Trunk Will Not Open

Asked by Allen Aug 24, 2018 at 04:33 PM about the 2016 Ford Mustang V6 Convertible RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My trunk will not open. The key fob and the interior
button will not open it, nor will the exterior button
at the trunk. I've also tried the hidden lock behind
the rear driver seat with the manual key.

17 Answers

480

I am having the same problem with trunk release and back up camera. My reading suggests it may be a problem in the wiring harness coming from the trunk lid. I have a 2015 Mustang V6 convertible

28 people found this helpful.
775

There is a Ford Special Service Message on this issue. SSM #47306. The wire harness to the trunk is too short, as a result where the wires bend from using the trunk, they break with use. Affected are 2015-2017 Mustangs. On my 2016 Mustang GT, I first started having intermittent backup camera issues then the trunk release stopped working. My 3/36 Warranty was up, I thought about asking for a fix because it's a defect but was leary about having my car worked on and it is fairly straightforward to find the problem. Two wires were broken right before the clip holding the harness to the underside of the body behind seats. Pop out that clip to allow for more slack, I soldered some extra wire in place for the 2 small wires, the wires that broke were very small. Wrapped back up and fixed.

59 people found this helpful.
170

Yep They said it would be $850 to repair. Got Ford corporate to agree to $150, but the problem is the wires will break again because they are indeed too short. I believe the only fix is exactly what you did yourself. I wish there was a how to utube video on how to do this. Thank you!

17 people found this helpful.
290

Does anyone know how to open the back seat since my trunk won't open on a 2015 Mustang convertible.

29 people found this helpful.
775

There is a latch behind the rear seat cushion in the corner; one for each side. Pull the latch...its an easy mechanism, then just lower the seat back. It's a squeeze to crawl back to the emergency release....florescent tab handle. The handle is cradled into a cutout, so pop it from there and pull the cable. Because its (handle) is nested back there in the interior trim, using a grabbing device didn't work to get it. So, I had to climb my big, getting older, butt back there. I later attached twine to the pull handle and fished it up front thru the now back upright seatbacks; so I could release my hatch "remotely" until I could perform an actual repair. This does seem like a silly problem on these Mustang models and I can only imagine how the GT350 owners feel after spending quite a lot, the wire harness looks the same to me. However, everything else...important stuff like powertrain etc..is in fact fairly reliable so; it is what it is. Where the harness clips in close to the underside of the rear speaker; I left that clip out to allow for a little more movement when using the hatch. Regards.

18 people found this helpful.
100

check out the wiring harness on the passenger side trunk most likely those wires are cut its pretty easy fix. just crimp the wires together

10 people found this helpful.
120

I have the same problem - convertible 2017 but no release for the seat to fold on the convertible - removed seat base via the two push plastic catches along the edge that meets the floor, lifted the seat away and then unbolted the two bolts in each corner holding the bracket for the seat back, once unbolted lift the back straight up... not looked at wires yet - in the carpark at work so just needed to rescue my laptop for now - before all this I had tried the hidden manual key which did not work either... wires and why the manual key release did not work will be a job when I get home so thanks for the tip! I guess I should not have ignored the camera going off, I just assumed a faulty camera and was not that bothered since everything else worked - been reversing for over 30 years without a camera so not hardship there!

12 people found this helpful.
375

Does anyone know about a 2010 trunk release and what it takes to remove the rear seat? My 2010 Mustang V-6 had the chattering trunk release. Bought a replacement from eBay. Worked for a week or two. Now I can vaguely hear it trying to release, but will not open. Does the 2010 have a short harness too? I know my satellite radio antenna wire has cracked. I didn't notice a problem with the other side of the trunk harness. Any input? Thanks in advance.

3 people found this helpful.
40

This video was my answer. https://youtu.be/o4XllG17-p0

4 people found this helpful.
375

Just to follow up. The satellite radio antenna that I reported as being cracked was actually the cable that runs from the key release in the backseat to the latch assembly. I didn't realize this until after I ended up stripping the underside of the trunk lid of the layer of decorative material. This revealed the cables true destination. This cable's purpose in life is to back up the latches electrical failure. If this fails then you need to use the glow in the dark yellow T-handle, which also attaches to the trunk latch. My problem was I replaced the defective chattering latch assembly and it worked for about a week, before it refused to open. We found out about the hidden key mechanism in the backseat. This released the trunk lid instantly, but it wouldn't latch closed after that. I wrote to my eBay seller and they sent out another latch. We replaced the latch and it still wouldn't latch closed. Initially I thought I had a defective harness, but it turned out to be the cable from the rear seat key mechanism that wasn't fully releasing after it was used to open the trunk. I tried to purchase this small cable from Ford. Unfortunately, the cable can NOT BE PURCHASED SEPARATELY AND YOU MUST PURCHASE THE LATCH ASSEMBLY. The latch and cable are one assembly. So I wrote back to my eBay seller and they sold me the cable for about $20. It took almost two weeks to finally get the cable. The car parts were the sellers side business. Altogether I spent about $50 for the used latch and another $20 for the cable. I called around to a few Ford dealers to price out the latch assembly (also because I couldn't believe I couldn't purchase the cable separately) and the price was between $140 - $160.

1 people found this helpful.
50

For me the cables were broken and I wired them and nothing I called an electrician and he told me it was a fuse. It was a small blue one with number 15 on top

5 people found this helpful.
375

Just a quick follow up. My trunk release now works flawlessly for the past three months. This is the cable I replaced.

2 people found this helpful.
375

This cable is on the driver's side of the trunk tucked all the way in the bottom. The other side connects to the key hole in the rear seat of the car.

2 people found this helpful.

Well one of many with a chewed wiring harness. Gonna reconnect and see what happens. Just watched the show about the development of the 2015. They messed up big time with this one, and the leaking left rear taillight.

10

I just encountered the same problem with my 16GT yesterday. My back up camera stopped working several months ago too and I was going to let that go as I was planning on trading the car in this summer. I may be keeping it longer now and need a trunk that opens, but I'm past the basic warranty and don't want to spend a lot at the dealer. I'm not very mechanically inclined either so not sure if I should attempt it myself?

1 people found this helpful.
20

I added 8 inches to each wire, soldered each connection, and covered it with a sleeve, this is because the strap is about two inches short and after opening and closing the truck for several years the wires begin to break.

2 people found this helpful.

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