Am I able to open the liftgate in my 2012 Prius C manually? I've been having electronic issues with it and I was wondering if I could skirt around the issue.
You mean the electronic release is giving you problems? There should be a manual release from inside the trunk area. It might be behind a plastic cover.
Maybe, maybe not. All vehicles newer than ‘93 are required to have the glow in the dark trunk release, but that doesn’t apply to hatchback cars where the cargo area isn’t enclosed. I had the panel pulled off the hatch door on ours to replace the license plate lights and didn’t see a release anywhere. That said I wasn’t looking for one either.
^ I don't know of a manual release. Certainly never found one on ours. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist; it just isn't exposed. You'd have to get the rear interior door panel off at a minimum. It just pops off like most other interior panels.
I haven't checked for the one in my Prime but our Gen 2 and 3 had a manual release. It's not located in the hatch so you are looking in the wrong place. The release would be "behind" the bumper, so in the spare tyre well. It's also possible the newer Prius models don't have a release because the 12V battery is no longer located in the trunk. Edit: I looked at the 2012 Prius c owner's manual and it makes no mention of a manual release. I guess there isn't one for the Prius c.
