Like happens to most people, at some point, shaking or pushing on the shifter will stop working. Then you will not be able to shutdown the power to the car.
If they don't want to give you a rental yet, everytime you can't turn the car completely off, call GM roadside assistance and have it towed.
It won't take many of those before they give you a rental.
Thanks to you for your posts especially the fogs, but more importantly on the shifter mechanism...if you have the time I could use 6 good lottery numbers.
,02 Here's the poop on the shifter assembly, fresh out of the chute:
Based on these above shifter experiences I decided to prophylactically change the mechanism placing a complaint of a shift to park failure and the dealer was agreeable. TSB was superseded by a later one saying Chevy was modifying it to replacement of the connector pigtail only, and dealer ordered the part.
Today was my service date, pulled into the service bay, placed in park and tried to shutdown the engine, no go, shift to park message (talk about timing!), drove right into the service bay and they removed the negative cable to shut down the engine to replace the pigtail. About 1/2 hr. later service rep came out showing me and explaining problem. Regardless of the pigtail problem, the real problem may be the shift mechanism assembly, in particular the not individually replaceable, cheap, press together switch that provides the shift to park message to the ECU. If the plunger within the shifter strikes it too hard, it can pop apart, I guess if only partially unsnapped may still work erratically, on mine the whole cover snapped off when I threw the shifter in the service bay. Repair requires replacement of the whole shift mechanism. Only one was available nationwide at another dealer and he wasn't giving it up! I asked, but they wouldn't short out the switch because of safety concerns permitting an unattended vehicle with the engine to shut off while in neutral or gear with the parking brake. From the looks of that crap switch it is not IF it will fall apart, but WHEN it will fall apart.
And here's the difference between a run of the mill not my problem dealer and a great dealer. No tough luck, we'll order the part and get it when we get it, here's a tiny POS loaner you can drive in the meantime while your upscale car sits on the lot playing target for door dings, scratches and bumper bangs. Mechanic took the time and effort, on their own clock, to reassemble the switch contacts and epoxy the case closed ....appeared to me to be a better and more durable method than the pop and snap POS method the switch manufacturer used. Now that GM is on strike it may take a long time to get the replacement. At least the dealer repair permits me to continue to drive my Traverse while the replacement shifter is on order. I also asked if the repaired switch somehow fell apart and the contacts somehow shorted out, or remained open, defeating the whole shift to park interlock system if it would disqualify for a warranty replacement of a new shifter mechanism - apparently not, $hit does happen.
