Rapid

My wife called me from her 2000 A4, 2.8 Tip,and said she was unable to start the car as the key would not turn. I remembered a post where a similar problem was noted and the fix was to ensure that the gear selector was fully in park. She tried that and it worked. My question.

Is this condition normal to the model or is servicing called for. Thanks

Brad Bilut

I've seen this on many cars, she probably has to jiggle the steering wheel back and forth

Carrie Witte

This happened to me. You have give the steering a good tug!!!

Bonnie

I had a similar problem, but it was that the key wouldn't come out of the ignition. When I called Audi Assistance, they told me to tap the gear shifter and the silver thing that you push in to select gears popped out. It hasn't happened to me in three months, and when I brought it up with the dealer, they said that it's a very common occurence. They said, like you noted, the shifter was not in park all the way. Audi Assistance knew right away what the fix was, and said they get calls for it all the time, so unless it becomes a recurring problem, I don't think it needs attention with the dealer.

JMO

Bonnie
'00 2.8 QTX

William

The key won't turn unless the car's in PARK, for safety reasons. They do it on purpose. Think about it, isn't that much safer?

It's like this on almost all cars these days

DC

This happened to me with the first VW Passat GLX w/tip I test drove a few months ago. Got it home, turned it off and couldn't get the key out. Tried for over 30 min moving the shift back and forth, steering wheel, etc...nothing. The key would turn but not come out. Returned it to the dealer and the salespeople couldn't get it out either. Interesting experience for a first test drive! My salesman called me the next day and said a VW tech discovered the "Park" sensor was out of adjustment and wasn't engaging properly. It was an easy fix and only took a few minutes.

Same thing happened with an A4 I test drove recently but knowing what the problem was, I was able to play with the silver shifter release/shifter and move it just a hair and got it out. I'm consiering purchasing this car and if I do, I'm going to have them check this adjustment and make sure it's in spec.