Our new Elegance Estate, has been shunted from behind today. :( SWMBO was stopped at a roundabout and another woman just drove into her! Other party said "I saw you there, but I thought you had gone" :confused:

Anyway some marks on rear bumper, at first sight not apparently serious, BUT the lower edge of the the tailgate is creased under near the centre.

Worse, none of the electrics related to the tailgate work. No wash/wipe, ? no heater (not tested yet) The tailgate will not now open, although it did immediately afterwards. The MFD shows it as open, and although the other doors lock and unlock the alarm does not set. Could this be because although the tailgate is shut and locked, the microswitch thinks it is open , so won't unlock, and won't allow alarm to set as a door is open?

Fortunately the rear lights, indicators, reversing lights all work OK.

Any ideas on how to release the tailgate manually?

Obviously it is an insurance job, but not being able to use the back of the car for however many weeks will be a right PITA

What is strange is the the door opened OK immediately after the shunt, and again when she got home to unload the shopping, but now won't!

Sorry to here of the prang. There should be an emergency release leaver on the inside, however you will have to clamber into the back of the car after putting the back seats down.

If the tailgate is creased chances are that there is a lot of damage under the bumper you cant see, especially as none of the electrics work.

Thanks Manny,

Where do I find the emergency release? Do I need to remove trim panels?

My Octy was shunted from the rear today too!! The cars in front braked to a halt and so did I but the bloke behind didn't quite stop in time. Just damage to the rear bumper on mine. Could have been a lot worse if it had been a HGV behind me...

The amount of accidents I'm seeing on the roads here too. People tailgaiting. At least they'll be learning their lessons, just a shame its the hard way.

had someone run into the back of my old polo in a queue of traffic, all i could do was watch in my rear view mirror as she was watching the road workers having their lunch on the banking, then looked at the road about 100yrds from the back of my car, then a big cloud of smoke as she skiffed the passenger side of the back bumper and light, then up the banking and in to a patch of thorn bushes on its side, she was got more pain from the thorns than the crash, i had a little "giggle" to myself when i knew she was ok. But i laughed even harder when she told me it was a courtesy car as hers was in getting fixed from another accident.

Thanks Manny,

Where do I find the emergency release? Do I need to remove trim panels?

As the tailgate is electrically released, I think it will be located on the tailgate itself. It should be obvious though.

Manny,

Thanks again, I have had a look thriugh the manual and found how to do it. However I think we will leave well alone for now, as I should hate to open it and then find it would not latch shut at all. At least we can still drive it at present.

Insurers are happy that it is a no blame situation. No excess to pay and not hit on our NCB, just the aggravation of not having the car for however long it takes, and the feeling that it is no longer "brand new"

Thankfully I've never been shunted up the rear.

This is the second time it has happened to SWMBO, last time it was in a Volvo 240 Estate with towbar. Stopped waiting to turn right in a 30 limit, Indicators going, saw in mirror small Datsun coming up behind at 40 ish mph. Rammed her up the back. Result exceedingly bent Datsun!! Driver obviously p*****d, but disappeared from scene after giving - fortunately correct - details. By the time police were able to find him he was sober.

She had rather stiff neck for a few days but OK.

Other driver settled repair bill in cash.

I have now crawled into the back and operated the manual release, not difficult, although the variable floor in the Elegance made it more tricky, but it is a good job I am not stout I opened a shut a couple of times hoping it might sort itself out but no luck.

Re the electrics the wash/wipe does not work, but rear heater does thank goodness in thia frosty weather. I realise that the the wash/wipe does not work when the tailgate is open normally. So it is obvious now that all the problems are because ECU thinks tailgate is open.

Therefore it will not unlock it, or operate the release because IT IS ALREADY OPEN Nor will it set the alarm as a door is still open.

There must be a minor misalignment that is causing the microswitch to show open when the tailgate is shut.

I cannot see where the microswitch is that tells the ECU that the tailgate is open.

Fortunately it is going in for repair on Wednesday after Xmas.

Happy Xmas everyone.