[PacDave]

So if stellantis put code that when the battery goes dead to lockup the transmission , you’d grenade the internals and potentially die .

As someone correctly stated, no, we don’t want the pawl to be automatically engaged when the battery dies. We want the pawl not to be disengaged. In fact, I’m pretty sure that engaging the pawl while the car is moving would not be as catastrophic as you suggest. There may be some internal damage if this happens but it’s doubtful that a parking pawl engagement would kill you. I remember a guy in my youth who jammed his transmission into park while driving down the road. It made some clattering noise but did not lock up the wheels or kill us.