This is a simple post: Rear hatch won't open from outside; latch seems to be toasted. It can be released from inside, and will open then, as you imagine this is very inconvenient. Any ideas? I did a search on the forum; I could not find anything; perhaps I did not use the correct search criteria but nonetheless nothing turned up. Thanks in advance!
Not being flippant but are you sure the 12 volt battery is ok? And that hatch not unlocking from outside is rare and has been bad 12 volt before. Weird stuff happening? MPGs dropping? Test The Battery | PriusChat
Haven't been able to check battery yet but will do soon. Any other ideas? In every other ways the car is acting fine.
When you say the latch seems to be toasted, do you just mean it isn't working or has the rubber cover of the switch turned to a sticky consistency. This is a fairly common problem in 2007-08 Prius and other Toyota models I have read many blogs about. I had to replace the back door opener switch on my 2007 Prius, because of the stickiness, the switch itself was functional. The cover had just turned into a gooey mess and it made it hard to find the actual mechanical switch button underneath when I pushed. If this is the case, tarlike surface that is, look for my post on back door opener switch replacement, "How to Replace Gen II Prius Back Door Opener Switch".
The latch itself feels perfectly fine. If I have the hatch open (manually, from the inside), when I push the button, the little interior light dims slightly, as if it is still getting the message. So, either the button is getting the message and stalling out before sending the signal down to the latch, or the latch is broken and preventing the button from being able to open it. Either way, I am just going to take it down to the dealer. It needs a new coolant sensor anyways; I can just have them take a look at the latch.
