Defects in the automatic / electric tailgate?

Thomas Wachsmuth July 27, 2022 Car repair & tuning guide

Reading time 5 Min.

Many vehicles these days come with one electric tailgate fitted. It doesn't matter whether it's an SUV, sedan, coupe or small car. The convenience function for automatically opening and closing the trunk is no longer reserved for luxury vehicles. However, depending on the exact cause of the problem, it may happen that the automatic tailgate no longer opens or closes, it can only be opened up to a certain point or the lock no longer works properly. In the last case it is about a security risk for you and also for other road users. In addition, it represents a significant deficiency in the main inspection The following causes for a defective tailgate come into consideration:

Tailgate control unit defective
new basic setting required
Motors or dampers defective
a cable break in the tailgate area
the tailgate is adjusted
the tailgate lock is defective
the tailgate lock microswitch is faulty

In the event of a defective tailgate should as quickly as possible visit a workshop to rectify the problem. If this does not happen, it poses a safety risk both for you and for other road users. In addition, the main inspection failedif the tailgate can no longer be closed properly. The repair measures that are necessary result from the precise Cause of problem and often cannot be determined in advance. The following three scenarios are conceivable:

Scenario 1: tailgate opens and closes correctly, but does not open far enough:

In this case, it may just be a simple one misadjustment act. With electric tailgates, the end stops (= opening height) can be adjusted individually. This is intended to prevent the tailgate from hitting the garage ceiling, for example. There are various instructions on YouTube on how to change the end stops. On top of that, the information can usually also be found in the vehicle manual.

Scenario 2: The tailgate cannot be closed properly (sporadically):

Does the tailgate open? not close correctly, worn material can be responsible for this. The tailgate lock, the hinges or the rubber seals come into consideration. In this case, the system recognizes a "fictitious" obstacle and opens the tailgate again slightly to prevent something from becoming trapped. In many cases it is sufficient to readjust the tailgate. Depending on the effort involved, the costs for this amount to around €10 to €80. However, if the rubber seals are worn or badly deformed, they may have to be completely replaced. New rubber seals usually cost between €30 and €200. Added to this are the labor costs.

A new Tailgate lock however, costs between €30 and €450. For the replacement, it is mostly sufficient to remove individual parts of the tailgate trim. Afterwards with a Diagnostic tester made the basic setting of the tailgate electronics. The workload for this should 30 to 90 minutes lie. Assuming an hourly rate of €100, this results in labor costs of €50 to €150. The total cost of changing the tailgate lock is therefore between €80 and €600.

Scenario 3: tailgate does not close and open properly:

The reasons for this can be manifold. Through a Cable break, a defective control unit or water ingress could e.g. B. the engine or the damper may be affected. The motors are installed either individually or together with the damper. Depending on the vehicle model, the costs for the motor or damper are between 200 and 1.500 euros. If both are installed together, the change normally takes about 30 minutes. For individually installed motors (eg in the hinge or behind the headliner) the effort may increase to up to 90 minutes. The new components must then be Diagnostic tester or "taught" it using special button combinations on the button for the electric tailgate mechanism. This takes about 15 minutes. At an hourly rate of €100, total costs of between €300 and €1.800 must be expected.

The following note is essential: For safety reasons, tuningblog recommends all repair, inspection and maintenance work exclusively to be carried out in a specialist workshop! Although our information is summarized to the best of our knowledge and belief, we cannot assume any liability for the content. All information is therefore "without guarantee".

Of course, that wasn't the end of it!

In this tuningblog category there are guides and instructions for common defects/repairs on the vehicle and for installing accessories/tuning parts. Our articles explain in a simple way common defects and the corresponding repairs and they also explain how the first signs of a defect become noticeable. In most cases, we also have initial clues to the repair instructions in our repair instructions approximate costs listed. The goal of ourAuto Repair Guide“ is to create a head start in knowledge for the next visit to the workshop with initial tips. This may save you from tedious troubleshooting and you may even be able to do small things yourself. The same applies, of course, to the installation of accessories/tuning parts. Here, too, we would like to help with the implementation with instructions and tips. There are many other posts on this as well. Below is an excerpt of the last and HERE there are all previous instructions.