[ubercruise]

So after a road trip up north, I got back home and unloaded the car and found the tailgate doesn’t fully open anymore. It will pop the latch and open a couple inches but has to be lifted and closed manually. I’ve tried a regular as well as diagnostic reboot to no avail, and tried messing with the liftgate height setting to see if that would trigger anything. I saw another thread where someone had a similar issue and it seemingly went away after a time, so hoping for the same. Anyone else have something similar?

[Paladin1]

Open the tailgate manually to the desired height, then press the keyfob "open" button for 5 seconds. This would reset the tailgate on some previous BMW models. Failing that, you might try pressing and holding the tailgate "open" button while in the car while simultaneously pressing the "open" button on the tailgate (you'll obviously need help). You should hear a "beep" and the tailgate will reset. If neither work you might have a bad sensor and dealer visit....

[ubercruise]

Ok quick update: I looked it up and was told to hold the liftgate button down for 5 seconds to recalibrate the motor. Did it with the physical key and nothing happened. However using the trunk button on the driver door, holding it down for 5 seconds emitted a tone from the tailgate itself which I suppose means it was reset, and now it works.

[ubercruise]

Adding that Paladin was pretty much correct (didn’t see your reply til now, sorry!) but was able to do it simply by holding the button within the car, no second person needed. Keyfob did not seem to work. I did have the tailgate manually open incidentally to my desired height so not sure if the same step could be done with the trunk closed.

[joebruin77]

BTW, the same thing happened to me today. When it happened, I did not have my key fob with me and was using my iPhone as a key. I got out of my iX to open the trunk, but left the iPhone in the charging pad in the front seat. The tailgate did exactly what you described, only opened a couple inches.

I then went back in the car, got my iPhone, and then the tailgate opened up just fine. So I think you need to have the keyfob or iPhone key on your person when you attempt to open the tailgate. Maybe it is a feature to reduce the risk that an unauthorized person will have easy access to the back.

[ubercruise]

Originally Posted by joebruin77

BTW, the same thing happened to me today. When it happened, I did not have my key fob with me and was using my iPhone as a key. I got out of my iX to open the trunk, but left the iPhone in the charging pad in the front seat. The tailgate did exactly what you described, only opened a couple inches.

I then went back in the car, got my iPhone, and then the tailgate opened up just fine. So I think you need to have the keyfob or iPhone key on your person when you attempt to open the tailgate. Maybe it is a feature to reduce the risk that an unauthorized person will have easy access to the back.

I usually only typically ever use my phone as a key (and watch, I suppose), but this weekend I brought the physical key with to be safe as we were a few hours from home. Worked fine all weekend til we got home and it wouldn’t work with the key, phone, etc on me nor in the car. Just needed a reset, so I think I had a different issue. Good to know either way though!