How To Fix A Sticking Trunk Lid On A Early 2000 Ford Focus - If the trunk is locked and both rear seats are latched in then break the plastic covering the passenger seat belt and either reach in with your arm or a broom handle and catch the seat latch, to unlatch the rear seat. With the seat unlatched open both seats and crawl into the trunk, then use a hammer and cold chisel to destroy the plastic housing that the latch is made up of (you will need to remove the inside trunk lid cover over the latch) With the plastic housing gone you can then unlatch the trunk lid. With the trunk lid open you can unbolt the latch from the trunk, and when you finish removing the plastic housing from the latch you can remove the lock cylinder from the latch assembly. Insert the lock cylinder in the new assembly and bolt this back into the trunk lid. There is no need to unbolt or destroy the rear seats.
We had to break the lock to get in. Had to get the babies car seat out so that mom could drive home. We ended up drilling the lock out to get into the truck. This happened at nap time so we had to listen to a crying baby the entire time. This really sucked. We did manage to get into the trunk thru the backseat. A friend used a coat hanger to pull the release cable for the back of the seat. Of course by then we had partially drilled out the lock. We went ahead and removed the lock. We are almost afraid to replace the lock. at least now we have access to the trunk, but then so does everyone else.
I bought the car about a month ago. Everything in it was working great. The car is in beautiful shape for being 10 years old and hardly any rust. (i don't think it saw snow at all) This may be my fault but still its a little annoying. I took the car to a car wash and after I got it washed the trunk stopped opening. Im thinking the little electric motor that opens it froze up being I am from Wisconsin and it can get up to 30 below here. I don't no how to fix the problem except maybe hope it the summer the motor will thaw out. I can open the truck but I have to do it from the inside with a screw driver. This car has been good to me so far but we will see. It cant be worse then the Chevy cavalier I use to own.
cant get my trunk opened and when i called the local ford dealer they said it could cost $650 dollar because they have not personally dealt with this problem and have heard it is a very difficult job i have had six people look at it and they said the best bet is to get the lock broke out what do you do to save money this car is so costly its one thing after another
I need to know how to go about getting this fixed. I can't get into the trunk .. The key lock won't open it, the automatic button in the car won't open it AND there isn't a latch on the inside where I can just bring the backseats down. That latch is located in the trunk... Any suggestions?
The trunk latch has apparently broken, in the closed position. Key turns and you can feel it moving-something-but obviously not the latch. This is the second latch assembly on this car to go. The other is the right front door latch which stopped working as soon as the warranty ran out. I am going to try to disengage the rear seats from the bottom and open the trunk from the inside. What a piece of crap.
As I understand the lock in the trunk area is a piece of crap Even a locksmith can't fix it it is a ford exclusive problem with a ford only fix....since the part itself is about 100 dollars and the labor God only knows what I can't afford to have it fixed with the other problems with this POS car ...yippie American made POS thats got less then 40,000 miles on it and been treated like a baby
My trunk is jammed shut too. Fortunately for me I had nothing important in it at the time it happened, which was a year ago. I can't fold the seats without pressing the latch in the trunk and the trunk won't open for me to get to the latch for the seats. A horrendous engineering design! The dealership scratched their heads when I took it in last year. After consulting with locksmiths etc Everyone I talked to looked puzzled and couldn't imagine why anyone would design a car thsi way. I was told it may be cheaper to take the seats out. The dealership tried taking the seats out today for $80, and they still could not acess the trunk. They finally broke the lock and charged me $300 to reinstall it. This is the last time I buy another Ford product. This car has been recalled at least 4 times and I have spent sevrall hundreds on it since the extended warranty ran out. My next car is going to be a Toyota, Honda or Nissan!
I closed the trunk, immediately clicked to open it and nothing happened. Tried the dash board popper dohicky button and nothing happened. Tried my key and you guessed it... nothing happened! Worse part was in was in downtown Detroit, and my purse, wallet, and every form of money or ID that I had was trapped in my trunk. AHHHHHHHHHHH
Went to trusty neighborhood mechanic (no sarcasm... this guy is great and honest). He was stumped. Went to Ford dealer... they said (Clif Notes version here) "This happens. We have to break the back seat and fix it from the inside", He was talking $500+ in parts, labor and a new freaking back seat. I took it back to the trusty neighborhood mechanic who jimmied a way to detach the back seat from the bottom (it was still locked in at the top) and stick a pole in to jab at and eventually push the release for the back seat.
I called Ford ranting and raving and was basically told tough sh*t!
There has to be a better way. I was told there was never going to be a recall on something like this becuase it "wasn't a safety issue". What if I had a flat tire and needed my spare?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
We had to break the lock to get in. Had to get the babies car seat out so that mom could drive home. We ended up drilling the lock out to get into the truck. This happened at nap time so we had to listen to a crying baby the entire time. This really sucked. We did manage to get into the trunk thru the backseat. A friend used a coat hanger to pull the release cable for the back of the seat. Of course by then we had partially drilled out the lock. We went ahead and removed the lock. We are almost afraid to replace the lock. at least now we have access to the trunk, but then so does everyone else.
- msmichelob, Lancaster, SC, US