I am going to throw this in perhaps for laughs. In the first few weeks that I had the Mercedes I got into the Car and it would not crank. I called AAA for a tow. As the guy was hooking it up for the tow I went inside to make sure it was in Neutral and I realized I had tried to start the Car with it in Drive.

Of course the Neutral Safety Switch is going to prevent it from starting in drive and it will only start in neutral or park. But I was used to US Cars where you have to return to Park in order to get the Key out of the Steering Colum Lock.

I was too embarrassed to tell the tow guy that I had simply screwed up and I let him tow it home.

Once he was gone I put it in park and it started fine.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel