Six problems related to automatic transmission park/neutral start switch have been reported for the 1996 Ford Taurus. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Dt: the consumer's vehicle rolled while parked. The consumer indicated there was a recall on the vehicle and contacted the manufacturer. The manufacturer informed her that her vehicle was made one month to early and that her vehicle could not be repaired under the recall. The recall was for a park pin which was not installed properly. The consumer indicated that the vehicle sometimes rolled while parked on level ground, but mostly rolled while on hills. The emergency brake had to be applied to ensure that the vehicle would not move. The consumer had to start the vehicle in neutral because of this problem. The consumer is afraid that she may forget to put the emergency brake on and leave her vehicle. She actually has had to chase after the vehicle to keep it from hitting other vehicles. No prior warning to the failure. The consumer indicated that the vehicle stopped going into park suddenly and she'd have to take it in and out of gears.
The transmission range selector (also called park/neutral start switch) shorts internally and causes the variably assisted steering to malfunction (stop assisting entirely). Date of incident may not be exact. While turning right at low speed into an alley power steering failed momentarily causing front wheel to jump the opposite curb onto the sidewalk and damage wheel cover. TSB # 96255 may describe problem, but I'm not sure. Ford dealership pulled up a report on this for me. Report states that the transmission range selector may short internally and cause the power steering assist to be reduced (eliminated), power windows to fail, and stereo to temporarily fail. This problem is intermittent and sporadic, but since the steering is adversely affected this problem constitutes a clear safety hazard. I feel that I was lucky as there was nobody/nothing to hit and that all I had damaged was a wheel cover.
This car has transmission electrical problems.
Interlock system inside steering column failed causing the vehicle to roll backward while in park causing damage to 2 vehicles. Nlm.
Vehicle rolled backwards while in park gear, causing a collision.
Parking brake failed, causing accident.