Can you leave the rear liftgate up, but power down the car?
For those who must know, this would let me attach a tent that cinches around the back and allows rear access. (Anyone know a good one?)
Or is there a "liftgate sensor fuse" I'd have to pull to turn out the light and make it happy and numb? Will the car accept lock commands from the fob for the doors? Or object to that too?
Just make sure to "open" the rear lid to return the latch back to normal position before you go closing it in the morning.
I've totally forgotten how simple these things used to be. I was suspecting the power lift mechanism had its own logic for position sensing, and nasty nannyware spying. Or, that if the car sensed the key fob next to the lift gate (which it does, to let you open the gate when the car is locked, same way the door handles sense it) the car would keep the lock system alert?
I can never figure out the menu setting about disabling the gate when the car is on. Might that affect it?
Never suspected they'd use a simple fifty year old switch design.
Best of all, I have a spare "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" ribbon that I can easily use to trip the latch. Makes it easy to remember.
If you have advanced key, whichever key most recently unlocked the vehicle, the "active" key, if that key is located in the luggage compartment, then the rear lid will be unlocked again. To lock a key in the luggage compartment, it needs to not be the current "active" key.
Simple to test. Go to car, open rear lid, use screwdriver on latch, press lock on key fob, see luggage compartment lights go out and alarm blinker on driver's door start. Then "open" the rear lid with the key fob so it releases the latch; then you can close it.
I'd have written that menu choice as "lock/unlock together with door handles" versus "open only with fob/driver's release."
If I got that right, I guess Audi used a cheap translator?
The other option for single door unlock is just one of two states. Either unlock unlocks everything (all four doors, the fuel fill door, and the rear lid), though you still can't open the rear lid using the button on the rear lid if the above option is "on". Or unlock is 2-stage, one press is just driver's door and fuel fill door, another press after that unlocks the remainder.
The bit with disabling the rear "handle" is more likely because a thief COULD ****** your bag as you are leaving someplace, but more likely because someone you just dropped off--or were picking up--could innocently open the rear hatch and your groceries, or enthusiastic dog, could tumble out. So they making sure the driver is able to supervise when the hatch will be opened.
If the fob is in your bag or pocket, and you're picking up someone with full hands, having the pull release on the door is quite handy. Echoes of the 1970 Cadillacs that always had the trunk release button in the glove box, so valets couldn't reach it.








