[wormhole]

Hey everyone,

I posted a while back about fixing my rear hatch that does not unlock. When trying to open it manually today, I could not figure out for the life of me how to do it, unless it's broken and that's why it won't unlock.

Pics are attached. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[nth256]

Personally, I removed the plastic vanity cover on the inside of the hatch. It exposes all the guts, and it's easy to manipulate the linkages for the latch. It's separate from the bezel around the window, but you may need to loosen the bottom portions of the bezel on either side to allow the panel to pop entirely free.

Coincidentally, the plastic cover protrudes about two inches into the cargo area, and removing it frees up quite a bit of storage space. But don't be a dummy like me the throw your cover away.

 

[wormhole]

How do you remove the plastic cover for the rear hatch? Do I need to remove the fold-down speakers also?

It's a bit difficult to see how to do it without the hatch open, but can someone post their experience with manually opening the rear hatch? If it looks different then yours, is there something broken with mine?

-Pat

 

[nth256]

How do you remove the plastic cover for the rear hatch? Do I need to remove the fold-down speakers also?

It's a bit difficult to see how to do it without the hatch open, but can someone post their experience with manually opening the rear hatch? If it looks different then yours, is there something broken with mine?

-Pat

I didn't have the rear speakers, so all I had to do was yank (there might have been one or two screws to remove first). In your case, you'll probably have to find a ways to remove the speaker assembly first.

 

[SteveB2183]

Hey everyone,

I posted a while back about fixing my rear hatch that does not unlock. When trying to open it manually today, I could not figure out for the life of me how to do it, unless it's broken and that's why it won't unlock.

Pics are attached. Any help would be appreciated.

So that is the view you get when you have the factory sound system that puts speakers on the inside of the tail gate. The little white plastic piece that you have to rotate isn’t easily visible through that particular opening with those speakers. I found that folding the speakers down and going in through the opening where the speaker wires pass through had better visibility. But in any case, that little white plastic piece that you have to rotate isn’t aligned nicely with either hole; if you use the intended hole, that white piece is at the top of the opening with the shaft of a screw (that mounts the speaker assembly hinge) interfering with access so almost impossible to get to; if you use the speaker wire hole, it will be below and the screwdriver you use will be angled just to have a shot at it.

Terrible engineering on this. And what if you have a large load of stuff in back that won’t fit through the doors when this actuator fails? Really poorly thought out; an external key to manually unlock should be mandatory, but instead a few dollars saved in parts and labor in manufacturing leads to more profits.