A friend just had a strange issue where they shifted the car to park for a minute, then it wouldn't shift back into drive. Car had to be towed and the driver used the fob key to put the trans into emergency neutral to put it on the flatbed. That made me wonder what the procedure is on this car since I've never had an electronic shifter before. There's nothing in the owners manual. Google turned up some info on older models that required a bolt be turned on the transmission housing. Does anyone know how to do it on this car?

 

Although not likely related to what you report, I always keep a pair of key fob batteries in the car. I’ve had a few weird issues and more often than not they seem to preceed the fob not found message.

 

The situation of my friend was really strange. Pulled over to talk to a neighbor on their way home. Sat with the engine running in park and then couldn't shift back to drive. Restarted the car, cycled the lock/unlock, opened and closed all the doors. It had to be towed and the driver told them about the neutral override to let it roll freely onto the flatbed. it's hidden under the cupholder.

I'm not talking about a dead fob. There could be cases where the car has to be towed and can't be put in neutral. Lost fob, defective battery. I'm curious about the TLX for my own benefit. Hopefully I never need it. I've found videos on older TLX with push button shift that had the same key-in-slot function described above. This generation doesn't seem to. I looked all over the console for a spot to insert the key and dont' see anything. I've seen reference to MDX having a bolt/knob to turn on the transmission. Like a Marshal switch on a race car. There's a manual release for the trunk and fuel door. I'd think there's something for the trans.

 

Assuming the battery is good, what about one of the accessory modes? I had to do something similar once and as best I recall, without putting the foot on the brake, hit the start button twice which enables everything including being about to select neutral. Not too unlike car wash mode.

 

Yes, I understand how to shift the car into N if everything is working normally. My question, based on another person's issues, is whether there's a mechanical override of the electronics in case of emergency.

There was a lady who drowned in a Tesla because she drove into a lake and didn't know how to manually override the door release. Not close to the same importance, but sometimes it's good to know how things work if the unexpected happens.