Automatic Transmission Park/neutral Start Switch problems of the 1999 Ford Expedition

Consumer states while car in park and keys out of ignition a 4 year old child was able to pull the shifter down to low gear causing the truck to roll back. Nlm.

I drove into the driveway, put the car in park and removed the keys from the ignition. My 2 year old child climbed into the front seat and put the car in neutral. The car rolled down the driveway and hit a van at the bottom. I jumped in as the car was rolling but could not stop the car in time. The car is equipped with a brake shift interlock in which you are not suppose to be able to remove the transmission from park without depressing the brake and having the keys in the ignition and neither happened. A fatality could have occured as children were playing outside as well as I could have been smashed as I jumped in just before my door was torn off. Please take note and follow up on this before someone is killed!!!!!.

At 65 mph on interstate 90, the electronic shifter did an uncommanded transition from automatic-4-drive to 4-wheel-low. Driver managed to maintain control and avoid a crash at largely due to the fact that the incident happened at 11pm under very light traffic conditons. No indication of why was found by the dealer although the computer codes verified the shift transition. Dealer indicated that some corrosion was found on the electronic shifter contacts and it was replaced. At the present time, dealer maintains that no damage was done to the engine or drivetrain although loud bangs and metal grinding sounds were heard when the incident occurred. The engine also indicated momentary redlining. The explaination of "corrision" still indicates a serious control system design flaw whereby an uncommanded operation on the unit operating at highway speeds can force the transition from automatic-4-wheel to 4-wheel-low at cruising speeds.

Vehicle would shift into a low gear by itself. Consumer has almost lost control.