Turn the ignition on, put your foot on the brake and just shift the auto transmission into the N position. If your battery is totally dead you will have to jump the battery from another vehicle in order to accomplish this.
You can also start a car in Neutral. Also remember to put your foot on the brake too.
Align the neutral lockout switch.
a mechanic told me it could be the neutral security switch on the clutch if it is a straight drive
It needs to be in park or neutral to start. All cars have a "safety" switch which prevents starting in gear.
It keeps the car from starting in gear. The starter will only engage in park or neutral.
The first half i can answer, the car wont start due to a thing called a neutral safety switch, car will not start unless it is in neutral or park, this is done as a safety feature so the car wont leap ahead or reverse when started The switch you are looking for is down behind the clutch petal and this electrical part costs about 50 Dollars you may have to remove the drivers seat to repair this conponet
For the Reverse problem, you could have low transmission fluid, or a bad transmission. For starting in drive, just about every modern car will not start when the transmission is in gear. They will only start in Park or Neutral. This is a safety feature to prevent the car from taking off into someone or something when started.
How do you know that it is your car?
No your car just wont come out of park.
It wont start
There is a little plunger switch that tells the car it is in park or neutral so the starter circuit can activate. Cycle through the shifter P-R-N-D... a few times, then go back to park and try again. If that doesnt work, try starting in in Neutral, but keep your foot on the brake pedal so you dont roll.
After you engage a gear and let out the clutch and accelerate the car wont move faster but the RPM's will move up. Also in some rare instances when a clutch disk material separates from the disk its self you wont be able to start the car or even change gears.