[JABCAT]

I noticed this the first time when I picked my car up after having new tires installed. The tire tech left the car in gear & hit the parking brake button when he got out. I thought, well just a tire tech. Then I had my car in for service at the dealer last Friday & when I went to pick it up, it was backed into a parking spot & left in reverse with the parking brake engaged.

Anyone else have this happen? I can maybe understand the tire shop tech not seeing the P on the shifter, but a BMW dealer tech?

[kudos]

I've had the same problem at BMW service center. I also had an issue when getting tint on my car and the guy left it in neutral.

[M271]

Doesn't the car simply return to P when the parking brake is on? Pretty sure it did that in my G22.

[motorknut]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

I noticed this the first time when I picked my car up after having new tires installed. The tire tech left the car in gear & hit the parking brake button when he got out. I thought, well just a tire tech. Then I had my car in for service at the dealer last Friday & when I went to pick it up, it was backed into a parking spot & left in reverse with the parking brake engaged.

Anyone else have this happen? I can maybe understand the tire shop tech not seeing the P on the shifter, but a BMW dealer tech?

Yup, friend of mine had his G80 left in reverse gear, parked by the service tech. He was very annoyed.

Originally Posted by kudos

I've had the same problem at BMW service center. I also had an issue when getting tint on my car and the guy left it in neutral.

This guy ignored/missed the dash warning then. I often forget and switch off the engine in N (N then parking , should be followed by P), but the dash flashes a warning to remind me.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by M271

Doesn't the car simply return to P when the parking brake is on? Pretty sure it did that in my G22.

No, the shifter remains in reverse, so I imagine if one were not paying attention & simply disengaged the parking brake, the car would reverse.

[M_Power Rob]

Not defending any action by any tech or service person but don't these cars have a neutral safety switch (I haven't checked)? This would prevent the car from starting in any gear other than park or neutral.

[Good 4 2 reasons]

My G87 is a manual, but I thought if you unbuckled and opened the door whilst in a gear other than park, the car automatically goes into park to prevent an accident like what happened to Anton Yelchin. Or does the car have to begin rolling to do that?

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by Good 4 2 reasons

My G87 is a manual, but I thought if you unbuckled and opened the door whilst in a gear other than park, the car automatically goes into park to prevent an accident like what happened to Anton Yelchin. Or does the car have to begin rolling to do that?

It does. I'm assuming they backed it into the spot & either shut it off with it in reverse (maybe the parking brake engages automatically) or hit the parking brake then shut it off without moving the shifter back to neutral?

[EMZWEI]

Auto owner here and I admit that I’ve shut off the car and left it in reverse quite a few times without any issues. The car simply puts the transmission into park despite the position of the shifter lever. The car will even start back up with the lever still in the reverse position. To get the car into gear does require you to move the lever back out of reverse and back into reverse to actually engage the trans.