I have a 2000 C280 Sport with about 57,000 miles. Yesterday after parking for a short time to take a cell call, the gear selector is stuck in Park. Have not had any problems with the gear selector or transmission before. Any ideas as to what happened? How to fix? Thanks for your help.

The shifter is mechanical in PRND; possibly is bound and/or bushing is bad causing same. Is also possible is faulty brake switch.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

Thanks. It looks to me like the part in the console doesn't release when pressing on the brake to move from park into gear. is there any way to release this so the car can be moved? I compared the car witn another and as soon as the brake is pressed, the part preventing the shifter from moving snaps out of the way.

First, check your brake lights and make sure they work. If not, fix that first. Probably a fuse......
Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

If you stopped on a hill (fairly steep) you might have torque lock, where the weight of the car trying to roll pushes so hard on the parking pawl that it won't move. The solution is to tow or push the car uphill until the pawl releases. Good luck.

For anyone running into the same problem, here's the answer I got from another web site which worked and avoided a tow ro a shop:
Right beneath the "D" position on the gear indicator there is a black piece of plastic that looks like a "U" shape, go ahead and push a pen or a skinny screw driver straight down, that will release the shifter to put it into gear, now there are 2 things that can cause your car not to come out of park, one is the stop lamp switch, lets hope for that because its cheaper than the other thing, The other thing is the shifter assembly, but the shop will be able to tell.

Thanks to all who responded to my problem. I suspect that MB had a problem with this so an easy way to release the car from Park was put in.