Hi, everyone. I've got a problem -- actually my wife has a problem, and it's fallen in my lap!

She has parked the 2001 V40 to go to a meeting, and she can't remove the key from the ignition switch. She has the car in Park, but it appears that the button on the shift lever is not releasing properly. Could this be the problem?

She has tried moving the shift lever, driving forward and reverse, and various other things to get the lever button to release and to get the key out, but nothing seems to work.

Any ideas? Anyone had a similar problem?

Thanks,

Rick

My son experienced a similar problem with his S-40. He was told to put the car in neutral, restart the car, put it back in park, turn off ignition, and remove the key. If that doesn't work, restart the car, put it in neutral, put it back in park, turn off ignition, and remove the key.

Thanks. I'll give that a try....

Rick

I called the Volvo dealer about this problem, and the Service guy confirmed that if the shifter lock button doesn't release, the key won't come out. He suggested I tap the lever handle a few times.

When my wife got the car home, I did that, and the button released. It was still sticky, so I sprayed some lubricant in around the button and worked it a number of times, and it seems to be working fine now.

I did try the suggestion of starting in Neutral first (before I tried tapping the handle), and the button did release in Neutral, but as soon as I pushed it in to move to Park, it stuck again.

So tapping the handle seems to be the trick. If I could figure out how to take the handle apart to check the mechanism, I would, but I can't see any way of getting in there.

Rick