Boot locking mechanism not fully releasing

[ElAlastair]

The Polo 6C I’ve had from new has recently developed an issue with the boot mechanism not fully releasing when the key fob button is pressed.

By that I mean the mechanism half releases, so I hear a brief noise and the boot pops up a bit, but when you lift the handle, the boot opens about 1cm and then it stops, so not enough to actually release it from the tailgate. Usually pressing the fob again resolves the issue after a couple of attempts, but it’s a bit of a pain if you’ve got your hands full.

It’s a bit of a sporadic problem, as it’s working fine at the moment, but will randomly stop, then start working again. It works more often than not.

I’ve taken the boot trim off and had a look at things but can’t see any problem. I don’t live near a dealer or VW specialist anymore and the one attempt I had at taking it to a garage resulted in them changing the (perfectly fine) boot struts, which had no effect whatsoever unsurprisingly. Thankfully I got a refund for that, but still have the original problem.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[RUM4MO]

I can sort of relate to your issues, I've never ever noticed there being an issue when opening the hatch - but quite often, when my wife returns to the car, where I have already got to the car park, ie driven in and stopped and pressed the internal "unlock" and she has walked over to meet me, either the hatch has not fully unlocked, or it is still fully locked - even pressing the internal "unlock" switch twice sometimes does not allow her to lift the hatch - but one more unlock after she has tried and failed to open the hatch fixes that every time - just annoying - for her.

At least for me, walking up to the locked car and pressing either unlock or if just placing something in the boot, and so pressing the "open boot" always works for me.

[amer6R]

maybe you have to align the mechanism latch.

[ElAlastair]

I can sort of relate to your issues, I've never ever noticed there being an issue when opening the hatch - but quite often, when my wife returns to the car, where I have already got to the car park, ie driven in and stopped and pressed the internal "unlock" and she has walked over to meet me, either the hatch has not fully unlocked, or it is still fully locked - even pressing the internal "unlock" switch twice sometimes does not allow her to lift the hatch - but one more unlock after she has tried and failed to open the hatch fixes that every time - just annoying - for her.

At least for me, walking up to the locked car and pressing either unlock or if just placing something in the boot, and so pressing the "open boot" always works for me.

That scenario you described is definitely something I’ve encountered too. I’m guessing that is some kind of electrical issue.

maybe you have to align the mechanism latch.

Everything looks okay but then again I don’t really know what I’m looking for. Have lubricated it. It’s been working fine for at least a few days if not longer but that’s often the case, and Sod’s law it always fails when you have both hands full.

[amer6R]

You have two possibilitys.
1.) The tailgate lock ( know issues, water gets into it)
2.) The tailgate boot not sending signal to tell the tailgate lock to open.

Drop the seats, and use your keyblade to slide in the opening to open the tailgaite.

While opened, lock it and watch the tailgate lock if it actuates while locking and locking. If not then the tailgate lock has an issue you can try to spray some wd or silicone spray into it.

If it works, but the tailgate boot ( when you tilt the VW logo) doesnt actuate it then you have that component fauilty.

If both work, inspect the striker pin, and if needed align it a bit.

[ElAlastair]

You have two possibilitys.
1.) The tailgate lock ( know issues, water gets into it)
2.) The tailgate boot not sending signal to tell the tailgate lock to open.

Drop the seats, and use your keyblade to slide in the opening to open the tailgaite.

While opened, lock it and watch the tailgate lock if it actuates while locking and locking. If not then the tailgate lock has an issue you can try to spray some wd or silicone spray into it.

If it works, but the tailgate boot ( when you tilt the VW logo) doesnt actuate it then you have that component fauilty.

If both work, inspect the striker pin, and if needed align it a bit.

Thanks for that.

I've tried the method you described already and it does indeed seem to work every time I've observed it.

I do think it is the lock - I always hear the 'pop' noise - but it seems to be the amount the lock actually releases from the tailgate. The alignment seems like a possibility. From a layman's perspective it looks okay and it has been sprayed with WD40 so at a bit of a loss there, but I'll see if there's anything else I can do with the striker pin.

The problem occurred a couple of times recently so I'm wondering if it could be due to how the boot closes the preceding time. Maybe letting it drop or close too softly. I'll try it out a bit.

[RUM4MO]

What I discovered on an early 2002, older model Ibiza was, in cold weather the boot would not unlock/open on demand, it looked very much like SEAT had copied an earlier VW Golf hatch lock design, but instead of using an alloy link bar which the quick but short moving solenoid translated the motion/movement to to achieve the unlock/open action, SEAT had used a very light plastic link - so the solenoid was not able to get the same momentum/inertia/energy into that link than what was possible with the heavier alloy or steel version - so in cold weather it was very much hit or miss as to if the hatch unlocked/opened. I cleaned off all the older lubricant and replaced it with more modern super lub spray, and that sorted that out for the remainder of that car's life with my older daughter - not really a proper fix, more a work around when faced with what seemed to be a cheap and bad bit of design.

[amer6R]

https://youtu.be/N0Ez_PBigqY