A power tailgate is one of the components that ensures your car delivers exquisite convenience during shopping.
Think of a scenario when you have collected all the items you need from your local store, and you’re carrying stuff in both hands.
How do you open the boot to put the items inside?
The obvious answer is that you must first drop what you’re carrying.
But this comes with some inconvenience as the parking lot could be dirty, unfit to place your shopping.
A power tailgate simply solves this problem. Let’s explore its features below in detail.
What is a power tailgate?
It is a feature in modern cars that enables you to open your car boot without necessarily holding it like in conventional car models.
A car with a power tailgate ensures you can automatically open the car’s boot using the key fob or a car tailgate button.
The feature helps in typical scenarios whereby someone carrying things in their hands cannot open the boot.
They must first put what they’re carrying down. It is inconvenient, especially if one’s carrying stuff that would otherwise get soiled.
Features of a Power Tailgate
A car with an open boot.
Below are some of the key properties of the power tailgate:
Programmable door height adjustment
How wide can the car boot door open, especially in tight spaces?
With the power tailgate, you don’t have to worry about the maximum door opening height. The power tailgate sensors take care of such aspects.
Moreover, the system ensures that people of differing heights can conveniently reach the rear door.
Lock Button
You may have experienced a scenario with an old school car whereby the boot opens up while driving because someone forgot to close it.
But this is an impossibility where you have the power tailgate because it automatically locks the door after closing.
Hence, you’re saved the extra step of locking it or the hassle of doing it manually every time.
A hands-free experience
Before the present version of the power gate, you needed to use your key fob to open the boot.
The other option was to press a button in the car, which has since been replaced by the simple action of waving your foot.
It’s a feature in most modern cars that means you have more convenience when opening the car’s boot.
The hands-free experience is arguably the most significant advantage of the power tailgate, especially when carrying stuff in both hands.
What is the difference between a Power Tailgate and a Hands-free Liftgate?
A luxury car boot with folded seats.
A hands-free liftgate is an advanced power tailgate that can open the door without pressing any button.
In a typical power tailgate, the primary mode of opening the car boot is pressing the car fob or a button.
Nonetheless, the hands-free power liftgate eliminates this hassle, ensuring the boot opens by moving your foot below the bumper.
Among the other upsides of a hands-free liftgate are as we have outlined above.
Thus, in principle, a hands-free liftgate resembles a power tailgate.
The only additional feature is that the former ensures you don’t have to use your hands when opening the boot.
Is It Worth It To Install A Power Liftgate System
A young woman opens a car trunk.
A power liftgate is worth all the money you invest in buying it, primarily given its convenience when opening the boot. The system is essential in two major scenarios:
- First, you can pack something into the car’s rear without manually opening the boot.
- Take a case whereby you’re dropping off a passenger who needs to pick something from the boot. With the power liftgate, you don’t have to reconfirm if they have closed the car boot. The feature activates the lock immediately after shutting the door.
Therefore, it is a feature you can always bank on to assist you whenever you’re using the boot.
Steps for Checking Power Liftgate Problems
A modern hatchback car with an open boot.
Follow the steps below to check for existing issues with your power liftgate.
- Start by pressing the car key fob buttons to see if they can open the power liftgate effectively.
- Also, you need to confirm that the Automatic Liftgate Switch is working correctly. It would help to use a scanning tool to check the problem behind the dysfunctional power liftgate.
- If the scan test yields no results, you’ll have to open the power liftgate manually and test for parts such as the fuse.
- Finally, test the power liftgate connectors for the presence of shorts or any issue that could hamper the electrical connection.
Conclusion
A power liftgate is an advanced car feature that helps open the rear door/boot.
An improved version of the component is the hands-free liftgate that eliminates the need to open the door with a hand.
You simply need a foot signal, and the car boot will snap open immediately.
Is installing it on your car worth the hassle? It will be worth every penny.
Talk to your mechanic about the cost of installing the component, and you’ll be good to go.
