Superb Mk111 Electric Tailgate

[david495]

I have a  2016 Superb estate  with the electric tail gate. Button operation from the key fob or button on the centre console. However these will only make it go u/p.  Can it be programmed to make it go down as well?

[Individual]

It should be possible to close the tailgate with keyfob. You have to stand behind the car within a radius of 2 meters and press the tailgatebutton for 3 seconds. The option for closing with centreconsole button I think is impossible with your model...

[nicowalker85]

Only closes with KESSY as standard. My SEL doesn't close.

[dstev2000]

It won't close with the button on the central console. Probably for safety reasons. You can alter the coding on the Mk.3 Octavia's electric boot via VCDS to allow this, but as yet it hasn't been sussed on the Mk.3 Superb. Hopefully it will just be a matter of time before it gets figured out. 

[Majikthise]

AAARGH!
Just collected my SEL a few hours ago and found this prob almost straight away.

It's a major problem for me because I'm a wheelchair user and can't reach the tailgate once it's open.

I've set the open limit really low as a workaround but it's a bit of a rubbish solution. For some reason, my wife and other people who can stand don't like a tailgate that only opens chest high!

 

I feel really cheated. I've spent what amounts to my life savings getting this car as it will probably be my last.

 

The demo I got at the dealership was of a L&K with KESSY - opened and closed remotely no probs. I even checked the owners handbook before ordering. When it says "By pressing the symbol key on the key (for approx. 1 s). Applies to vehicles with KESSY. The key must be at a maximum distance of about 2 m from the door." I assumed it meant you need to be near to the boot to close it with KESSY. I've had cars with electric tailgates before so it never even occurred to me to question whether the tailgate would close remotely.

 

It's going back to the dealership in a few days. MK2 Superbs could have remote closing enabled via VCDS. I'm just hoping the same is true of the MK3. Otherwise I'll have to get the soldering iron out and start making modifications - Not something I want to do.

 

Anyone had any luck getting around this on the MK3?

[Coops]

It can close via KESSY fob, mine does it

[Majikthise]

Well it was only a matter of time. Today I managed to press the centre console button and open the boot while hauling my wheelchair into the car.

No choice but to sit there like an idiot and wait for someone to come past who I could ask to close the tailgate for me.

 

I've Facebooked Skoda UK, who have taken my details and say they'll get back to me. Hmmmm....

The car goes back to the dealers tomorrow to see if they can enable remote closing via VCDS or whatever. No idea why they have to see the car before they can tell me whether or not this is possible. Anyway, watch this space.

 

Meanwhile, I've been giving this some thought. Seems to me the simplest thing to do might be to modify the wiring slightly so that the centre console button works in parallel with the "close" button on the tailgate, making the centre console button close the boot rather than open it. This could probably be done without making any permanent changes to the car at all.

 

Anbody know where I might be able to get details of the electric tailgate wiring circuit? Hopefully there will be some component somewhere where the tailgate close button wire and the centre console open button wire both plug in. That would be the place to make the change.

[Gizmo]

Kufatec made a loom and controller for the MKII Superb to close the tailgate (this was before the coding became available... this took around 18 months IIRC) it was not cheap at around £150 but more importantly required a pretty major retrofit as the loom had to be run the length of the car etc.

They do not have one for the S3 though (possibly because they were ‘caught out’ with the S2 being just a coding change?)

 

It should be possible for the dealer or a VCDS owner to enable the closure with the remote though.

[blahde2]

Well it was only a matter of time. Today I managed to press the centre console button and open the boot while hauling my wheelchair into the car.

No choice but to sit there like an idiot and wait for someone to come past who I could ask to close the tailgate for me.

As a temp (or perminant fix) get yourself a length of bamboo and stick a wedge or rubber to one end. Haul your wheelchair in, pickup bamboo stick and reach up to press the button. I am assuming you are able to do this, apologies if mistaken.

A secondary option would be to purchase a second tailgate button from TPS (can't imagine it beimg more than £20) & enough twin core wire to run from the current buttons (spliced in) rear connector, back through the inside of the tailgate and neatly down to a point of your choosing by the boot lip. Double sided sticky tape, some velcro and you have a button down low for you to use.

I know this would be an unapproved modification, but if you had your local dealership do the work (30mins) under the premis of fixing a miss sold option (they should have told you you needed KESSY to close via keyfob), you would be covered by warranty. This is what I would do to fix it until the coding is cracked (if ever).

Cheapest option would be a stick of bamboo with a rubber thimble stuck on one end. Just velcro the bamboo to the floor or you might find its slid right to the back of your boot meaning a pain to get out!

[ukgnome]

Can you re-code the S3 L&K Estate so the button in the front console will also close the boot door as well as opening it.

[Gizmo]

Not yet, the coding for the S2 took a couple of years so I am still hoping it may be available one day, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Majikthise]

As a temp (or perminant fix) get yourself a length of bamboo and stick a wedge or rubber to one end. Haul your wheelchair in, pickup bamboo stick and reach up to press the button. I am assuming you are able to do this, apologies if mistaken.

A secondary option would be to purchase a second tailgate button from TPS (can't imagine it beimg more than £20) & enough twin core wire to run from the current buttons (spliced in) rear connector, back through the inside of the tailgate and neatly down to a point of your choosing by the boot lip. Double sided sticky tape, some velcro and you have a button down low for you to use.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. You're right. There are lots of low-tech ways to let the boot open wide then close it again when you can only reach about 4ft from the ground. A stick to poke the button with or a bit of string hanging down to pull on would both work fine.

 

But the problem is different to that. I don't store the wheelchair in the boot if I'm on my own. It rides in the front of the car with me. The problem is what happens if the boot opens while I'm inside the car on my own. Believe it or not, the trip from the driver's seat to the back of the car to poke a button with a stick and back again takes me close to 20 minutes. I really really need to be able to close the boot from inside the car.

 

I do have a whole lot of ideas for completely reversible solutions to this problem. More of which later.

[Majikthise]

Got the official word from Skoda UK today:

 

...it is not possible to enable remote tailgate closing, using VCDS. The reason is due to the compatibility of components in your vehicle, this feature is only available at point of order as a factory fit option.

 

 

 

Call me cynical if you like but it seems to me more likely that making remote boot closing dependent on KESSY is more to do with flogging KESSY than anything else. I had keyless entry on my previous car and it's nice to have, but not as nice to have as the 400 quid it costs as an extra. BTW I notice the "car configurator" on the Skoda website is now saying "LED Package Plus" is only available if you take KESSY as well. That wasn't the case a few months ago when I ordered mine.

 

My dealer toes the company line and says there is no recode option. Also that they can't even disconnect  the centre console button because it's wired directly to a multi-wire connector. Not that I'd want to admit defeat and disconnect the thing anyway.

[Gizmo]

Škoda will have you believe that many options cannot be coded on with VCDS and they need to be specced and fitted at the factory.

 

We of course know different!

 

Take the TSR on a L&K it’s a £85 (IIRC) option that needs to be specced.... nope it’s code able, I could go on but you get my point.

Edited 7 June, 2016 by Gizmo68

[blahde2]

I really really need to be able to close the boot from inside the car.

I do have a whole lot of ideas for completely reversible solutions to this problem. More of which later.

Ok, so buy two buttons, wire them in as before, one for the boot entrance and one (if done right) to a blanked off console button next to park assist or whatever eother side of the gear lever. Find a Superb with an extra button than yours, photograph it's VIN and then ask TPS to get you that specific button/part and any fittings required (not wiring) so it can go into yours.

It doesn't matter about which symbol is on the button, just that it has two connections on the back and operates as an on off rather than a signal. (A VCDS GOD LIKE GIZMO MIGHT BE ABLE TO DETERMINE IF THAT BUTTON COULD BE RE-CODED TO BELIEVE IT'S THE ONE ON THE BOOT LID RATHER THAN PARK ASSIST OR WHATEVER!)

Just trying to give options, probably thought of by your good self already no doubt. Alternatively, use my velcro option and stick the extra boot button down the side of your seat if doing the console button is too complex or impossible to code.

Edited 7 June, 2016 by blahde2

[Guest]

[Vaim]

Škoda will have you believe that many options cannot be coded on with VCDS and they need to be specced and fitted at the factory.

 

We of course know different!

 

Take the TSR on a L&K it’s a £85 (IIRC) option that needs to be specced.... nope it’s code able, I could go on but you get my point.

 

I definitely could not take JUST TSR.

I had to take something nuts like electric seats, 1k+ of navigation and some other crap to just get TSR and the front camera with it.

[GuzziDibble]

I've managed to open mine accidentally via the centre console twice, a colleague has suggested I don't go through the Lion enclosure at a Safari park until this is sorted.

[maffyou]

I definitely could not take JUST TSR.

I had to take something nuts like electric seats, 1k+ of navigation and some other crap to just get TSR and the front camera with it.

Probably depends on country, but certainly on SE L and above in the UK you have any necessary prerequisites to speccing TSR at £85. If you are getting SE L the beauty there is you spec TSR for £85 and then get the £850 Lane Assist coded for next to nothing. It sort of annoys me that manufacturers can charge nearly a grand for essentially ticking some boxes in software, but that's economics for you!

As for the OP's issue, I've been following this thread with interest. Personally I think it's outrageous that Skoda aren't trying to help you out, when it must be possible to resolve in some way. It's potentially arguably discriminatory in fact - for most users it's a pain in the proverbial but for you it's a genuine usage issue. I think it's really disappointing they seem unwilling to help.

[D402]

It might be possible to connect something like this DC 12v 1CH Wireless RF Remote Control Switch Transmitter Receiver 10A Relay in parallel with the close button, £3.98 delivered!

[Mike66]

I tested sitting in the car, stick arm out of window and press key fob, boot shut without a problem. Doesn't work if press key fob inside the car, needed to be out of the window.

[GaSelle]

I tested sitting in the car, stick arm out of window and press key fob, boot shut without a problem. Doesn't work if press key fob inside the car, needed to be out of the window.

Yes - but his car still don´t have KESSY, so he can´t do that!

[Enriquez]

With kessy boot is not closing if you are not so close to the tailgate. But quick double click on the fob enables clising from even 50 meters. Maybe the same is without kessy. Maybe as well it would be fine to compare the codings and adaptations of tailgate modules with and without kessy.

[Majikthise]

It might be possible to connect something like this DC 12v 1CH Wireless RF Remote Control Switch Transmitter Receiver 10A Relay in parallel with the close button, £3.98 delivered!

 

Yup. Definite possibilities there. Cheap and easy to install as long as the wiring from the "close" button can be identified. Only thing to watch is the quiescent current drain (how much it uses while waiting to be activated) - don't want it draining the battery while the car isn't in use. Easy enough to get around by drawing power from the right circuit. Ideally the one that powers the lights that come on when the tailgate opens.

 

As it happens I'm a bit of an electronics whiz so I would probably build my own module. Ideally 2x relays, one to mimic the open button on the centre console and one to mimic the close button on the tailgate. For my purposes, operation via the button on the centre console would be fine. First press operates the "open" relay. Next press operates the "close" relay and so on. If I found I also needed remote control like the eBay module has, that would be easy enough to add. May even be possible to use the original remote, same as the old Kufatec module for the MK2.

 

I'd need to find out the best place to tap into the wiring for the open/close button though. Anyone got any ideas?

[mikehp1]

Picked up my new superb sel exec estate 220 dsg on the 1st March the sales person took me through the workings of the car but could not close the tailgate from the the key fob. When l had my test drive it was in a hatchback but the sales guy the boot worked the same has the estate and that it was fully automatic opening/closing off the key fob the brochure even says this no mention of KSSY. ln the brochure this is stated 3 times on pages 12 ,20 and 29 l cannot lift my arms higher than my shoulders and my legs are us so cannot climb ladders l would l would need to carry 1 with me to reach the close button. I have just got back from the dealership and they say get in touch with Skoda to see what can be done (me by the looks of it).