I was off-road a couple of days ago, reversing the vehicle towards a cliff at idle or thereabouts. I have a 2020 110 S model, so do not have the dipping side view mirrors.

I was surprised to find the vehicle will put the car in PARK, without applying the brakes I add, if one opens the driver's door to get a better view of the rear wheel. I tested it several times, and it appears to be the case. I am shocked, as this maneuver to see the ground and place the rear wheel is a stand-by for those who operate in tight spaces on difficult ground.

Does anyone know how to turn off this "safety" feature?

 

When you engage reverse with the door open (not just ajar), the car will automatically apply the park brake, all kinds of warnings will pop up and the shifter will return to Park, because the electronics assume you made a mistake. At that point, simply pull the park brake lever manually to release it, and re-engage reverse with the shifter. You will still get a warning chime that the door is open and/or that you are nuts for doing what you are doing, but you will be able to back up with the door open then. Same goes for moving forward with the door open, by the way.

 

I was running into the same issue. It was driving me nuts. There is a setting buried in pivi for "auto-park assist" or something similar. I can't remember what it was called specifically. Anyway, I deactivated it and haven't had an issue since.

 

Prudish demons possess my vehicle's computer, it seems.

Thank you. I did find the automatic park assist toggle and made sure it was off. It did not help.

I read the manual and tried LO range, the off-road modes and taking off and putting on my seat belt and combinations of each. I tried umbertob's suggestion and made some progress, but the computer is not satisfied to just warn you once and chime at you as you drive with the door open, after having manually turned off the parking brake. If you slow down, at all it seems, it will again shut you down, take the vehicle out of gear, put on the parking brake and proceed to hector you again for your flawed behavior, and force you through the whole rigmarole again and again and again.

I am not a happy camper yet....

 

There must be a way to configure this so that we are able to slowly drive forward or back with the door open without some electronic nanny putting us in park. Ugh.

 

What happens if you open the door at 20, 30, 90 mph? There must be some threshold that doesn’t put it in park if the door opens and you’re in gear. Sounds like you’re just going too slow, Trio. Maybe you can do some testing at the higher speeds and see what happens. Maybe take one for the team, how ‘bout it?

 

Imagine that. JLR won't let you back your $80,000 Defender up with the door open without bombarding you with warnings. Anyone that has done any off roading knows that opening the door to see happens quite a bit in certain instances. I am not surprised at the audible warnings but the forced park feature would chap my a$$. Sell it and get an LC.

 

I'd suspect that the physics of air pressure might prevent one from opening a door at 90mph.... One thing you could agree on - there's nothing better than doors-off wheeling in a Jeep.

In all seriousness, it sure is frustrating if you want to jump in and pull up/back a bit with the door open.

 

NoGaBiker:

I am very tempted. But, I am not a fan of the load placed on the transmission even when at 2 mph the vehicle shifts into park. Not sure it's wise to go as fast as necessary to find the limit.

Why the vehicle needs to set the parking brake on I do not know.

Clearly, the context of expected use continues to be primarily off-road -- even with the best 4WD system on the market anywhere.

 

@TrioLRowner - I tried the old school method of overriding: I stuck a pencil in the door latch and tripped it closed. I then tried to back up and no go. It out smarted the redneck engineer in me. Must be something else closing an electric switch. If found, perhaps it can be old school overridden.