Shutting the Rear Hatch
 

Has anyone had trouble shutting the rear hatch? 9 out of 10 times my wife or I attempt to shut the rear hatch it doesn't shut completely. If I open a door and then shut the hatch it shuts perfectly every time.

The Pilot we had before this had vents you could hear open to release pressure when you shut the hatch (or door) but with the Expy I don't hear any escaping air when I shut something. Does anyone know if it has vents to release the pressure? If so maybe they are not opening correctly.


Thx.

I can't speak for the 2007, but my 03 and 04 did the same thing. It is strange, the front doors seem to close normally but the rear doors and hatch have to almost be slammed. You would think they would have figured this out for 07 but I guess not

I have not had that problem with my 07 EL which has the power lift gate or the loaner which I am driving while they fix my transmission case . The loaner does not have the power lift gate .

I have had my EB EL for two months with no issue at all. It may just need a simple adjustment. Take it by the service dept and have them look at it.

I had the dealer look at the hatch yesterday. The service manager told me that sometimes when the seals are new it causes the hatch to bounce back when you try to shut it and it only partly latches.

I suppose that makes sense. Anyway they adjusted it and while it still seems like I have to slam it down it does at least appear to be fully latching.

I don't believe that. Being a rubber engineer, it doesn't hold much water. The only way that seal should be springing the door back and keeping it from latching is either the seal is bad and too hard or it is still out of adjustment and trying to compress the seal more than it should. The first is easy to tell, just push on the seal with your finger and it should be fairly soft. Compare it to the other door seals to see if there is a big difference. The other scenerio is that the latch is too far back and the seal is being compressed too much. Think of it like a pipe, once the two side walls meet, it won't allow the door to go any further except with excessive force (slamming it). So, if the distance to the latch is greater than the thickness of the compressed seal, it will not latch correctly. I haven't looked at mine, but it should be fairly easy to adjust it yourself, usually two bolts to loosen and just slide it out a little and retighten. Then try closing it and repeat as necessary. Make sense?

Take it to a different dealer. Have it repaired by someone that will take time to properly repair your $45,000 suv

There should be two, round "bumpers" on each side of the inside edge of the hatch. Try adjusting them IN. That should allow you to close the hatch more solidly and consistently.