Rear tailgate latch not opening, probably broken?

[Desert Bronco.]

My 2022 Bronco Sport BL will not release the rear lift gate? I have just under 60,000 miles. I’ve tried opening it three ways, key fob, manually pushing the button on the exterior of the door and pushing the button on the interior front dash. I can hear a small noise but it won’t release. I’ve had intermittent problems with the back door since new with the back door just releasing voluntary?

do I need to pay the dealer $195 to diagnose the issue? They quoted me $195 for the part.

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[Mark S.]

Try a lock-unlock-lock cycle. Try pushing on the lift gate while pressing the release button. It's possible you have some gunk in the latch that's preventing it releasing. Does the window release work?

 

[NMhunter]

Try what Mark S. said. I had trouble getting mine to close completely, and finally realized that the rubber seal had come out at the bottom and was preventing it from closing all the way. It might also prevent it from opening.

 

[Desert Bronco.]

Try what Mark S. said. I had trouble getting mine to close completely, and finally realized that the rubber seal had come out at the bottom and was preventing it from closing all the way. It might also prevent it from opening.

The car was fixed at the local Ford dealer. I opened up a FAR (financial assistance request) with Ford and the latch was replaced free of cost. Ford picked up the parts and labor cost. My customer score was 92/100 so it’s a high scours. FMC looks at where the car was purchased, service records, do you take the car to a Ford dealer, how many claims, how much in total has been paid for service and other criteria?

The problem occurred during my initial warranty period. The latch would get stuck and you would need to finagle the lock by trying to open/close etc until the latch released. It was an intermittent problem. None of the dealers could replicate the problem even though I had taken a video. It went to three different dealers for the same issue. The problem did resolve itself, but at 60k miles the latch failed. And would not open.

 

[Dude]

Never heard of a Ford FAR (financial assistance request), can you provide more details of what that is and how you went about opening a FAR?

 

[Desert Bronco.]

Call Ford. FoMoCo and talk to them about your issue. Ask for financial assistance on the repair. This is basically after the fact, your warranty is over. They will either pay for parts or labor or take care of the entire repair? It’s predicted on your customer score; everyone starts with 100. Did you buy the car new, from a dealer, where the car is serviced, etc? Dealer or not. It’s a goodwill payout.

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