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Try and reaching the emergency pull in the trunk through the pass thru. Also, there was a thread not to long ago about how to remove the seats yourself. Did not seem too involved.
Use your cell phone tied to the end of a pole to video inside the trunk and even guide you to the emergency pull (obviously need a pole/hook to grab and pull it.)
"And...the way we were finally able to get into the car, we ended up getting into the trunk and accessed the interior through the trunk opening...we stuck a long rod through the back seat entry hole from the trunk and used a hook on the end of the rod to manually pull the handle of the back door, which opened the door from the inside."
Gents...I bought the car this past May from a non-lexus dealer but had it inspected at a lexus dealer before purchase. When I got car, the car breezed through a MD inspection at a lexus dealer. It has been trouble free since I got it. Carfax was clean too.
like I said I closed the trunk last Thursday, and when I went to open it Tuesday all I heard was a click and it will not open regardless what dealer has tried. There solution is a $550 diagnostic fee which includes them removing seats tonget to the safety release lever in trunk and hopefully owning trunk that way. If I have the platinum lexus warranty, I think thisnall is covered but they think I closed trunk on something and that's why it's not opening and that is my fault.
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It should be spelled out in the warranty if you're responsible for diagnostic fees. Like I said before, I don't care what they think, but until they can prove that I messed the car up, than its their problem. You're just the owner. You didn't build it. You didn't intentionally jam the trunk. Why should you have to fork out $550 for something the warranty covers (which I can't believe doesn't include diagnostic and labor fees)? Do you get the $550 back if its covered?
If when you hit the button for the trunk and hear a click but the trunk does not open and the key turns but does nothing, it usually means the following:
1) The latch rod has fallen off so the actuator or key lever action does not reach the latch. - Usually this is because the plastic nub at the end of the latch breaks or falls off and the latch is not held in place anymore.
2) There was something such as a jacket or towel that was over the 'hook' that the latch of the trunk hooks to. - This could produce similar effect since the latch is now wedged to the hook loop and cannot disengage. If you look through the ski pass through in the back seat, you should be able to see if something is sticking out from where the hook, latch of the trunk lid is which would wedge the hook.
Is the click when triggering the trunk button loud or muffled compared to what you normally hear? If loud or normal, I would suspect a fallen rod, if muffled or much quieter, I would suspect the latch is wedged.
If your issue is #1, should be warranty, if #2, that is on you.
It should not be hard to fabricate a loop/hook with a wire coat hanger to pull the latch inside the trunk from the ski pass through in the back seat to see if that pops the trunk.
So the dealer went ahead and removed the seats and was able to open the trunk with the safety trunk release lever and they are telling me that the rear tags I installed (I put these on back in May of this year when I purchased the car) stripped the threads and it landed on the lock assembly and caused the lock assembly to break thus causing the trunk to seize up and not open. I had a 2006 Lexus GS300 before which I used the same exact Weathertech tag cover on and even used the same screws and never had this problem with that one. Also, how can stripped threads cause the lock assembly to break and wouldn't this have happened when I did this back in May and not now? I have attached pictures but this doesn't make any sense to me...
Unfortunately I find that explanation reasonable. Making a mod, no matter how small has risk. Doesn't matter about the previous vehicle, only this one.
Unfortunately I find that explanation reasonable. Making a mod, no matter how small has risk. Doesn't matter about the previous vehicle, only this one.
Sorry, putting a licence plate cover on your tags is now considered a mod? If that is indeed the case then why did it take 3+ months for this to happen? Shouldn't this have happened when I first put license plate on car?
Ehh. I don't exactly buy it. If they can make it happen again with the stripped threads in there than I would own it but I don't really buy that small amount of threads would hold the lock assembly back. Possible? absolutely!
Either way, I think they've got you because a foreign substance is in the lock assembly. Mod or not its something you accidentally introduced that 'could' be the issue.
I might just save a little more frustration fighting with them and accept defeat.
I think the dealer is only interested in showing the owner what caused the problem with the trunk not opening. While it may seem odd at first thought, I think it is reasonable to learn that the left behind debris from installing the aftermarket rear tag by the owner caused the problem. I'd say the dealer has experienced a number of owner caused reasons why trunks won't open...thus the diagnosis charge. Hard and expensive lesson...
So the dealer went ahead and removed the seats and was able to open the trunk with the safety trunk release lever and they are telling me that the rear tags I installed (I put these on back in May of this year when I purchased the car) stripped the threads and it landed on the lock assembly and caused the lock assembly to break thus causing the trunk to seize up and not open. I had a 2006 Lexus GS300 before which I used the same exact Weathertech tag cover on and even used the same screws and never had this problem with that one. Also, how can stripped threads cause the lock assembly to break and wouldn't this have happened when I did this back in May and not now? I have attached pictures but this doesn't make any sense to me...
License plate. It took me a while to figure it out too when I first encountered the term "tag" to refer to license plates long ago.
OP, thanks for posting. I know it sucks but I'm sure your post will save others a lot of $$$ in the future. That's what this forum is about. I inspected my rear plate this morning after reading about your experience and saw how a piece of a broken bolt can rattle itself into the mechanism. The dealer's explanation is plausible. If I have to guess, when the piece of of the screw broke off (I would not call it a "stripped screw"), it fell harmlessly to the side of the mechanism, then over time it vibrated itself into the mechanism and jammed it. Something similar happened to me with my first car, but the ensuing electrical short ruined a large portion of the wiring harness and I had to junk the car. It can and does happen. Again, Thanks!!!
Gents - the screws in the picture are plastic and the screws I installed the weathertech licence plate frames were metal so there explanation again is not plausible. They told me today they are contacting Lexus to have them pay for it since they cannot guarantee or prove that my screws caused the issue after I stopped by the dealership and showed them that my screws are metal and all threads on the trunk are metal and what they found was a shredded plastic screw at the bottom of the lock and cannot prove that it was mine or that was the reason for the locking mechanism seizing. They said car should be done on Monday so we will see how I make out.
Also, while there I had them check the rattle from the sunroof shade when shade is open and they basically said on the 4th gen GS it was a bad design and they will replace the sunroof housing under warranty as Lexus gave them the ok. I believe there was a TSB for the 13' model.
I'm having the same issue with my car currently. I tried opening the trunk with the fob/key and no luck. I'm thinking a fuse since there is a clicking noise as well...
I'm having the same issue with my car currently. I tried opening the trunk with the fob/key and no luck. I'm thinking a fuse since there is a clicking noise as well...
I had same and they needed to pull the back seats in order to open the trunk using the safety lever. They said the issue was the locking mechanism on the trunk went bad and lexus replaced under warranty. Never had this before and hope to never have this again.
I had same and they needed to pull the back seats in order to open the trunk using the safety lever. They said the issue was the locking mechanism on the trunk went bad and lexus replaced under warranty. Never had this before and hope to never have this again.
Update:
I was able to open mine by accessing the Emergency Trunk Release through the back seat. I used a long bar with a Y end and although the trunk did not open right away once I used the fob it popped up. A little bit of WD40 on the mechanism and now works like new. Dealer was not sure about warranty coverage over my my explanation.... plus wanted to charge me $150 for diagnosis ...
08-24-17, 07:45 AM
