Now here is something new. My wife left the ignition on on her '02 TB and the battery ran down. I tried to turn the ignition off (while the battery was dead) and remove the key. It would only turn to off, but not lock; the key would not come out. The shift lever was locked in park even with the key on. Is this a safety thing. Doesn't seem to safe to have to leave your key, even in a dead car.

Yep...that's normal operation. The same thing happened to me. I had to jumper the car just to get enough juice to shift out of park and get the key turned...but the battery was too dead to recharge, so I had to get a new one.