I cant believe this would be the case but it was. Battery went flat with all door's locked. No problem as I could open my drivers door with the key. Now, the jump cables where in my cargo drawers which where in the back (trunk, boot). Well, there's no way to open the rear hatch with the manual key and with the battery flat obviously the Unlock switch wouldn't work. Therefore I couldn't access the cables.

Now, am I being stupid here, or is this really the case that theres no way to open the rear hatch manually with a key when your battery is flat?

wow I never thought about this but it makes sense and is quite a stupid design flaw

Fold your rear seat down and you can reach into the cargo area.

That's not the point! Yeah, that's pretty stupid you can't open the rear hatch without power. Never did occur to me that the rear key hole is just for rolling the rear hatch window.

May help you get to the cargo area, but if his cables are in the storage drawers, it won't do him a lick of good

Usually vehicles have an emergency release...

[search]
Electronic Rear Hatch if Power Out?
Now i have to locate the panel for future reference

Hope your drawers don't block the access.

That's stupid, my 4th gen it locks/unlocks every door when you put the key in the hatch.

Not without battery power it doesn't. That's the whole point BTW.

Interesting...

So..... I am glad its not just me. This however is a dilemma, certainly for me. I like traveling off the beaten path. So I carry alot of recovery gear and tools etc.... I put them in the draws in the trunk as I need the space in the back seats. Also traveling down rough, bumpy roads, things go everywhere unless there tied down and put away securely. Well these draws with its content can weigh around 200 lbs give or take. Yeah there not going anywhere.


The point is yes, I do have a access to the rear emergency panel but I want to be able to open the trunk from the outisde with a KEY in an event like discribed above.

In moving forward I am going to have to find a solution to have a manual as well as an electronic opening for the rear hatch. Toyota this simply wont do!

Ahhh. I can see it now. The rear hatch deckplate access mod.

Ugly as hell but functional.

Well, I think you are going to have to live with it. I agree, if you have a mechanical key, it should be able to open ALL the doors. But, that is not to be. It is what it is.... So here is my suggestion. As part of of your 200lbs of recovery and/or survival equipment, add on of those jump starter packs. You know, the ones that look like a ladies purse, but will start a low battery once or maybe twice. At least you will have enough power to gain entrance to your rear tail gate to get to the other stuff you may or may not need.....be safe.

Yes, agreed. I had a good look at the mechanical system and came to the conclusion that there's a reason why Toyota hasn't given you that option. I think it's completely down to the rear rolling glass on our 4runners. There is no way to reach the hatch release key from the key entrance without interference of the rear rolling glass. Pictures to come.

Thanks for your input, valid point.

Thinking outside of the box here, but what are the options to adding a trap-door from the top into you drawer so you can reach the jumper cables? That way you have access without having to open the rear hatch.

Okki

Pun intended.... lol! It's for sure a possible option... though I have planned to use the top of the draws for heavy camera equipment. Its a great idea for the meantime though