Officers speculated that the car’s flashing hazard lights may have been turned on to attract attention.
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There was no detonating device found in the vehicle.
Police are also looking for the owner’s daughter, whom he described to investigators as radicalised.
Two others officials, speaking on condition of anonymity since the investigation is ongoing, said an employee of a bar near Notre Dame Cathedral flagged the auto Sunday morning as it was parked along the Seine River.
Two suspects linked to the incident were arrested, reports Reuters.
An armed French soldier patrols in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, December 24, 2015.
The couple, aged 27 and 26, were placed in custody late on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported citing BFMTV.
The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the most famous churches in the world and attracts 13 million tourists each year.
French police arrested the second pair on Wednesday evening and were taken into custody, a judicial official said on Thursday.
France remains on high alert for terrorism after a series of attacks across the country since January past year, most recently after 86 people were killed in Nice when a truck driver deliberately drove into a crowd of Bastille Day revellers.
Police found no detonators in the vehicle.
According to the Minister of Internal Affairs Bernard Cazeneuve, only in August, the French Security Services detained seven people linked to ISIS and other three were planning to commit terrorist attacks before they were unmasked.
ISIS said the driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was one of its followers.
In July, 86 people were killed and dozens injured when a lorry ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in the Mediterranean resort of Nice.
“Once they have bomb makers in place on our soil, they’ll be able to avoid sacrificing fighters while creating maximum damage”, he said at a parliamentary national defence committee meeting.
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Less than a fortnight later two young jihadists murdered a priest near the northern city of Rouen.
