Hi,

 

Off on holiday this week with our 2 dogs. 

I am constantly worried about the stupid tailgate button - pressing it by accident at traffic lights etc and the dogs would jump out.

 

Tried looking for a fuse but the manual says the same fuse is required for washer jets...

 

Anyone know another way of deactivating it? I would unplug the switch but I have no idea how to remove the gloss black panel around the gear selector. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If I don’t get anywhere they’ll be going on the back seats. 

 

Thanks

It will be interesting to see if there is a solution. I fitted a crate in the back to rid myself of this anxiety!

Under Car Settings -> Opening & Closing, untick the "Easy Open" feature.

 

Never mind releasing the hounds, think of the embarrassment of having to get out of the car to close it.

 

Obviously I've never made such a mistake ..

Not a dog owner but surely the dogs should be restrained/ harnessed when in the back of the car.

That's what I do with my dogs - you are absolutely right.

 

Its children that I put behind my dog guard.

How long have you had the car?

 

Have you ever or even come close to releasing the tailgate inadvertently?

 

If you've had the car a while and I think you have and you can say no to both of the others then surely you have no worries?

On 24/09/2019 at 10:53, Kenny R said:

Not a dog owner but surely the dogs should be restrained/ harnessed when in the back of the car.

 

Not just for the dog's safety but for yours.  You don't want them flying around inside the car in an accident.

3 hours ago, IJWS15 said:

 

Not just for the dog's safety but for yours.  You don't want them flying around inside the car in an accident.

 

I suspect the OP has a dog guard. I have a crate, and others will use harnesses and seatbelt connectors. There are sadly, still people who drive around with their dogs loose and skipping between front and back seats.

On 24/09/2019 at 10:53, Kenny R said:

Not a dog owner but surely the dogs should be restrained/ harnessed when in the back of the car.

 

If they're on the seat somewhere, yes, they should be restrained. In the case of a dog guard, they will generally be loose in the boot but the guard will prevent them either choosing to make their way into the seated area, or in the case of a crash, flying at high speed into the front of the car and causing serious injuries / death all round.

Yeah a guard will prevent dog being thrown into front of car and possibly killing your passengers put it won’t prevent serious injury to dog or doggy chips as it comes through guard if unrestrained.

11 hours ago, Kenny R said:

Yeah a guard will prevent dog being thrown into front of car and possibly killing your passengers put it won’t prevent serious injury to dog or doggy chips as it comes through guard if unrestrained.

 

Like everything in life you have to choose the level of risk you're prepared to accept. If your going to restrain a dog, you might as well restrain it on a seat, or just dispense with the guard. I'm only aware of one crash tested dog harness available in the UK - most others would probably cause the dog greater injuries in a serious crash than hitting a dog guard with force. The only real solution is not to put them in cars at all. 

9 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

The only real solution is not to put them in cars at all. 

 

We tried that but he couldn't keep up after about 15mph 

On 23/09/2019 at 12:49, JR RS said:

Under Car Settings -> Opening & Closing, untick the "Easy Open" feature.

 

That only de-activates the virtual pedal/contactless opening though, not the console button, isn't it?

It's one of the reasons I'm glad I don't have a leccy boot, although I was more concerned of him trapping his ears when the boot closed.

 

Although some cockwomble did open the boot once, I misjudged the crawling traffic on a pedestrian crossing and ended up with my rear slightly over the crossing, chap going across banged on the back window and opened the boot - he then found himself face to face with a very annoyed off 50kg German Shepherd😂

Since then I set the doors to autolock.

15 hours ago, unclerichy said:

 

We tried that but he couldn't keep up after about 15mph 

 

Good point. Mine objected to the wind noise in the roof box.... 😆

I got fed up coming out in the morning t see the tailgate open, usually when it had been raining!

I fixed it by simply taking the key apart and cutting off the little button that operates  the switch.

Now it does not work at all, a bit inconvenient sometimes but a lot less than having it open whenever you inadvertently press the key, I keep the key my pocket at all times so whenever I knelt down or pressed against something it would open the tailgate.

Yes, I don't have to keep the key in my pocket but I do.

On 25/09/2019 at 21:19, Bud said:

How long have you had the car?

 

Have you ever or even come close to releasing the tailgate inadvertently?

 

If you've had the car a while and I think you have and you can say no to both of the others then surely you have no worries?

I fully agree. Almost 2 years with mine. Never opened accidentally. I think you have to press at least for 1s on the knob to make the boot open...

33 minutes ago, Bap33 said:

I fully agree. Almost 2 years with mine. Never opened accidentally. I think you have to press at least for 1s on the knob to make the boot open...

 

I don't think it matters which part of the anatomy presses the button...

Edited 28 September, 20196 yr by unclerichy
Missing quote

I'm curious to know what position you have, when you drive... 🤔 😄

Joke aside, I assume the knob remain on the right side of the gearbox lever, whatever LHD or RHD. It may be safer on a LHD version, 😉

Nevertheless, my wife neither pressed the knob accidentally, even if she often lays her phone on the can compartment cover, which is quite close.

 

Unless you rather raise the armrest, IMHO it quite efficiently protects the button.

11 hours ago, Bap33 said:

I'm curious to know what position you have, when you drive... 🤔 😄

Joke aside, I assume the knob remain on the right side of the gearbox lever, whatever LHD or RHD. It may be safer on a LHD version, 😉

Nevertheless, my wife neither pressed the knob accidentally, even if she often lays her phone on the can compartment cover, which is quite close.

 

Unless you rather raise the armrest, IMHO it quite efficiently protects the button.

Its on the left of the gear lever on RHD

On 25/09/2019 at 20:19, Bud said:

How long have you had the car?

 

Have you ever or even come close to releasing the tailgate inadvertently?

 

If you've had the car a while and I think you have and you can say no to both of the others then surely you have no worries?

I've had the car almost three years.

 

Yes, my gf has pressed it somehow with her coat once, letting the dogs jump out but luckily we were about to leave a car park so it didn't end badly.

I also pressed the button instead of the parking sensor button, half way through an automated car wash - this time thank god, the dogs were safe at home. The car was soaked, luckily the leather seats didn't take any water in. Cloth/alcantara seats would have been ruined. It has since completely dried out (only took a day), the only reason it wasn't any worse was because the horizontal car wash roller was at the front at the time, and since I couldn't use the F@CK!NG button to close it again, I just sat there like a lemon until said horizontal roller came back over and pushed it shut!!

 

Regarding dog restraints, I have a great dog guard from Travall but since our holiday last week I have discovered that the boot is in no way protected from rear end crashes - only the "passenger cell" is - I want my boys to be safe so they ain't going in the boot any more. I have bought a rear seat "canopy" cover and currently have 2 dog harness restraints, but I'd like the crash tested ones - anyone got a link?

 

I found that there is a 30amp fuse (pink square box, not a blade) towards the bottom right of the internal fuse box - this is for the tailgate motor only.

So, if you remove that and press the boot opening button beside the gear lever, all it does is disengages the boot lock mechanism and the boot lid lifts up about 1cm (just lifts off the seals slightly, no gap) - the car will warn you that the boot is open, but it will not actually open even if you go over a bump because there are no gas struts and the boot lid is very heavy (you still have to get out and shut it, but dogs can't escape).

 

Sorry for the essay, I will now rest my bludgeoned typing fingers.

Edited 2 October, 20196 yr by drewellis

On 02/10/2019 at 14:37, drewellis said:

Regarding dog restraints, I have a great dog guard from Travall but since our holiday last week I have discovered that the boot is in no way protected from rear end crashes - only the "passenger cell" is - I want my boys to be safe so they ain't going in the boot any more. I have bought a rear seat "canopy" cover and currently have 2 dog harness restraints, but I'd like the crash tested ones - anyone got a link?

 

Totally understand your desire to keep your dogs safe - I wish more did.

 

These are the only truly crash-tested harnesses I know of - https://www.kurgo.com/dog-harness-crash-testing-methodology/

 

I use a crash-tested Variocage in the boot, which is perfect for our needs, albeit horribly expensive. However, my dogs are priceless to me and I'm fortunate to have had the cash at the time. If I didn't have, I'd have been trying to find one of the harnesses above.

 

Edited 4 October, 20196 yr by CheshireBumpkin

On 04/10/2019 at 15:48, CheshireBumpkin said:

 

Totally understand your desire to keep your dogs safe - I wish more did.

 

These are the only truly crash-tested harnesses I know of - https://www.kurgo.com/dog-harness-crash-testing-methodology/

 

I use a crash-tested Variocage in the boot, which is perfect for our needs, albeit horribly expensive. However, my dogs are priceless to me and I'm fortunate to have had the cash at the time. If I didn't have, I'd have been trying to find one of the harnesses above.

I looked into those, they do look excellent but I have a hatch 😩

Cheers for the link!

Edited 7 October, 20196 yr by drewellis