I took my cup holder out and under it there is removable plate. I did not have this in my 07 XK. Under the plate is this. Anyone know what it is? I can't find anything about it in the book. Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, that puts the car in neutral for towing or moving in case the battery is dead, and the electronic shifter is not able to function.

 

Thanks, Good to know. Hopefuuly, I'll never need it.

 

That cover is supposed to be screwed down, which is very inconvenient when you're stuck and need a tow. It's a good idea to remove that screw as soon as you get the car and throw the screw away.

 

And it is a hex star head so, a regular screw driver would not work. Thanks for the heads up.

 

The item in the photo is to manually operate the parking brake if the vehicle does not run, or the battery is flat. It has nothing to do with shifting the vehicle out of the 'P' position.

No tools are required to operate the rear calipers.

 

The handbook would disagree with you:

EMERGENCY PARK RELEASE (EPR)
When recovering your vehicle, it is essential
that the EPR is operated. EPR prevents the
transmission from automatically selecting P,
ensuring that the transmission remains in
neutral . EPR is operated by a lever located
beneath a trim panel in the cubby box. Before
activating EPR, select P, apply the parking
brake and turn the ignition off.

 

You're incorrectly assuming the vehicle has power. If the vehicle has a discharged battery, one cannot select 'P' position with the gear selector.

 

From all my reading across XF, XK, XJ and F-Type the EPR (Emergency Park Release) in question has absolutely nothing at all to do with the EPB (Electronic Parking Brake). Instead all it does is mechanically disengage the Park pawl (the little mechanism which locks the transmission when in Park) so in effect take the car out of Park and put it in Neutral.
Put another way the EPR is purely mechanical while the EPB is electrically driven.

 

I, unfortunately, have had to use the :"park release" strap several times in my 8 years of ownership, so I know for a fact that it will allow the car to go into neutral when there is no power to the shifter. And I recall finding that information in the Owner's Manual some years ago.

 

Us old people will remember at least a couple times Mr Berg has announced as such.

 

Yes, you are correct and I was wrong. I looked at an X351 and it does move the gearbox into the 'N' position. I was thinking about a vehicle that wouldn't release the EPB.

 

A longer-than-it-has-to-be article on this feature:
​​​
https://jalopnik.com/how-to-tow-a-ja...hift-l-5531821

This is for an F-type, but seems to be valid across the range with the pop-up shifter.
I keep a small spline driver in the cars tool kit in case this issue arises. Hasn't happened yet...