I drive a 2001 Kia Rio, about 74K on it so far. This morning I drove my kids to the bus stop but when I tried to leave, I could not get the gear box out of park. The car was on and run fine on the way to the bus stop, but it required about 45 minutes of toying with it to finally get it out of park!! Otherwise, no other problems!! Can anyone else relate??
Have someone look at the brake lights when this is happening. If the brake lights are not coming on, the park pawl release will not be activated and you will not be able to get out of park. If this problem happens again, keep pressing the brake to see if that will clear the problem. Have a mechanic check the brake light switch and its adjustment.
If the above is not the problem, the problem may be in the interlock mechanism itself. Either the solenoid or mechanism is gummed up or the solenoid is intermittant.
Hope that helps.