Mercury Grand Marquis 2004 - starting/stopping the engine issu
 

Brought my car to a ford dealership for a safety recall. no issue with that. When they were done with the car, got in and could not initially get my car out of park. I've owned the car for 8 years, never experience that before.

After some effort, got it into drive and started to drive home. I realized that was kind of dumb and returned to the dealership. Put the car into park and then felt something hit my foot. Looked down and there was a piece of metal, clearly manufactured laying next to my foot. Stopped the engine and could not get the key out of the ignition.

Made a complaint to the service rep, they brought over the mechanic, he explained he did not touch the steering column. I believed him, there was no need for him to do that. I do believe the other person (not the mechanic) who drove my car out did the damage. He was a young man who probably did not know how to get the car into drive and pulled down on the lever. Can I prove it, no. But I can put my car into reverse now without touching the brake. Never happened before. Ford dealership denied all responsibility, Timing on this is too coincidental.

I want to be fair about this (as best I can anyway) - does anyone have any problem experience getting their car from park to drive or reverse? For that matter I have to push the lever to the left when starting or shutting off the engine, otherwise I have problems. Getting the car to drive from there is fine. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.