Weird News

I once rented a car in the airport with a whole 120 miles on the odometer.
Got to my destination and then tried to leave hours later.
The shift was in Park, the only way I could have gotten the key out, but the engine wouldn't even turn over.
I eventually realized that is the symptom if the shift is in the wrong place. So I tried to move it through all the possible positions but it refused to go into the drive position. It would move from P -> R -> N but not D.
I put it in R and lo and behold the engine started.
I then moved it to P and, as I'd guessed, the car moved BACKWARDS.
Somehow the cam for the gear positions had got one place off, with no access to a "P" position.
I drove it straight back to rental facility for a replacement, and told them the emergency brake was essential to ensure it didn't roll anywhere it shouldn't since P was unavailable and R was actually functioning as N.
Thankfully whatever actually occurred in the shifting mechanism didn't happen while driving.