I sleep in the back of my rig and its a pita to open the hatch from the inside so this is what i came up with.

this adds a pushbutton on the inside of the rear hatch to open it.

use at your own risk, if something frys its not my fault.

Materials:
2 ft 18-20 ga wire
1 momentary pushbutton
1 toggle switch with safty cover
2 1/4" spade connectors
piece of electrial tape

Tools:
Drill with 1/2" bit
soldering iron
screw driver

switch packages. these are just what i used, and momentary pushbutton is fine. i wanted the safty cover so that the button couldnt accidently be pushed. the toggle was 4.99 and the button was 2.49




Start by removing the screw that hold the pull strap on.
then just pull down (or toward the front of the car if the door was closed) on the cover, it is held on my body clips aroudn the bottom and three tabs where it meets the glass.

once removed you will see the rear door ECU


we want the purple with white stripe and the light geen with red stripe. i have already stripped a little off them in this pic.



now lets open up the toggle switch. we only want to cover so take the switch part out.


once the switch is removed, we are going to need to open the hole up a little for the push button to fit. carefully use the 1/2" drill bit to do this.

now open up the push button and solder a couple of pig tails onto it.


I forgot to take a pic, but put a small zip tie on the wire just below the switch, this helps keep the weight of the bouncing wires from tugging on one post or the other of the switch.

now drill a 1/2" hole where you want to mount the switch. and then install the button and the cover. this is where i chose to put mine.


and the back side. you can see i already put the connectors on also.


so strip the ends of the pig tails and crip on one half of the 1/4" spades, doesnt matter which ones go where. its just a continuity circuit.

and continued due to pic limit

now take a couple of 4" pieces of wire and crip the other half of the connectors to them. and then strip the other end for soldering. solder them onto the purple/white and light green/red wires.
like so. i prefer to just strip off a bit of the insulation rather than cut the stock harness.



and now you should have this.


now wrap some tape on the solder joints. and well put the cover back on. the three tabs at the glass hold it really nice so that we can make our connection.



push the spade connectors together and then put the cover back on.


finished product. with the safty cover up


and in safe mode



works great, and easy and under 10$ if you have the wire and soldering stuff already

Cool mod! I guess I'm just flexible, but usually I just lower the window and reach around to do it from the outside. For about 10 bucks though... it would be cool just to do.

yeah i dont like having to roll the window down, then back up etc etc.

I too plan on sleeping in the back of my 4runner. I dont use the factory remote and would also prefer to not roll the window down to get out of the back hatch. Of course, the only other way out is the side door.
I found this thread after I did my work. I found if you use a momentary switch and connect it to the violet/white and the light green/red (if I remember right) at the rear door ecu or whatever its called, you can pop the hatch from the inside. So, great research if you figured it out yourself. I just used my multimeter.
My pics suck but here it is. I put the switch up where hopefully nothing will push on it. A switch cover could be a good thing. The switch I used is a little harder to push than some and only engages while held in.
I just twisted and taped 18 guage wire to these to wires and hooked them to the switch. No diodes, relays, fuses, nothing else.
Now, I can get out the back!!

Here is where I put my switch.

Attached Images

   

Thats totally doable if you have a need.

Great thread. I've been meaning to do this but now I have some more inspiration.

So there is no way to open the rear hatch from the inside without rolling down the window???

Wow, this is so cool. I always get locked in when I crawl in back to clean the windows.

sant6236- I didn't have a way to open it in my 03. I do now!!
For other generation 4runners the wire colors will probably be different so please be careful boys.

OP you get major rep pts and thanks from me on this one! Mille Gratzie!

Glad people can use it!

anyone else do this and have pictures?

Really cool! I haven't done a mod in over a year probably. This is something that will definitely bring me back though to the game. Love the nuclear warhead emergency style switch, haha!