Symptom
Vehicle rolls when parked
The car moves after being left in Park — the most serious symptom in the transmission range, and the rarest.
Park is a mechanical lock, not a brake. A steel pawl drops into a toothed wheel on the output shaft and physically prevents it turning. When it works there is nothing to feel; when it does not, there is nothing to feel either — which is why a rollaway is usually the first evidence.
Shift-by-wire is why this is now an electrical fault as well as a mechanical one. With no cable from the lever to the gearbox, a motor moves the pawl and sensors report whether it engaged. A fault in that chain can leave the car in neutral while the display says P.
The habit that removes the risk entirely costs nothing: always apply the parking brake, every time, before selecting P. Doing it in that order also takes the vehicle's weight off the pawl, which is why a car parked on a slope is sometimes reluctant to come out of Park — the pawl is loaded against the tooth.
On a hill, turn the front wheels into the kerb as well. If the car has rolled once, do not park it on any gradient until it has been diagnosed.
Also described as: car rolled away, rolls in park, park not holding, vehicle moves in park, rollaway, wont stay in park, در پارک سر میخورد, ماشین در شیب حرکت میکند, se mueve aparcado, rueda estando en parking, no queda quieto aparcado, السيارة تتحرك وهي راكنة, تزحف على البارك, ما تثبت وهي واقفة
Some causes mean you should stop driving
1 of the 35 codes that produce this symptom indicate a fault where continuing to drive risks damage or is unsafe. If the symptom is sudden or severe, treat it as one of those until a scan says otherwise.
What this usually means
This is the most serious symptom in the transmission range and the rarest. If the car has rolled once, do not park it on any gradient until it has been diagnosed.
Park is a mechanical lock, not a brake. A steel pawl drops into a toothed wheel on the output shaft and physically prevents it turning. When it works there is nothing to feel; when it does not, there is nothing to feel either — which is why a rollaway is usually the first evidence anybody gets.
Shift-by-wire is why this is now an electrical fault as well as a mechanical one. With no cable from the lever to the gearbox, a motor moves the pawl and sensors report whether it engaged. A fault anywhere in that chain can leave the car in neutral while the display says P, and the display is not confirmation — it is the module's belief.
The habit that removes the risk entirely costs nothing: always apply the parking brake, every time, before selecting P. Doing it in that order also takes the vehicle's weight off the pawl — which is why a car parked on a slope is sometimes reluctant to come out of park, the pawl being loaded against a tooth. On a hill, turn the front wheels into the kerb as well.
The mechanical failures are a broken or worn pawl, a stretched or maladjusted selector cable, or a pawl that never fully engages because the lever does not reach its detent. A lever that feels vague at the P end, or that needs to be held, is reporting exactly that.
Working through it
| What you find | Likely cause | How to confirm it | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car rolled with the display showing P | The pawl did not engage — mechanically, or because the actuator never moved it on a shift-by-wire selector | Do not reproduce it on a slope. Read selector and transmission codes, and compare commanded against actual park state where the tool exposes it. | Repair the named fault before the vehicle is used. Apply the parking brake without exception meanwhile. |
| Lever feels vague at the P end, or must be held | Selector cable stretched or out of adjustment — the pawl never reaches full engagement | Compare lever position against reported position, and check cable adjustment at the transmission end. | Adjust or renew the cable. This is the commonest mechanical version and it is cheap. |
| A distinct clunk when selecting P, and the car settles noticeably | Normal — the pawl dropping in and the weight settling against it, especially on a slope | Applying the parking brake first removes it, because the weight is already held. | No repair. Change the order: parking brake first, then P. |
| Reluctant to come out of P on a slope | The pawl is loaded against a tooth by the vehicle's weight — normal, and a sign the habit above is not being used | Release by rocking slightly with the brake pedal pressed. It confirms loading rather than a fault. | No repair. Apply the parking brake before selecting P and it stops happening. |
| Shift-by-wire selector, park state uncertain, warnings displayed | The actuator, its position sensor, or the module — the display shows belief rather than confirmation | Read codes from the selector and transmission modules. Never treat the P on the display as evidence the pawl is in. | Repair as the codes name. Treat the vehicle as unparked until it is fixed. |
| Rolled with an electric parking brake that had reported a fault | Two systems both unable to hold the car — the parking brake fault made the pawl the only restraint | Read the parking brake module as well. A car with a faulty electric parking brake should never have been left relying on either. | Repair both. Chock a wheel and select a gear meanwhile if the vehicle must be left at all. |
-
Car rolled with the display showing P
- Likely cause
- The pawl did not engage — mechanically, or because the actuator never moved it on a shift-by-wire selector
- How to confirm it
- Do not reproduce it on a slope. Read selector and transmission codes, and compare commanded against actual park state where the tool exposes it.
- What fixes it
- Repair the named fault before the vehicle is used. Apply the parking brake without exception meanwhile.
-
Lever feels vague at the P end, or must be held
- Likely cause
- Selector cable stretched or out of adjustment — the pawl never reaches full engagement
- How to confirm it
- Compare lever position against reported position, and check cable adjustment at the transmission end.
- What fixes it
- Adjust or renew the cable. This is the commonest mechanical version and it is cheap.
-
A distinct clunk when selecting P, and the car settles noticeably
- Likely cause
- Normal — the pawl dropping in and the weight settling against it, especially on a slope
- How to confirm it
- Applying the parking brake first removes it, because the weight is already held.
- What fixes it
- No repair. Change the order: parking brake first, then P.
-
Reluctant to come out of P on a slope
- Likely cause
- The pawl is loaded against a tooth by the vehicle's weight — normal, and a sign the habit above is not being used
- How to confirm it
- Release by rocking slightly with the brake pedal pressed. It confirms loading rather than a fault.
- What fixes it
- No repair. Apply the parking brake before selecting P and it stops happening.
-
Shift-by-wire selector, park state uncertain, warnings displayed
- Likely cause
- The actuator, its position sensor, or the module — the display shows belief rather than confirmation
- How to confirm it
- Read codes from the selector and transmission modules. Never treat the P on the display as evidence the pawl is in.
- What fixes it
- Repair as the codes name. Treat the vehicle as unparked until it is fixed.
-
Rolled with an electric parking brake that had reported a fault
- Likely cause
- Two systems both unable to hold the car — the parking brake fault made the pawl the only restraint
- How to confirm it
- Read the parking brake module as well. A car with a faulty electric parking brake should never have been left relying on either.
- What fixes it
- Repair both. Chock a wheel and select a gear meanwhile if the vehicle must be left at all.
Codes that produce this symptom (35)
Listed with the codes that most typically present this way first — the likeliest place to start.
- P07E4 Unable to Engage Park Typical of this code Stop driving Critical
- P08A6 Gear Lever Position Sensor System - Multiple Sensor Correlation High
- P271A Park Pawl Position Sensor A Circuit Low High
- P271B Park Pawl Position Sensor A Circuit High High
- P271C Park Pawl Position Sensor B Circuit Low High
- P271D Park Pawl Position Sensor B Circuit High High
- P272A Transmission Range Select Motor Control Circuit High
- P272B Transmission Range Select Motor Control Circuit Current Too High High
- P272C Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit High
- P272D Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit Current Too High High
- P27E7 Transmission Range Control B Circuit/Open High
- P27E8 Transmission Range Control B Circuit Performance High
- P27E9 Transmission Range Control B Circuit Low Moderate
- P27EA Transmission Range Control B Circuit High Moderate
- P27EB Transmission Range Control A Position Sensor/Switch Circuit/Open Moderate
- P27EC Transmission Range Control A Position Sensor/Switch Circuit Range/Performance Moderate
- P27ED Transmission Range Control A Position Sensor/Switch Circuit Low Moderate
- P27EE Transmission Range Control A Position Sensor/Switch Circuit High Moderate
- P27EF Transmission Range Control B Position Sensor/Switch Circuit/Open Moderate
- P27F0 Transmission Range Control B Position Sensor/Switch Circuit Range/Performance Moderate
- P27F1 Transmission Range Control B Position Sensor/Switch Circuit Low Moderate
- P27F2 Transmission Range Control B Position Sensor/Switch Circuit High Moderate
- P2801 Transmission Range Sensor B Circuit Range/Performance Moderate
- P2802 Transmission Range Sensor B Circuit Low Moderate
- P2803 Transmission Range Sensor B Circuit High Moderate
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Others with this symptom
Be the first to write this up
Nothing posted about this yet. Whatever you found is worth writing down — even a dead end saves someone the same afternoon.
What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
Sign in or create an account to add what you found about Vehicle rolls when parked.