Shift to park message after shut down.

[newdude]

9 minutes ago, C. Alesce said:

Do we think there will be a recall on this problem?

 

 

Doubt it.  There wasn't or hasn't been one for the shift to park issue on the 2016-2019 Malibu/Blazer/Traverse/etc. yet.  

[Laohoam]

On 8/31/2024 at 7:59 PM, James Tiffin said:

Same thing has happened on my ‘22 Silverado Z71 RST. Started around 30k miles. I’ve been following this thread, for over a year now, thinking maybe GM would come up with a fix. My switch was initially intermittent, happening only occasionally, no pattern to it…I pulled the cover off the steering column, bent the metal tab just enough to make more contact with the switch (careful not to break the plastic lugs holding it in the frame. I had to super glue it back). Well, last week it started all over, 55k miles now. But now the switch won’t work at all. I’m not paying the dealer to troubleshoot an alert that tells me to put the truck in park. 

 

So I cut and nutted the wires together.
 

Problem solved. Save yourself the hassle and money. Just don’t rely on your vehicle to tell you it’s not in park lol. 
 

I’m not your mechanic. 

 

For those curious, I did attach a pic of the numbers on the switch I cut off. If you can find the actual replacement, let me know. 

Did this fix have any draw backs?  My truck is an automatic but can manually switch through the gears via controls on the steering wheel.  Does anyone know if this would effect that? 

[Nicholassims]

I have a 2012 Chevy trail boss and have been have this issue with the shift to park not going off and I took it to the dealership four months ago and they wanted to charge $850 to fix this issue. I am now just unplugging the battery and reconnecting it after I get out every single time because I don’t think this should be something I’m having to pay for when so many others are having the same problem. Not to mention I’m still paying for the truck! You can’t even pay the part to fix the problem you can only buy the entire column. This should be a recall. 

[BainMan]

My 2020 Sierra with 75k on it is getting this same 'shift to park' message.. Luckily it has gone away after a few seconds each time but is getting more frequent.. Looks like I'll be modding the switch soon. I plan to clean with electrical contact cleaner and bend the arm on the switch to start. At the first sign that mod no longer works I'll swap to the bypass method.. Annoying the switch alone is not available... 

[GMCustomerService]

On 3/20/2025 at 10:48 AM, BainMan said:

My 2020 Sierra with 75k on it is getting this same 'shift to park' message.. Luckily it has gone away after a few seconds each time but is getting more frequent.. Looks like I'll be modding the switch soon. I plan to clean with electrical contact cleaner and bend the arm on the switch to start. At the first sign that mod no longer works I'll swap to the bypass method.. Annoying the switch alone is not available... 

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[UltimateToolReviews]

Just had this issue pop up on my 2022 Sierra HD, did the zip tie method and if it for some reason fails I will just wire nut the wires together. All-in-all it's a 10min fix at worst and you can fix it for basically free, don't give the stealerships any money for this one. No issues at all from keeping that switch closed.

[BainMan]

Soldered in a new micro switch a few weeks back, issue resolved. Less than $9.00 on ebay. Truck shuts off every time now. Quick fix. 

Omron Micro Limit Switch SS-5GL13 with Curved Tip Lever 5A 125VAC #E66AA

 

Tested the old switch and there was high resistance. Pressing the switch would take the circuit from open, to some level of closed, but the ohms would vary on each press until it finally got low enough the truck would consider the circuit closed and in park. 

Edited June 9, 2025 by BainMan

[Z45]

My 2024 does this all the time since new.  Not a problem, just a safety reminder.  I have heard of persons forgetting to do that, shift to park, not me. 

Edited June 10, 2025 by Z45

[BainMan]

43 minutes ago, Z45 said:

My 2024 does this all the time since new.  Not a problem, just a safety reminder.  I have heard of persons forgetting to do that, not me. 

It is a problem for some, and not working as intended when that switch goes bad. The problem we experienced is that after shifting to park and turning the truck off, all of the interior electronics would stay on because the truck does not detect that you're in park. Sometimes you can jiggle the shift stalk and it would detect park, but if the switch failed bad enough it never realized that you are in park and the radio, instrument cluster and more would stay powered. Then the next morning your battery is dead. 

 

I got lucky and replaced it before it fully failed. However, some days I would sit in the truck for more than 1 minute trying to get it to detect park. What is dumb, two places on the instrument cluster it would say 'P' for park, because I was in park, but would still get the warning message 'Shift to Park' and none of the electronics would turn off. 

 

One of the Youtube videos stated models after 2022.5 were not affected.. Is this when they took away the shift column for a period of time? Either that or they made some other change/fix.. 

[malibu43]

On 6/9/2025 at 9:27 AM, BainMan said:

Soldered in a new micro switch a few weeks back, issue resolved. Less than $9.00 on ebay. Truck shuts off every time now. Quick fix. 

Omron Micro Limit Switch SS-5GL13 with Curved Tip Lever 5A 125VAC #E66AA

 

Tested the old switch and there was high resistance. Pressing the switch would take the circuit from open, to some level of closed, but the ohms would vary on each press until it finally got low enough the truck would consider the circuit closed and in park. 

 

Ordered this switch off ebay.  However, I was not able to find a way to get the old switch out without potentially breaking the little clip-in bracket that holds it in place.  I couldn't lift it out due to the rest of the shifter assembly being practically right on top of it.

 

How did you remove the old switch?

[Z45]

On 6/9/2025 at 2:55 PM, BainMan said:

It is a problem for some, and not working as intended when that switch goes bad. The problem we experienced is that after shifting to park and turning the truck off, all of the interior electronics would stay on because the truck does not detect that you're in park. Sometimes you can jiggle the shift stalk and it would detect park, but if the switch failed bad enough it never realized that you are in park and the radio, instrument cluster and more would stay powered. Then the next morning your battery is dead. 

 

I got lucky and replaced it before it fully failed. However, some days I would sit in the truck for more than 1 minute trying to get it to detect park. What is dumb, two places on the instrument cluster it would say 'P' for park, because I was in park, but would still get the warning message 'Shift to Park' and none of the electronics would turn off. 

 

One of the Youtube videos stated models after 2022.5 were not affected.. Is this when they took away the shift column for a period of time? Either that or they made some other change/fix.. 

Some will find anything to complain about.  Does not bother me one bit.  

[newdude]

On 6/9/2025 at 2:00 PM, Z45 said:

My 2024 does this all the time since new.  Not a problem, just a safety reminder.  I have heard of persons forgetting to do that, shift to park, not me. 

 

 

You have a 2024 Denali with the electronic console shifter.  That message is normal.

 

This thread is about trucks with the column shift which has a park position switch inside the shift control on the column.  

 

Two totally different scenarios here.  

[amoses]

Has anyone had issues after wire nutting the wire together, or jumping the connection, or zip tying the switch closed permanently?  I would think that doing this would signal the computer that the truck is in park all the time and cause other issues?  I bent the bar on the switch for better contact on mine and it fixed it for a while but its doing it again.  I was going to jump the connection this time but was worried that it would cause other issues.