ok, well i get home and turned my car off to go open the gate to let myself in. get back in the car, start it up, and try to shift out of park but it wouldnt let me. yes i pressed the brakess all the way, handbrake was down, all conditions were normal. this has happened before but my friend got it workin again somehow..he said he just tried it normally and it worked..luckily im at home right now and i got my car into the premises by using the little button that lets you shift to neutral when the car is off. i started it on neutral and drove in. put it back into park and tried shifting from it but same problem. any body got any pointers? im sure this is some kind of security locking feature. my tranny runs absolutely fine and im 95% sure its not a serious problem.

 

Check to see if your brakelights are working. A bad stop switch will cause this most often.

 

^^u were right, brake lights didnt come on. but the thing is i drove home fine..no hard brakes at all..do you know how to fix this?

 

should be the switch for the brake lights like was mentioned before

 

i guess i gota find an open in the brake switch wire. thats so hard. i'll call the dealership.

thanks

 

they are all correct
toyota will not let the car go into gear (automatic) if brakes do not work (lights)

are all the lights out???

 

yeh brake lights dont turn on..anybody know how to fix? i think they turn on when im actually driving though.

 

try to remove one bulb at a time i had a buld in my probe blow and just the way it broke it was touching somthing and every time i owuld press the break every light in the car and i mean every light excep the head lights would light up the dash the parking lights i had to check every buld and as usal it was the last one that was the culprit after removing it i had no problems

 

i had this problem, you need to remove the cover on the shift lock it will allow you to drive the car, what happened to me was i blew my fuse......check your fuses too

 

The problem is most likely the switch located at the top of the brake pedal. Assuming the stop fuse is good.

 

How many miles are you sitting at? As mentioned, 99% chance it is the stop switch or the corresponding fuse or circuit. But if it is under warranty let them pay to fix it.

 

im exactly 12700 miles. everything should still be warrantied unless they somehow blame my mods..

 

unless you modded your shifter or your electrical system related to it they cannot say anything.
When my car did this i took it to the dealer and they did not say anything about my mods, they figured out the problem and fixed it while i waited.

 

well the only thing i did was swap a bulb out of the shifter..and even then i doubt they would notice it. my bro helped me with it this afternoon although he is unsure what really happened. he just wiggled the brake switch behind the knee airbag and everything started working again. imma still try to find some time to bring it into the dealership to have it checked out. thanks for all the help guys!

 

Did you switch out the bulbs in your brake lights to LEDs? If you did, one of the LEDs could have blown and caused your tC to be stuck in park. It happend to a 'friend' of mine. No! this 'friend' is not me!

 

no i didnt do anything related to the brake system.

 

^^ on the money.

 

I had the same thing happen recently, its an electrical problem. After installing the new tail lights on my car, it went into "shift-lock". Unfortunately the manual doesnt tell you how to change it back except to use the little button under the thing you pop off.

Just wiggle the brake switch and you'll be good to go.

 

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of folk who change tails or have tails that are out. Chris...he was good to go back in June of 06. I kid.

 

I suddenly remembered how much I hate automatics. The biggest pains in the asses to diagnose then fix ever.

Safe mode, Shift lock...:barf: