What happens if you put your car in park before you are stopped?
What happens if you put your car in park before you are stopped? If you engage it while the vehicle is in motion, this tiny lever has to stop the momentum of a moving vehicle, which is a considerable amount of force. Obviously, this causes tremendous stress to the pawl, which can cause it to break or round off, making your park function unpredictable or unusable.
What happens when your car is in park but still moves?
It's perfectly normal for your automatic transmission vehicle to move an inch or two after shifting it to park, such mechanical play is common even for modern cars. But if your vehicle rolls more than a few inches in Park position, it might be a sign that your transmission is faulty.