[idahoakl]

I bought a new tray style bike rack (nice rack btw, I highly recommend, www.1upusa.com) which replaced my old mast style bike rack. Our X3 came with a power tailgate, which, while nice is a little concerning when you have several thousands of dollars of bikes on the back and sitting wrong on the key can cause the tailgate to open and hit the rack and/or bikes. Not to mention marring the paint on the tailgate.

I solved this issue with the mast style rack by attaching a piece of foam board to the mast where the tailgate would hit thus stopping the tailgate from opening if the bike rack was in the way.

However, with this new bike rack there is no mast only bikes to be hit. This strikes me as a much more expensive accident than just a dinged up paint job as would have happened with the mast (bikes plus paint). I've adjusted the open height of the tailgate and it still would make contact.

Has anyone dealt with something similar to this? Were you able to disable the key fob from opening the power tailgate? I've looked through the BMW accessory catalog and they sell a tray style rack that fits into holes in the bumper. It seems like that would have the same issue that I have unless they engineered something to solve this.

Thank you in advance.

[UKMS]

Originally Posted by idahoakl

I bought a new tray style bike rack (nice rack btw, I highly recommend, www.1upusa.com) which replaced my old mast style bike rack. Our X3 came with a power tailgate, which, while nice is a little concerning when you have several thousands of dollars of bikes on the back and sitting wrong on the key can cause the tailgate to open and hit the rack and/or bikes. Not to mention marring the paint on the tailgate.

I solved this issue with the mast style rack by attaching a piece of foam board to the mast where the tailgate would hit thus stopping the tailgate from opening if the bike rack was in the way.

However, with this new bike rack there is no mast only bikes to be hit. This strikes me as a much more expensive accident than just a dinged up paint job as would have happened with the mast (bikes plus paint). I've adjusted the open height of the tailgate and it still would make contact.

Has anyone dealt with something similar to this? Were you able to disable the key fob from opening the power tailgate? I've looked through the BMW accessory catalog and they sell a tray style rack that fits into holes in the bumper. It seems like that would have the same issue that I have unless they engineered something to solve this.

Thank you in advance.

Have you actually had your tailgate open by accident ? .... From my own experience its not easy to do (unless you have something wrong with the keyfob). Certainly my 5 Series fob requires quite distinct and constant pressure for 2 or so seconds on either of the tailgate buttons (glass or tailgate). If it were that easy I think many people would be concerned about dogs escaping from various BMW models or crunching the paintwork against walls or other vehicles in car parks ?

Just my 2c worth

MS

[faztaz]

You can also adjust the maximum height your tailgate can open under the control options. Maybe setting it to the lowest setting will prevent it from opening too much and damaging you bikes or car gate.

[UKMS]

Originally Posted by faztaz

You can also adjust the maximum height your tailgate can open under the control options. Maybe setting it to the lowest setting will prevent it from opening too much and damaging you bikes or car gate.

Originally Posted by idahoakl

............ I've adjusted the open height of the tailgate and it still would make contact........

..

[idahoakl]

Originally Posted by UKMS

Have you actually had your tailgate open by accident ?

I can't say I've directly witnessed it opening when I didn't push the key fob but I've come out in the garage on a morning or 2 and the tailgate has been open. My wife and I both swear that we didn't leave it open so while I guess it is definitely possible that we left it open there is also a chance that the button was hit.

If the button has gotten pushed accidentally it is most likely in my pocket with other keys and coins bouncing around and getting compressed against my leg just right. I'm thinking about buying a cover for the fob to prevent this, that or put a keyless entry on the house so I don't have to carry any other keys

[DonC]

I use a fob cover to preclude accidental button activations.