D4 auto tailgate

I've fitted a few of these electric tailgate kits, to Evoques and Range Rover Sports, not to a D4 yet though.

In all cases the owner of the car wanted the electric tailgate because one of their other cars had it, and so they missed having it in the LR.

It's a gimmick, sure, but you could say the same for reverse cameras, parking sensors, and other conveniences, once you are used to them they are sorely missed.

I put a reverse camera in my Mini Cooper S, not because i really needed it, but I got so used to having a camera in the other cars, I missed it.

Daughter and SiL bought a new Skoda Kodiak, auto tailgate. Day 2, parked it in the shed, pushed the wrong button on the keyfob, tail gate opens straight into the garage door, scratch and dent added to the features list......[emoji35]
So I guess there's that [emoji28]

I gotta say, when your arms are full of shopping, kids' crap, and kids, pushing a button (or someone in the car seeing you coming and pushing it) rather than having to lift a tailgate can be the difference between having to put down or drop everything, which especially sucks in the rain...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PeterJ

Daughter and SiL bought a new Skoda Kodiak, auto tailgate. Day 2, parked it in the shed, pushed the wrong button on the keyfob, tail gate opens straight into the garage door, scratch and dent added to the features list......[emoji35]
So I guess there's that [emoji28]

---

Yes, heard of a guy with a brand new range rover, I mean 15km on the odo. Gets home, opens tailgate inside garage, big scrape, squeal of tearing metal. Not so new range rover anymore.


At least our garage is high enough that our Jeep tailgate opens without touching anything. Plus you can't stop it once it's opening as then you'll destroy the actuator...

It's a no from me....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

Yes, heard of a guy with a brand new range rover, I mean 15km on the odo. Gets home, opens tailgate inside garage, big scrape, squeal of tearing metal. Not so new range rover anymore.


At least our garage is high enough that our Jeep tailgate opens without touching anything. Plus you can't stop it once it's opening as then you'll destroy the actuator...

It's a no from me....

---

You must be able to stall it from opening just like it won’t close on a person as a safety feature. Like most thing like this, eg power windows, the motors torque sense and when torque exceeds limits it decides it’s met and obstacle and either stops or retracts. The force required though does vary and can be quite significant. You might not want to hold it for fear of it breaking, but it’s not going to sit there grinding itself into an obstruction such as a garage door endlessly.
I did quite search and all the models I could find had some form of safety control built in.

Do you mean they don't come with auto sensing of nearby objects ?:thumbsdown:

Martin

That's what I thought too DJ, but the dealer made us aware that this has happened to others, maybe the force sensor is not calibrated correctly.

AFAIK they do not have proximity sensors in them to avoid hitting objects.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

That's what I thought too DJ, but the dealer made us aware that this has happened to others, maybe the force sensor is not calibrated correctly.

AFAIK they do not have proximity sensors in them to avoid hitting objects.

---

Oh yes, I’m aware of that. It will do damage before it stops, absolutely, but it will stop per se, not just because of the obstruction, but the motor will sense the obstruction and stop trying to lift the tailgate. It requires a good hard hit and resistance to stop, not something you want to actually do.

My garage door also stops when it hits something, like the back of my car, but not before the stupid metal handle on the door has gouged a great piece of the bumper out of it. Ask me how I know [emoji35]

https://youtu.be/ecSjj-BuBiE

Here's one of the Sports I did. It's a Chinese kit.

It definitely had the "safety" features, more so on the closing than opening though.

Didn't take any videos of the testing but you could grab it to stop it opening all the way.

And putting something in the way to stop it closing had varying results, if it was something thin like a tee shirt it would stop and try to close again a few times.

Something thick (like a body part?) it reversed and didn't try to close again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

Yes, heard of a guy with a brand new range rover, I mean 15km on the odo. Gets home, opens tailgate inside garage, big scrape, squeal of tearing metal. Not so new range rover anymore.


At least our garage is high enough that our Jeep tailgate opens without touching anything. Plus you can't stop it once it's opening as then you'll destroy the actuator...

It's a no from me....

---

That's terrible, on a Rangie one can actually program how high it opens, handy if one doesn't have a tall garage.