Have you had this problem before? It has always been the button. I've worked with my dealership on this and was able to duplicate it over and over again (even had posted a youtube video showing how it fails and how to correct) on command. You duplicate it WITHOUT moving the shifter, heck you don't even need to touch the shifter. Just use one finger and tap the shift unlock button and it fixes and/or recreates the problem. If you don't have to move it in any direction and just tap the button, there is no way it is the link/cable coming off of it. The cable is pulled to tell the vehicle what "mode" you want it in and is a mechanical thing.
Originally Ford had an advisory that the cable needed to be adjusted because they thought when you were putting it in park, it wasn't moving it to the full position for the vehicle to register. This was not the case and Ford came out with a replacement part and now
This is purely electronic.
Ford Edge was having the same issue, here is a copy of the invoice from one of the Edge members: