Hi all,

 

New here and looking for some advice.

 

The powered tailgate in my Skoda Superb has stopped working. My mother-in-law, bless her heart, without my knowledge has been loading/unloading the car today and not once used the button to open and close the boot. Now the buttons will not open or close it, it has to be done by hand. Once opened (by hand), if you push the button to close it'll attempt to close but only move half an inch if that. If you then press the button again it'll beep 3 or 4 times and nothing happens.

 

Any advice greatly received. I'm hoping for something I can fix rather easily/cheaply rather than it needing new struts which I've read can be quite pricey.

 

Many thanks in advance 

Maybe she only made a mess with the max height setting and/or antipinch function.

Did you try to reset the max height setting? The way to do it should be described in the user’s manual.

Juat given this a try, no luck unfortunately. Still the same situation.

I've also done the classic disconnect the battery in a hope it all resets but to no avail.

Any other suggestions before I have to bite the bullet and take it to a garage?!

What year is the Superb?

2017

As it’s been manually forced multiple times there are two possibilities.

 

it will need recalibrating properly with odis - vcds can’t do this sorry

 

The other possibility is the force can damage or break off the hall affect sensor in one/both of the struts meaning the struts may need replacing if it’s been repeatedly forced.

 

will need plugging into a diagnostic computer to confirm it though

2 hours ago, ApertureS said:

it will need recalibrating properly with odis

So that’s a visit to a good independent or, unfortunately, a Skoda dealer. 

14 hours ago, ApertureS said:

As it’s been manually forced multiple times there are two possibilities.

 

it will need recalibrating properly with odis - vcds can’t do this sorry

 

The other possibility is the force can damage or break off the hall affect sensor in one/both of the struts meaning the struts may need replacing if it’s been repeatedly forced.

 

will need plugging into a diagnostic computer to confirm it though

Thank you for the info. A trip to get a diagnosis is in order then.

Cheers all. 👍

This comment doesn’t help or apply to the OP’s vehicle but honestly, the powered tailgate is a ‘convenience’ I could happily do without - any long term ownership or used purchase is ultimately going to result in £££’s being spent on the damn thing………

48 minutes ago, Berisford said:

This comment doesn’t help or apply to the OP’s vehicle but honestly, the powered tailgate is a ‘convenience’ I could happily do without - any long term ownership or used purchase is ultimately going to result in £££’s being spent on the damn thing………

You could say the same thing about an entire car, no?

it’s only a convenience, you could technically walk everywhere.

 

and a set of aftermarket struts are around £250 so not exactly bank breaking in the entire scheme of things 

52 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

You could say the same thing about an entire car, no?

it’s only a convenience, you could technically walk everywhere.

 

and a set of aftermarket struts are around £250 so not exactly bank breaking in the entire scheme of things 

 Very true…….

Edited 3 August, 20232 yr by Berisford

14 hours ago, Berisford said:

This comment doesn’t help or apply to the OP’s vehicle but honestly, the powered tailgate is a ‘convenience’ I could happily do without - any long term ownership or used purchase is ultimately going to result in £££’s being spent on the damn thing………

 

I'm sure the failure rate is actually very low and I wouldn't be without ours, especially with the virtual pedal. It's fantastically convenient when you're carrying bulky items, or using both hands to carry "stuff".

16 hours ago, Berisford said:

This comment doesn’t help or apply to the OP’s vehicle but honestly, the powered tailgate is a ‘convenience’ I could happily do without - any long term ownership or used purchase is ultimately going to result in £££’s being spent on the damn thing………

I would agree, although not for reasons of cost. Since I keep my car in the garage overnight I have to set the max height so that the tailgate doesn't smash against the garage door when opening. Even with padding on the door it would still hit uncomfortably hard.

Of course, this means that when opening it in car parks it doesn't fully open, I've lost track of how many times I've cracked my head on the locking 'tongue'. A manual hatch that I can open gently, and let it rest against the garage door padding (like all my previous cars), would be far more practical. It does seem like a totally unnecessary feature that's just there to make the car look more "high end". Sadly the shortage of cars when I bought it meant that I had no choice in terms of options, it was "take this one, or leave it".

42 minutes ago, SteveMcK said:

 I have to set the max height so that the tailgate doesn't smash against the garage door when opening. Even with padding on the door it would still hit uncomfortably hard.

 

I wonder how many people with powered hatches have forgotten themselves and suffered tailgate damage in multi-storey car parks?

I once 'dinged' the tailgate on a new Mondeo in a car park in Stuttgart by just opening and letting go.

9 hours ago, Berisford said:

I wonder how many people with powered hatches have forgotten themselves and suffered tailgate damage in multi-storey car parks?

I once 'dinged' the tailgate on a new Mondeo in a car park in Stuttgart by just opening and letting go.

I did too in May this year.  I was in Ibis Styles underground car park in Bialystok, Poland and pressed the button to open the hatch before I got out and it hit a low hanging pipe.  I moved to another spot where there was plenty of room for the hatch to open after that and will check for headroom if I ever return there.  I was fortunate and it doesn't seem to have done any damage as the pipe had insulation around it that softened the impact.