2004 Odyssey - Gear shift locked upon starting

My dealer hasn’t heard of this problem, it happens when parked on a up
or downhill slope. Starts fine but the gear shift will not move and
the red circle is not on P(park). You have to flip up this little
cover on the steering column, insert our key, move the gear shift,
restart. Sometimes I have to do it twice before it works. The
replaced a break light sensor of some sort thinking that might take
care of the problem but it didn’t. They have a flat parking lot so
they can’t duplicate the problem there.

 

Next time you park on a hill, while the vehicle is still in gear, set the
parking brake. Put the transmission in neutral. Then take your foot off of
the regular brake (slowly) till the parking brake is what's holding you in
place. Then put your foot back on the brake and set the transmission to
park.

See if when you return to the vehicle you still have the same problem.