I had this same thing happen. The manual latch in the back panel did not work. I ended up taking it to the dealership and they disconnected the battery to reset the system. It has been over a month and it hasn't happened again.


The service department did say they sent the information on the issue to Subaru. I would recommend talking to someone at your dealership so that it can be passed along to Subaru. The more people that have this issue the more likely they will look into fixing it.

 

I had this same thing happen. The manual latch in the back panel did not work. I ended up taking it to the dealership and they disconnected the battery to reset the system. It has been over a month and it hasn't happened again.

The same thing just happened to me about 30 minutes ago and thanks to this post, I resolved the problem in 60 seconds. It started when I started opening the rear gate as I was getting out of the car - the gate started to open, then started to close, and then went into a solid alarm. NOTHING opened the gate, but thankfully removing battery power and then reconnecting the battery fixed it.

 

I had this happen yesterday. Mine was secondary to another issue but my hatch was open and wouldn't latch either manually or automatically.. Driving and look out my rear view mirror and can't see anything as the hatch is half open. I have the cargo net in place and knew that would keep the bin and camping chair i had in the back safe until i drove the few miles home. Never knew it had a second purpose, lol.

 

Drove to Arizona Walked the kid
The rear hatch now won’t open Drove for x00 miles with an alarm sound
There was no door open notification on the dash just a constant alarm chime and no ability to open or attempt to recluse the door
(Possible situation keys instroller in rear)
(Got to destination and disconnected and reconnected the battery) this inevitably allowed the door to open again and stopped the chime
There was nothing jammed at all and was clean minus a crumb
Nothing would open the rear door
Not from outside Not from inside Not from key Not from front button Not from any combination of button presses or car stop and start procedures of various sorts
Reset battery... reset door
Please someone explain or link to an explanation of problem!

 

Bring it in to your dealership and let them know this has happened to you! This is actually a known issuec, this same thing happened to me while on our test drive. We had to turnaround half way into my test drive and exchange Ascents. Your service department should be able to take care of this issue.

 

I prefer the existing power lift system that's on Forester and Outback, which is similar to Toyota and Lexus that's been used over a decade. The door can open and shut independently from the actuator. The Ascent uses linear actuator (looks like motor built into the two shocks) that requires automation at all times, and appears not to function manually. However, this technology is becoming a norm, but the first for Subaru.

 

The actuators themselves function fine manually. The problem is that there's no separate latch release control. The system unlatches and activates the actuators in succession. These linear actuators are designed to hold position with a certain amount of force, and otherwise move when more force is applied. They sometimes have sensors in them to detect if they're being manually moved, as is the case of the Ascent, where manually moving them will then start an automated move to completion.

So, it's just how the system itself is designed that's limiting the use.

With that said, I am wondering if a software update could trigger the latch release and not the actuators.

I briefly used actuators like this to open and close my workshop doors, Star Trek style. I never got around to permanently rigging them though. Yet another project to get back to. lain:

 

I think I should play around with it more. I checked out a Limited (already sold) at the dealership and it behaves differently than our Forester. There was so much resistance when open or close, forcing the actuator to come on, but at the same time I didn't want to break the sold Ascent.

If what you're saying is true, that's good news.

 

My biggest complaint about our Ascent is probably the power lift gate. Half the time it won't open when you want it to.

 

I have had similar issues. My lift gate one open sometime when I press the button on the remote or next to steering wheel, I have to walk around and press the button on the lift gate.

 

I also ran into this problem the other night. Got home, parked, tried the power gate by the dash button as normal. Just a constant beep and it won't open. Tried the button on the fob - same thing. Tried locking the car, unlocking the car, etc. Before resetting the battery or (ugh) calling the dealership, I read through the manual.

Found the instructions on page 157 - Initialization of power rear gate. You have to keep holding the rear gate button for at least ten seconds and you'll hear it unlock. Hope this helps someone out

 

I also ran into this problem the other night. Got home, parked, tried the power gate by the dash button as normal. Just a constant beep and it won't open. Tried the button on the fob - same thing. Tried locking the car, unlocking the car, etc. Before resetting the battery or (ugh) calling the dealership, I read through the manual.

Found the instructions on page 157 - Initialization of power rear gate. You have to keep holding the rear gate button for at least ten seconds and you'll hear it unlock. Hope this helps someone out

Worked, Thanks

 

Anyone know if we can pull #XX fuse to reset the lift gate instead of disconnecting battery?

 

Yes! I removed/reinserted fuse #14 from passenger compartment panel and lift gate reset instantly! Easier than disconnecting battery. Note that the fuse does not say "pwr lift gate" or anything close to it as that would have been just way too helpful! It's a hard fuse to reach but if you get the fuse puller tool which is stored in the engine fuse compartment it's a lot easier.

 

Ascent lift gate problem

I've had this happen. A constant beep and it won't open. The dealer replaced it weeks ago and it happened again today. Beeping in my driveway right now. Very annoying and obviously there is an engineering problem that isn't solved by replacing with the same problematic parts.

 

Beeping Beeping Beeping.....make it stop

 

Disconnect the battery

All,

I have a 2019 Ascent but the rear lift gate absolutely sucks it.

When anything and I mean anything lays, brushes, barely touches the lift gate from inside it will alarm out and have a constant ring noise. Nothing you can do to fix it....

Until now: Dealer said just disconnect the red lead on the battery and instantly the ring noise goes off. Reconnect and you are good to go. Completely blows having to do this on a regular basis.... #subaru needs to fix this ASAP.

Whatever the sensor is that is causing this error needs to be disabled. If anyone know how to do this please advise.

 

I know it is an old thread but I happen to have the same tailgate jamming issue, after a jump start. After research I found the solution in the user manual. Hope it may help those who don't want to go to dealership.

Issues: After parking for 24 hours I found the engine didn't ignite. With a jump start, everything seems fine except the tailgate door is stuck. No matter what button I pressed (fob button/ dash button / tailgate button), it would beep 3 times but do nothing. I tried to open it manually but failed.

Solution from Ascent User Manual. See attached. The first time I pushed the lever to the right with a flat head screwdriver, then the door opened, but afterwards it still didn't respond to button press. So I closed the door, repeated, and held the level to the right for a few seconds. Then I heard the actuator (I guess?) started to action and engage. The door was working again.

 

TL;DR Power lift gate locked up with constant door chime on, not beeping, just on. Unable to resolve manually or electronically. Had to disconnect battery to resolve. Anyone else had similar issue? Anyone care to read and offer up tips/hints I missed along the way?

I use my lift gate at least 4 times a day, for my work computer bag since my back seats have child seats. Today, I had issues when exiting…my routine is to park, e-brake, hit the push to start button to turn off the ignition, radio is still on but turns off once I open my door, hit the lift gate button on the lower left dash panel, shut driver door, grab work bag, hit gate button on bottom of gate and walk away, hit key fob to lock once I see/hear the gate close. I’m 2K+ miles into my new Ascent Premier w/upgraded wheels and moonroof package as my daily and family commuter, and once at work in the morning today, the lift gate gets stuck and only raised about 10 inches. No problem, I worked through the “setting height” button before, but this wasn’t depressed. I’ve worked though times when I felt the lift gate should open and doesn’t. Luckily, I just pressed the lift gate button on the dash again and the lift gate closed. I held the lift gate button down again and up went the lift gate nicely. Okay onto work.

Fast-forward to arriving at home, same routine, but when I hit the dash lift gate button to open it, and then release it after a couple beeps, the gate sounds some extra beeps and then keeps sounding a constant beep. I look back to find the door hasn’t moved, it’s still closed. I try the manual handle (the fob is always in my pocket) and nothing happens. I try the fob, nothing, I go back and turn on the car, turn off the car, nothing, drive around the block once, nothing, I can lock and unlock the car’s 4 passenger doors using the fob and turn on the alarm, but nothing affects the jammed lift gate that has had this high pitched ringing on the entire time. This isn’t so loud hearing it once or twice for ingress and egress, but with this sound on nonstop, it’s maddening. I go into the car and see if I can easily find a fuse for the lift gate under the lower left panel on the dash, nope, not apparent to me as this my first Subie and first rather smart vehicle – nothing listed rear gate, lift gate, nothing, and it’s not in the owner’s manual from my quick bouncing around from reference to reference. But the manual did show me how to peel off the lift gate’s little center panel and try to manually move the door lock mechanism, but the lever didn’t budge beyond a cm. After scraping the edges of the lift gate door panel opening with my leatherman in trying to force the mechanism to unlock, and also trying to pull apart the one white electrical connection before me to no avail, there was only one final recourse…the actual power source. And yup, only disconnected the negative battery terminal when the incessant ringing stopped. Replaced said connection and the car was back in business, all was well with the world and my beloved new Ascent, didn’t lose my radio station settings either.

This situation is concerning, always the “what if” situation where I require access from the rear gate? Worst case scenario, with the rear gate inoperable both electronically and manually, anything I need back there is lost. Mild case scenario, I can try to pull items through the passenger doors, but what if I have a storage cage, or simply items that only fit through the rear gate.

We had the same situation and had to drive 45 minutes to dealership on a Sunday with the alarm going off and left it on the lot. Dealer solution: disconnect and reconnect the battery. I never leave home without the wrench to remove the battery.

 

Same issue with my Ascent. They've replaced both cylinders and the control unit and the problems are still there. Subaru needs to figure this out!

 

I have the opposite problem - at times, when just shutting off the car, we’ll go to open the hatch and it wont open. The button is hard and won’t depress, but it will open from the dash button. All doors are unlocked and car is off.

 

Left most button, and not the right most button, correct? If so, sounds like you need a new one. :-(

 

correct! I asked my wife the same thing ;-)

 

Reading is fundamental

 

I had this same problem, i was frustrated and hip chucked the lift gate w my hip and actually dented the car!!!!it buzzed until i got home and disconnected the battery and it stopped. Hasn't happened again but it doesn't. open all the time, sometimes takes several tries. I also have the white smoke issue, i also had to have the AC line replaced as it had a hole in it?

 

Had this issue a few weeks ago, while at grocery store, pressed the open latch from inside the car, it didn't work, pressed the button again and it caused it to lockup and alarm, drove back home, tried to access it from the panel in trunk door, that did not work. None of the lock/unlock etc worked. Only thing that helped was disconnecting the battery.

 

Same thing happened to me too... (unplugged the battery and it fixed the problem)

Anyone made a complaint to Subaru? Any result?

 

If you bring it up with the service department they should order you a replacement part.

 

I have a 2020 Limited Ascent. Same thing happened to me. Got home, opened left gate from the back then closed it from the back heard a weird type of closing then two beeps. Notice it hadn’t closed all the way. Attempted to re open from the back, fob and dash to no avail. Read the the manual no work around found, found the solution of You tube. Yes you can dc the battery, but on the you tube video I found that you really only need to dc the fuse for the lift gate. So, buy a fuse puller or keep a hemostat in the glove box. Look on the legend of the panel box or in the manual I believe it was fuse #10 but don’t quote me. I went to the dealer and explained it to them. They basically told me they had never had the issue reported to them or Subaru. They the issue had to have been that I had something obstruction the closure of the gate. Yeah, no way there was nothing there.........

 

We had the same thing happen a couple of times. We were notified last week that a service bulletin was released and they have a fix for it now. We took the car in and it is being corrected as I type this. They are not doing a recall as of now.

 

TL;DR Power lift gate locked up with constant door chime on, not beeping, just on. Unable to resolve manually or electronically. Had to disconnect battery to resolve. Anyone else had similar issue? Anyone care to read and offer up tips/hints I missed along the way?

I use my lift gate at least 4 times a day, for my work computer bag since my back seats have child seats. Today, I had issues when exiting…my routine is to park, e-brake, hit the push to start button to turn off the ignition, radio is still on but turns off once I open my door, hit the lift gate button on the lower left dash panel, shut driver door, grab work bag, hit gate button on bottom of gate and walk away, hit key fob to lock once I see/hear the gate close. I’m 2K+ miles into my new Ascent Premier w/upgraded wheels and moonroof package as my daily and family commuter, and once at work in the morning today, the lift gate gets stuck and only raised about 10 inches. No problem, I worked through the “setting height” button before, but this wasn’t depressed. I’ve worked though times when I felt the lift gate should open and doesn’t. Luckily, I just pressed the lift gate button on the dash again and the lift gate closed. I held the lift gate button down again and up went the lift gate nicely. Okay onto work.

Fast-forward to arriving at home, same routine, but when I hit the dash lift gate button to open it, and then release it after a couple beeps, the gate sounds some extra beeps and then keeps sounding a constant beep. I look back to find the door hasn’t moved, it’s still closed. I try the manual handle (the fob is always in my pocket) and nothing happens. I try the fob, nothing, I go back and turn on the car, turn off the car, nothing, drive around the block once, nothing, I can lock and unlock the car’s 4 passenger doors using the fob and turn on the alarm, but nothing affects the jammed lift gate that has had this high pitched ringing on the entire time. This isn’t so loud hearing it once or twice for ingress and egress, but with this sound on nonstop, it’s maddening. I go into the car and see if I can easily find a fuse for the lift gate under the lower left panel on the dash, nope, not apparent to me as this my first Subie and first rather smart vehicle – nothing listed rear gate, lift gate, nothing, and it’s not in the owner’s manual from my quick bouncing around from reference to reference. But the manual did show me how to peel off the lift gate’s little center panel and try to manually move the door lock mechanism, but the lever didn’t budge beyond a cm. After scraping the edges of the lift gate door panel opening with my leatherman in trying to force the mechanism to unlock, and also trying to pull apart the one white electrical connection before me to no avail, there was only one final recourse…the actual power source. And yup, only disconnected the negative battery terminal when the incessant ringing stopped. Replaced said connection and the car was back in business, all was well with the world and my beloved new Ascent, didn’t lose my radio station settings either.

This situation is concerning, always the “what if” situation where I require access from the rear gate? Worst case scenario, with the rear gate inoperable both electronically and manually, anything I need back there is lost. Mild case scenario, I can try to pull items through the passenger doors, but what if I have a storage cage, or simply items that only fit through the rear gate.

Had the same issue a week ago and after jumping the battery I read online that pressing the gate button for 5 to 10 seconds it opens. It worked for me and hope next time it will work again without disconnecting the battery.

 

There are several TSBs related to rear gate malfunction issueS, including one from the end of March. I ended up having both the gate control unit and rear gate latch replaced to solve the issue on my 2019 Premium.

 

TL;DR Power lift gate locked up with constant door chime on, not beeping, just on. Unable to resolve manually or electronically. Had to disconnect battery to resolve. Anyone else had similar issue? Anyone care to read and offer up tips/hints I missed along the way?

I use my lift gate at least 4 times a day, for my work computer bag since my back seats have child seats. Today, I had issues when exiting…my routine is to park, e-brake, hit the push to start button to turn off the ignition, radio is still on but turns off once I open my door, hit the lift gate button on the lower left dash panel, shut driver door, grab work bag, hit gate button on bottom of gate and walk away, hit key fob to lock once I see/hear the gate close. I’m 2K+ miles into my new Ascent Premier w/upgraded wheels and moonroof package as my daily and family commuter, and once at work in the morning today, the lift gate gets stuck and only raised about 10 inches. No problem, I worked through the “setting height” button before, but this wasn’t depressed. I’ve worked though times when I felt the lift gate should open and doesn’t. Luckily, I just pressed the lift gate button on the dash again and the lift gate closed. I held the lift gate button down again and up went the lift gate nicely. Okay onto work.

Fast-forward to arriving at home, same routine, but when I hit the dash lift gate button to open it, and then release it after a couple beeps, the gate sounds some extra beeps and then keeps sounding a constant beep. I look back to find the door hasn’t moved, it’s still closed. I try the manual handle (the fob is always in my pocket) and nothing happens. I try the fob, nothing, I go back and turn on the car, turn off the car, nothing, drive around the block once, nothing, I can lock and unlock the car’s 4 passenger doors using the fob and turn on the alarm, but nothing affects the jammed lift gate that has had this high pitched ringing on the entire time. This isn’t so loud hearing it once or twice for ingress and egress, but with this sound on nonstop, it’s maddening. I go into the car and see if I can easily find a fuse for the lift gate under the lower left panel on the dash, nope, not apparent to me as this my first Subie and first rather smart vehicle – nothing listed rear gate, lift gate, nothing, and it’s not in the owner’s manual from my quick bouncing around from reference to reference. But the manual did show me how to peel off the lift gate’s little center panel and try to manually move the door lock mechanism, but the lever didn’t budge beyond a cm. After scraping the edges of the lift gate door panel opening with my leatherman in trying to force the mechanism to unlock, and also trying to pull apart the one white electrical connection before me to no avail, there was only one final recourse…the actual power source. And yup, only disconnected the negative battery terminal when the incessant ringing stopped. Replaced said connection and the car was back in business, all was well with the world and my beloved new Ascent, didn’t lose my radio station settings either.

This situation is concerning, always the “what if” situation where I require access from the rear gate? Worst case scenario, with the rear gate inoperable both electronically and manually, anything I need back there is lost. Mild case scenario, I can try to pull items through the passenger doors, but what if I have a storage cage, or simply items that only fit through the rear gate.

Add me to the long list of others that have had this issue. I did not try the 10 second button hold suggestion but other than disconnecting battery, I could not get the chime to stop.