at the light just a minute before.

What a sickening feeling.

Similar story happened to me during the holidays. Stopped car, put it in park, got out, and then the car started rolling backwards towards the ditch. Luckily my girlfriend was still in the car and turned the steering to send the car in the street instead. Turns out that my auto stick linkage was loose due to losing one of the plastic grommets inside the loops at each end. Easy fix.

I don't get it either. How can you even get out of the vehicle without it moving on you? A 617 doesn't usually idle that slow. I'm not even sure if the 603 would sit there without starting to creep, and it idles at 100 less than the 617.