Liftgate Stuck, Won't Open

S

sdxicana

Member
Me and my husband just bought a 2013 CX5 last week. So far the car itself is great, but we've been having one issue that has been incredibly frustrating, and that has been the rear liftgate. I just cannot seem to master the art of unlocking the thing! I read the manual, and I click the Smart Key twice like it says, and it doesn't unlock. I try to do it within the parameters of the car that you are supposed to, but it's hit or miss, halfthe time it just will not unlock. When my husband drops me off at work in the morning, I go to the back to get my gym bag when I get out of the car, and it takes us like 5 minutes just trying to get that back gate open, we click on every unlock button in the car and on the remote we can possibly find, and eventually it just randomly opens, we just don't have that kind of time LOL.

This morning I tried unlocking with the smart key, I tried unlocking it from the inside on the driver side door, and the dang thing is stuck. I can't open it, it's locked, or stuck or something. Why is this so frustrating? Why can't I just open the rear liftgate!? I feel so dumb, because I know this is probably something super easy, and I"m just not figuring it out. I even read the manual, but it was of no help.

Any suggestions? Advice?

Thanks!
 
Welcome to the site.

Some vehicles have a kind of security feature that locks the doors and tailgate after a while and / or after the car has been driven - possibly as an anti-car-jacking security feature.

What happens if, from outside the car, you use the Smart key to lock then double-unlock ?

Sorry I have no experience of a CX5 but that has happened with some of my vehicles recently (Mazda MX5 / Maitra, Mazda 2-Demio, Audit A4 and GM Corsa).
 
I think the liftgate cannot be opened unless the car is in park. Does your husband perhaps leave it in drive while you go to get your stuff? Also, since the car is running and the key I assume is with your husband in the car, I don't think the liftgate would sense the key in its proximity so using the proximity button may not help. Next time, have your husband put the car in park and hit the unlock button on the door and see if that works. It may be a safety feature that if you are in the running car, you obviously don't want some random stranger coming along and popping open your liftgate. But if the car is running and in park and you actively unlock all doors it should then be able to be opened from the outside.

Also, it is an electronic latch so sometimes it takes a second to respond. Hold the latch for a second or two until you hear it.
 
You know what, yea when he tries to unlock the hatch the car is still running and I think he has the car in neutral with the foot on the brake. He tries using both the Smart Key and the door lock on his driver side door but neither of those things work. So that just might be the problem, next time he has to actually put the handbrake on and maybe even turn off the car?

The part I dont get though is that this morning when we were about to leave the house, I walked up to the car, I hit the unlock button on the Smart Key twice as I was standing right next to the car, but it wouldn't unlock the hatch. This was before we even got in the car. Then we tried the driver side door locks, and nothing. That's what leads us to our now current problem, that the rear hatch just won't open at all! The car is in the parking lot, not turned on or anything, and he's been trying all afternoon to get it unlocked with no luck. I hope it's not a malfunction! We're going to have to take it back to the dealer and see if they can help us with that one =(
 
Don't mean to be insulting, but just to confirm....you are trying to open the hatch by standing outside the car facing the hatch, reaching up under the lip above the license plate and pressing on the release button, right? Just wanted to make sure you're not looking to have it open by itself using a release of some kind inside the car or on the remote, since the CX-5 doesn't have that.
If that's the case, I'd run it by the dealer. Since it's an electronic switch, it could just be a fault switch, bad contacts, a short in that wiring, etc.
 
robertmazda said:
Don't mean to be insulting, but just to confirm....you are trying to open the hatch by standing outside the car facing the hatch, reaching up under the lip above the license plate and pressing on the release button, right? Just wanted to make sure you're not looking to have it open by itself using a release of some kind inside the car or on the remote, since the CX-5 doesn't have that.
If that's the case, I'd run it by the dealer. Since it's an electronic switch, it could just be a fault switch, bad contacts, a short in that wiring, etc.
Click to expand...

There's a button? (lol2) Just kidding.

Yea, I'm opening it as it's supposed to from the outside with the button, I mean for the first week and a half we've had the car, the back was opening fine other than our quesitons about unlocking.

My husband is going to the dealer tomorrow because they promised him a detail on the car, so at that point he's going to ask them to take a look at it, because we've tried everything and have not been able to get the back hatch open. We definitely think there is something going on in there that's causing it to be stuck. I don't know if there is like an emergency release or something in side the door somewhere, but now I just hope it's nothing big and that they can get it unstuck easy! (crazy)
 
He took it to the dealer on Friday and they said it was some electrical piece on the latch that needed to be replaced, looks like it was faulty. Bad news is that it's going to likely take at least a week before they get the part, so no hatch until we do. Good news is that it looks like we won't have to pay anything for it.

Now hopefully once we get that fixed, we'll be able to successfully unlock that hatch now that we know what not to do lol.
 
Well, I'm having the same problem with my 2 week old 2015 Mazda CX-5. I've been reading the manual trying to find a solution but I could not. So, I decided to search this forum and low and behold looks like I found the solution. Looks like I will be heading to my dealer.
 
I have same exact problem

sdxicana said:
Me and my husband just bought a 2013 CX5 last week. So far the car itself is great, but we've been having one issue that has been incredibly frustrating, and that has been the rear liftgate. I just cannot seem to master the art of unlocking the thing! I read the manual, and I click the Smart Key twice like it says, and it doesn't unlock. I try to do it within the parameters of the car that you are supposed to, but it's hit or miss, halfthe time it just will not unlock. When my husband drops me off at work in the morning, I go to the back to get my gym bag when I get out of the car, and it takes us like 5 minutes just trying to get that back gate open, we click on every unlock button in the car and on the remote we can possibly find, and eventually it just randomly opens, we just don't have that kind of time LOL.

This morning I tried unlocking with the smart key, I tried unlocking it from the inside on the driver side door, and the dang thing is stuck. I can't open it, it's locked, or stuck or something. Why is this so frustrating? Why can't I just open the rear liftgate!? I feel so dumb, because I know this is probably something super easy, and I"m just not figuring it out. I even read the manual, but it was of no help.

Any suggestions? Advice?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
For the first day I was trying to unlock the hatch by the button on the right side of the hatch. Then I realized there was also a middle button . All I was doing is locking - unlocking the car! Smart key has a learning curve.
 
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