I reviewed the extremely comprehensive owners manual and unfortunately didn't find the procedure to release the rear hatch from the inside of the vehicle in an emergency like the 12v battery being discharged. I popped the small plastic rectangular cover on the inside trim of the hatch where the latch is, but I didn't see or feel a release. I also removed the foam liner under the cargo cover and didn't see a release there either. Has anyone determined the procedure yet for a 5th gen Prius? As a side note, mine is an XLE so no power hatch.
There was probably one incident where somebody dropped a peanut behind the hatch deck and it somehow got under the release lever.
Thanks for that and agreed it's in the manual but hard to find since they call that the "back door". Guessing it's for legal reasons which is annoying!
I dunno, sometimes it's just how things get translated from Japanese. I saw the only sections there were "side doors" and "back door" and there wasn't one for "hatch", and kind of thought "well, 'back door' might be it".
Yeah, I think it's a combination of translation and also standardization of terms across models. Look at the FJ Cruiser vs. 4Runner. They both have rear openings of about the same size. But the FJ Cruiser has one that opens like a standard door, while the 4Runner has one that opens like a hatchback. Does Toyota use two different terms in all of their literature for effectively the same object, or do they just use a single term and not care about the trivial differences between them? For Toyota, the answer is the latter. If it opens and closes, it's a door. If it opens into the back of the main cabin, it's a back door. If it opens into a dedicated luggage compartment(trunk), it's not a trunk lid, it's a luggage compartment door. It's a little weird to wrap your head around at first, but when you consider the huge range of vehicles between Toyota, Lexus and Scion, it makes sense.
My first car had a whole little tool kit that came with it, in a roll-up pouch with the manufacturer logo. I still think that's good to have, even though I have to supply it myself now. (Some of the tools came from that original car and pouch!) I would consider a screwdriver to be a bare minimum to have on hand in the car.
In my view, anything called a door should be able to open from the inside and the outside, so calling the hatchback opening a door seems misleading (the temporary plate on the Prius calls the vehicle type “hatchback” as a side note). Since 2001, the government has required all vehicles to have an emergency release inside the “trunk” to avoid kids and people getting stuck or kidnapped. I am sure the way around this is if the trunk space is open to the rest of the cabin like this hatchback style or an SUV, but it definitely would be nice to have them regardless. I sleep inside the Land Cruiser on a platform when camping, and I added a JDM switch that allows the rear liftgate to open from inside the vehicle. I’m going to see if there’s a way to add the same switch to the Prius by tapping into the existing hatch release wiring. I plan to use the Prius in a similar way and camp in the back which is why I want to be able to open it without crawling through the second row doors.
