[SubaruToronto]

Thanks to whoever did the research on pulling #14 fuse to re-set the tailgate.
I did a twitch double tap on the button by mistake a few days ago and went crazy trying to get the tailgate to open.
I got the double beep though vs the constant beep.
Subaru engineering needs to solve this, just by the fact that this thread exists proves it's an issue.

I had this super annoying problem happen to me today. Tailgate completely closed with a constant tone. It was not responding to any control to open, whether the car was on or off.

Thanks to this thread, I didn't have to mess with the battery. I pulled that fuse out with a pair of needle nose pliers. After 10 seconds I put it back in and everything was as good as new.

I'm just happy I was at home where I have my tools and it wasn't my wife driving.

 

[Maureen from Maine]

The Problem: New Ascent (about 50 miles on it) I tried to open the tailgate from driver seat. The car's new and I'm just learning so I fumbled with the button pressing and releasing twice in rapid succession. Tailgate made clunk sound and then got a high-pitched beep that would not stop. Tailgate appeared in closed position. No idiot lights or messages on console. Could not open the tailgate manually or with key fob. Beep would not stop. Car seemed to be OK otherwise. It would start, drive, park, and lock and unlock OK. Tailgate kaput.

The Solution: I disconnected both battery leads and touched the leads together for several seconds. When the leads were disconnected the beep (of course) stopped. After touching leads together I reconnected them to the battery and the beep did not return. At this point the tailgate worked fine and all is sweetness and light.

The Explanation: So the service manager explained that the tailgates are finicky beasties and have special logic in them that tries to prevent motor burn out should the gate be opening and closing at the same time (double button push?). Once the gate gets into a "safety mode" it will not open or close and just sits there like a lox complaining with a beep sound. Doing the battery dance resets things sort of like CTRL-ALT-Delete for the car.

Subaru: It sure would be nice to have (a) An indicator showing that the tailgate is in this mode and (b) A way to reset that does not require a metric socket set and some mechanical aptitude.... just say'n....

Same thing is happening to my Ascent. I just disconnect battery. What a pain in the neck.

 

[i2p]

I had this super annoying problem happen to me today. Tailgate completely closed with a constant tone. It was not responding to any control to open, whether the car was on or off.

Thanks to this thread, I didn't have to mess with the battery. I pulled that fuse out with a pair of needle nose pliers. After 10 seconds I put it back in and everything was as good as new.

I'm just happy I was at home where I have my tools and it wasn't my wife driving.

You should have a plastic fuse puller in every vehicle. Dangerous sticking pliers in there to pull out a fuse.

 

[dheyvis]

You should have a plastic fuse puller in every vehicle. Dangerous sticking pliers in there to pull out a fuse.

For future reference, the fuse puller is in the fusebox in the engine compartmemt.

 

[SBello]

I just had this issue. When I tried googling it I couldn’t find any answers. Of course now that I’m at the dealership I see this.
I wanted to try pulling the fuse, but I didn’t have any tools with me and when I called my husband he wanted me to take it to the deal see instead of coming home to try to fix it myself.

I’m a little validated at least reading this thread and learning my suspicions on how to fix it were correct.

Time to throw a 10mm in the glove box lol.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

1. Pull down the liftgate so you can reach the outside button.
2. Unlock the doors (ALL doors)
3. Press the outside liftgate button until it beeps
4. If it quick beeps three times and doesn't close, then, press and hold the outside button for 11 seconds.

 

[SubaruToronto]

1. Pull down the liftgate so you can reach the outside button.
2. Unlock the doors (ALL doors)
3. Press the outside liftgate button until it beeps
4. If it quick beeps three times and doesn't close, then, press and hold the outside button for 11 seconds.

This didn't work for me earlier in the summer when mine was stuck about one inch open.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

This didn't work for me earlier in the summer when mine was stuck about one inch open.

If that doesn't work, there's a gate controller revision that fixes the gate controller issue. It only fixes issues of the controller not knowing where it is or what it's doing (such as when someone uses the hatch catch, messes with it during a memory function, it thinks it stuck, or it resets itself because someone put the car into gear with it open).

 

[burgessms]

If that doesn't work, there's a gate controller revision that fixes the gate controller issue. It only fixes issues of the controller not knowing where it is or what it's doing (such as when someone uses the hatch catch, messes with it during a memory function, it thinks it stuck, or it resets itself because someone put the car into gear with it open).

Does the updated controller also solve the battery drain, or are there 2 modules involved ?

 

[SubaruToronto]

If that doesn't work, there's a gate controller revision that fixes the gate controller issue. It only fixes issues of the controller not knowing where it is or what it's doing (such as when someone uses the hatch catch, messes with it during a memory function, it thinks it stuck, or it resets itself because someone put the car into gear with it open).

How do I get the dealer to install this for me?

 

[Robert.Mauro]

Does the updated controller also solve the battery drain, or are there 2 modules involved ?

I will post a link to the TSB tomorrow.

How do I get the dealer to install this for me?

In the US, the dealers should be able to look up the TSB. In Canada, I'm not sure what the bulletin says.

 

[burgessms]

....... it resets itself because someone put the car into gear with it open.

I've driven slowly, just around in the driveway hauling stuff with the hatch open, but never had it complain, other than the blasted beeping. closed and worked fine after that

 

[ertolsma]

Has anything new been solved about this issue? It just happened to me for the first time after 25 months of ownership. Brought the family up to the mountains to spend a few days away around the new year. Arrived shortly before dusk, everyone piled out, but the rear gate wouldn't open, just began emitting the continuous unending beep. Had to unload everything through the rear doors. Nearest Subaru dealer over an hour away, closing in 30 mins. Called my service dept and they suggested the 10-sec hold on rear outside button, but no amount of this worked. Crawled into the back, popped off the access panel in the gate and shifted the lever as instructed in the manual, to no avail. Attempted this in multiple configurations with my wife locking doors, unlocking doors, starting the car, turning it off, pulling on hatch from outside while I kept working that interior lever. Luckily I had my new WorkTunes ear protectors because the tone was piercing my brain with my head right next to it. Finally gave up and went to the forums, figured the battery disconnect was my only option. Eventually got extremely lucky and found a miniature wrench in the cabin, the type that comes to assemble some toy or furniture or something, 3 inches long, just happened to match the nut; combined with a pair of needle-nose pliers I was slowly able to disconnect the negative terminal. The beeping stopped, I could hear some actuators shifting around in the gate, whew. Gate could be opened and closed at that point, no lights on, everything seemed good. In the morning, my battery was completely dead. Luckily I keep a portable jumper in the car after reading of all the battery problems here. In the 5-6 days since then, hatch and battery seem back to normal, but I'm just waiting for the problem to recur. Is there anything the dealer can do to mitigate/prevent this in the future?

 

[Robert.Mauro]

Yes. There's a TSB related to a new liftgate controller, which resolves both excessive drain issues, and liftgate position issues not related to memory function (memory function issues, which yours don't sound like, are resolved by turning off liftgate memory, and opening the liftgate, and then reprogramming liftgate open height).

 

[SubaruToronto]

Words

Next time you experience the stuck tailgate with the continuous tone:

• turn the car off
• pull the fuse for that circuit (I believe it is the 10 A fuse in slot #14 in the fuse compartment near the driver's left knee). The tone will stop.
• wait 10 seconds
• put the fuse back in
• turn on the car. The lift will close automatically.

No need to mess with the whole battery.

I've had to do this twice now in 18 months. I'm ready to burn this car to the ground.

 

[ertolsma]

Yes. There's a TSB related to a new liftgate controller, which resolves both excessive drain issues, and liftgate position issues not related to memory function (memory function issues, which yours don't sound like, are resolved by turning off liftgate memory, and opening the liftgate, and then reprogramming liftgate open height).

Thanks Robert, I didn't realize that TSB that's been talked so much about battery drain also could affect the tailgate mechanism itself. I'll have them apply it at my next scheduled service, or bring it in for quicker remedy if the problem recurs before then.

 

[ertolsma]

Next time you experience the stuck tailgate with the continuous tone:

• turn the car off
• pull the fuse for that circuit (I believe it is the 10 A fuse in slot #14 in the fuse compartment near the driver's left knee). The tone will stop.
• wait 10 seconds
• put the fuse back in
• turn on the car. The lift will close automatically.

No need to mess with the whole battery.

I did see a recommendation to pull that fuse, but I struggled to get it with the needle nose pliers I had and didn't want to damage anything so went to the battery disconnect option instead. It wasn't until later doing additional reading that I learned there's a fuse puller in the engine compartment somewhere. I'll have to dig back into that part of the manual (been 2 years since I've read it) to figure out exactly where to find it.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

Thanks Robert, I didn't realize that TSB that's been talked so much about battery drain also could affect the tailgate mechanism itself. I'll have them apply it at my next scheduled service, or bring it in for quicker remedy if the problem recurs before then.

It originally didn't, which makes this kinda confusing. There was a TSB related specifically to your issue, and a separate TSB related to battery drain. Since the new gate controller resolves both issues, they were consolidated into the battery drain TSB. Current liftgate module and liftgate module programming address both sets of issues.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

I did see a recommendation to pull that fuse, but I struggled to get it with the needle nose pliers I had and didn't want to damage anything so went to the battery disconnect option instead. It wasn't until later doing additional reading that I learned there's a fuse puller in the engine compartment somewhere. I'll have to dig back into that part of the manual (been 2 years since I've read it) to figure out exactly where to find it.

So, here's the trick, for anyone unfortunate enough to have to pull a fuse for this or other reasons.

• Open your engine compartment.
• On the driver's side, there's a fuse box. Open it.
• Flip the cover over, and you will find a fuse puller that fits all the mini fuses in both fuse boxes.
• Use and put back under cover.

Not sure why it's in the engine compartment fuse box, instead of inside. This is also the location of the spare fuses.

 

[ertolsma]

It originally didn't, which makes this kinda confusing. There was a TSB related specifically to your issue, and a separate TSB related to battery drain. Since the new gate controller resolves both issues, they were consolidated into the battery drain TSB. Current liftgate module and liftgate module programming address both sets of issues.

OK, so I don't screw this up, can you post the current TSB I should reference with the service dept? I don't want to pull the old one doing a forum search. Thanks again Robert.

Edit, did some searches and pulled TSB 07-155-19R which seems to be the updated version of the TSB applicable to this problem. I also contacted SoA and they confirmed.