water spilled into the gear shifter and the car will not move out of park

How very true! Mercedes-Benz is not the only manufacturer suffering from this issue but they seem to be more inclined to suffer damage from plain water than some of the others. The sticky residue from coffee or soda is generally much more of a problem for the other manufactures.

SHIFTING INTERLOCK MODULE,,Look at the bottom of the letters,p,r,n,d1,d2 and the is a small flapper about the size of a number 2 pensil,,stick the pensil straight down,in the hole,and at the same time move the shifter and it will come out of park,,it is in the instuction manual but just incase you dont have one, but it will have to be replaced,,ouch,,,