Can't open tailgate when battery is dead! (1 Viewer)

[68W65D]

I went out to my LX470 today and it was completely dead. I hadn't driven it in a week and it was so dead no interior lights came on. The power locks didn't work. It was dead, dead, dead.

I have a battery booster pack I keep in the back but for whatever reason, I could not open the back tail gate with my key.

So I manually unlocked the front passenger door, reached through and unlocked the back passenger door ,and then folded the seat to crawl in the back.

Here is where it gets weird...

I couldn't open the tailgate from inside either. I undid the plastic lock above the handle. I pulled the handle, and then... nothing.

I get the booster and crawl back out. Plug it into the battery and I get lights, but not enough juice to start the LX. I get jumper cables and hook my car up to it and the alarm starts going off. I try the key fob and am able to turn off the alarm. I now have my car and the booster plugged in and the LX starts!

Now that the car is running I try the power locks and they all work. The tailgate even opens. I try to manually cycle the rear lock with the key and it locks and unlocks.

This makes no sense to me.


Anybody have an explanation?

 

[68W65D]

Also...

My battery is currently out of the truck and on a bench trickle charging.
I just tried the tailgate again with my key and still can't get it to open.

 

[UltraFJ40]

Maybe there is a lever to select the child protection thing on the tailgate. The thing that won't let you open it from the inside. I haven't looked but that would be my guess.

As far as the keys go, My valet key (which I do not use often) will not unlock my passenger front door. I try to use the other keys randomly so that the pins fall the way they are supposed to.

 

[Luke111]

Maybe there is a lever to select the child protection thing on the tailgate. The thing that won't let you open it from the inside. I haven't looked but that would be my guess.

As far as the keys go, My valet key (which I do not use often) will not unlock my passenger front door. I try to use the other keys randomly so that the pins fall the way they are supposed to.

The child protection is a small switch that does prevent opening the door from the inside but you still open it from the outside. He has
a key....could the lock be bad?

 

[gungriffin]

It seems like it is an electronic lock mechanism so it doesn't work without power. I had the same issue. Dead battery and it will not open without power. Even using the key in the rear hatch.

 

[68W65D]

I have the battery back in and everything is working as it should. As was mentioned above, turns out the key to the tailgate is an electronic mechanism, not a mechanical one. This means that you can't open it when the battery is dead.

The thing that surprises me about all of this is that if you are in an accident where you loose all electric power, and you happen to have the rear child lock on, then one would not be able to open the rear to egress the vehicle.

 

[BudgetLC]

I have to use the mechanical inside lever sometimes in warmer weather since my actuator is getting old and weak. I didn't know it had a child lock.

 

[Pyrenees]

At least it's not a porsche 911, which has an electronic hood that covers the battery. When the battery dies, you can't access the battery

 

[BillZ260]

I had my battery pulled yesterday, and went through the same sequence as you, but, was able to open my hatch.

I did find it odd that using the key and unlocking the tailgate, made no difference, couldn't open from the outside, crawled through like you, and popped right open.

 

[gungriffin]

I had my battery pulled yesterday, and went through the same sequence as you, but, was able to open my hatch.

I did find it odd that using the key and unlocking the tailgate, made no difference, couldn't open from the outside, crawled through like you, and popped right open.

The lock is electric and the mechanism to open the hatch is mechanical. The interior level bypasses the lock.

 

[68W65D]

I had my battery pulled yesterday, and went through the same sequence as you, but, was able to open my hatch.

I did find it odd that using the key and unlocking the tailgate, made no difference, couldn't open from the outside, crawled through like you, and popped right open.

Did you have the child lock on? Mine was.

When it is on, you can't exit the vehicle in an emergency if there is no power.

 

[BudgetLC]

At least it's not a porsche 911, which has an electronic hood that covers the battery. When the battery dies, you can't access the battery

My 06 Prius has a similar problem. The battery is in the hatch area and the latch is electronic. You can get in but you have to hook up jumper cables to a couple of charging post they have by the fuse box in the engine compartment. There is a manual way to do it but you have to crawl into the back and remove some interior trim pieces to reach the latch. Not Toyota's best design.

 

[gungriffin]

My 06 Prius has a similar problem. The battery is in the hatch area and the latch is electronic. You can get in but you have to hook up jumper cables to a couple of charging post they have by the fuse box in the engine compartment. There is a manual way to do it but you have to crawl into the back and remove some interior trim pieces to reach the latch. Not Toyota's best design.

Most of the German cars are like this. You jump the battery from the front even though the battery is in the trunk and the trunks always use that damn electric latch mechanism ...

 

[BillZ260]

No child lock, @gungriffin is right. Odd. What is the point of the key hole in the rear? The design assumes battery connected I guess.

 

[Leandro]

I had the same issue with my daughter's Jeep Patriot last week. Once I got it running and some electricity flowing thru the car I could open the tailgate. This was not completely dead, because the lock/unlock button worked on all 4 doors, just not on the tailgate.