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Tailgate Issue - Potential Recall??

19K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  karthicsrikumar 
#1 ·
Hi all.

New owner of a 2020 Velar R-Dynamic P340. After just a few days in my possession, encountered a problem with the tailgate. Discovered an issue that I can reliably replicate, that the tailgate will open or close on its own when pressure (knee, palm of hand) Is applied just to the left of center of the rear bumper! The open/close mechanism will even time-out from repetitive commands, but the computer will continue to register a command by blinking the lights. The local dealership has never seen anything like this before, and so far their inquiries to corporate engineering for a solution has yielded no fix (software patches, additional insulation foam within the bumper, re-securing foot motion sensors). Service states no technical bulletins or reports of this issue have been created for any model or year, and based on the response, I imagine this issue is no longer an isolated defect in my vehicle.

Any 2020 Velar owners, please go play around with your rear bumper, pressing firmly against the middle or left-of-middle, and see if you can get your tailgate to open. The key must be near the proximity sensors for it to happen, and the dealer has shown it to have nothing to do with triggering the foot-kick sensors. Please report if you can, and inform your dealer ASAP so hopefully this problem can be taken care of correctly, avoiding a potential safety issue!
 
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#2 ·
That's really interesting! I've had the tailgate close on me while loading the car a number of times, resulting is loud swearing and a couple of bumps on the head 😡 never understood how this happened, but now ...
anybody else with this problem?? Thanks for raising this, by the way!
 
#3 ·
That is exactly how I discovered the issue, when loading the trunk after shopping on Day 3 of owning it. First thought I hit something to cause it by mistake, but when happened to my wife while unloading trunk the same day, I knew something was up! Started playing with leaning my knee into the bumper as I assumed I was doing to load/unload, and down it went! Go give it a shot, because sounds exactly the same!
 
#4 ·
We too have had our 2019 Australian Velar tailgate close on us unexpectedly, a nuber of times. Today we tested it, pressed on the bumper left of center, the tailgate closed unexpected, we tested it a number of times, same result. Now we know where not to place our weight when loading stuff into the back of our Velar, so long as we remember.
 
#5 ·
This has to be something to do with the gesture tailgate sensors, surely? Having said that, I can hop around like a Morris Dancer and mine still doesn't open sometimes......
 
#8 ·
Seissua: I would advise you to bring it in to your local dealer to have them evaluate and attempt to fix the issue. This is the first I've heard of even a 2019 model doing this, yet for an issue going back over a year in the Velar, their cooperate service/engineering teams and claiming to my local dealer that they know nothing of this issue prior to my vehicle's report. It is now clear this is a widespread defect, with just the handful of responses posted in this thread! The sooner corporate knows of multiple complaints of this defect all over the world, the faster they will hopefully have it resolved and taken care of!

Seissua said:
We too have had our 2019 Australian Velar tailgate close on us unexpectedly, a nuber of times. Today we tested it, pressed on the bumper left of center, the tailgate closed unexpected, we tested it a number of times, same result. Now we know where not to place our weight when loading stuff into the back of our Velar, so long as we remember.
 
#9 ·
JimH said:
This has to be something to do with the gesture tailgate sensors, surely? Having said that, I can hop around like a Morris Dancer and mine still doesn't open sometimes......
JimH: My local service department kept telling me the same thing, "oh, your foot was under the bumper" at first, until they tried and were quickly able to get the lid to lower themselves, feet and body nowhere near the sensors. They have taken the whole rear side apart, remounted the gesture sensors, tried to minimize the movement of the bumper with extra blocks of foam, but still occurs reliably. So far even in their opinion, has nothing to do with the gesture sensors being triggered externally.
 
#10 ·
bynxy said:
It's happened to me a few times when loading the trunk rear door just starts to come down on it's own and I am no where near the gesture sensor
Bynxy: I would advise you to bring it in to your local dealer to report it, and have them evaluate and attempt to fix this. Their cooperate service/engineering teams are claiming to my local dealer that they know nothing of this issue prior to my vehicle's report. It is now clear this is a widespread defect, with just the handful of responses posted in this thread! The sooner corporate knows of multiple complaints of this defect all over the world, the faster they will hopefully have it resolved and taken care of! Definitely seems like a recall that needs to be addressed at this point!
 
#12 ·
I checked again this morning. Our Australian Velar, UK build date February 2019, does have a Gesture Tailgate, we did not know that as it's not listed in the documents we received when we purchased our Velar, nor is it mentioned in the TOPIx Vehicle Summary. Nevertheless, aside from that, I can open and I can close the tailgate by pressing my shin firmly (but not particularly hard) against the rear bumper, about 50mm to 75mm left of center and about 100mm below the bottom of the tailgate. I do that with my leg vertical and my foot firmly planted on the ground, so not waving under the car. That's a similar position one would stand when loading/unloading the rear of the vehicle. I consider a video of that action to be unnecessary at this time. At the moment I do not wish to have our Velar pulled apart to figure this out. Hopefully LR will at some not too distant time come up with an explanation and a fix.
 
#13 ·
Seissua said:
I checked again this morning. Our Australian Velar, UK build date February 2019, does have a Gesture Tailgate, we did not know that as it's not listed in the documents we received when we purchased our Velar, nor is it mentioned in the TOPIx Vehicle Summary. Nevertheless, aside from that, I can open and I can close the tailgate by pressing my shin firmly (but not particularly hard) against the rear bumper, about 50mm to 75mm left of center and about 100mm below the bottom of the tailgate. I do that with my leg vertical and my foot firmly planted on the ground, so not waving under the car. That's a similar position one would stand when loading/unloading the rear of the vehicle. I consider a video of that action to be unnecessary at this time. At the moment I do not wish to have our Velar pulled apart to figure this out. Hopefully LR will at some not too distant time come up with an explanation and a fix.
Yes, this description pretty much sums up my exact experience and motions to trigger the close or open. Again, first discovered it when leaning into the trunk to load/unload, so stood kind of foolishly pressing my knee/thigh into the bumper repeatedly until it suddenly triggered. Further trials seemed to pinpoint it to basically this same area just left of center of the tailgate latch when open or closed. Both the dealership service team and I can now even trigger it with a simpler firm press and release of a palm or fist to this area. I too have the gesture tailgate option, and as stated prior, we are all sure a foot kick or motion is not the cause through careful trial to avoid that. However, from original testing performed by the dealer, it's possible the pressing/flexing of the bumper is causing the side-mounted gesture sensors to bend on their brackets, leading to sensing of an internal motion registering as a gesture command?? Just speculation as a cause at this point, though. Resecuring/adjusting these brackets had no effect, but maybe these sensors will need to be deactivated until a true fix is developed?! They have not yet suggested this as a solution yet, however. Curious if any Velars without the gesture tailgate feature have this issue!
 
#14 ·
liben96 said:
Could someone please post a video of how to replicate the issue? Thanks
Liben96: I would gladly record a demonstration, but unfortunately my Velar remains at the dealership's service department as the corporate engineering team attempts to suggest a solution! Now that it is becoming clear that this is a design defect, and not an isolated manufacturing defect in my individual vehicle, hopefully they will begin to investigate this a little quicker and more thoroughly!

In the meantime, Seissua below summaries very clearly how we both have triggered the issue. Please give it a try and report back!
 
#15 ·
PiJazZes@aol.com said:
liben96 said:
Could someone please post a video of how to replicate the issue? Thanks
Liben96: I would gladly record a demonstration, but unfortunately my Velar remains at the dealership's service department as the corporate engineering team attempts to suggest a solution! Now that it is becoming clear that this is a design defect, and not an isolated manufacturing defect in my individual vehicle, hopefully they will begin to investigate this a little quicker and more thoroughly!

In the meantime, Seissua below summaries very clearly how we both have triggered the issue. Please give it a try and report back!
Thanks.
I have tried in my 2018 velar but I have not been able to reproduce the issue.
So I don't know if mine is also faulty ... 😅
 
#16 ·
liben96 said:
PiJazZes@aol.com said:
liben96 said:
Could someone please post a video of how to replicate the issue? Thanks
Liben96: I would gladly record a demonstration, but unfortunately my Velar remains at the dealership's service department as the corporate engineering team attempts to suggest a solution! Now that it is becoming clear that this is a design defect, and not an isolated manufacturing defect in my individual vehicle, hopefully they will begin to investigate this a little quicker and more thoroughly!

In the meantime, Seissua below summaries very clearly how we both have triggered the issue. Please give it a try and report back!
Thanks.
I have tried in my 2018 velar but I have not been able to reproduce the issue.
So I don't know if mine is also faulty ... 😅
Almost glad to hear your 2018 Velar is hopefully unaffected, as I would hope this issue wouldn't extend back that far! That said, I suppose there weren't any major design changes since the Velar was introduced, so who knows! Was surprised to even hear one 2019 owner posting with the same problem.
 
#43 ·
I have a 2018 Velar US model and this happens enough that I searched again today and found this forum.

I was loading boxes into the trunk, feet still, middle of the trunk, leaning in hard and the trunk closed on me. Twice.


Almost glad to hear your 2018 Velar is hopefully unaffected, as I would hope this issue wouldn't extend back that far! That said, I suppose there weren't any major design changes since the Velar was introduced, so who knows! Was surprised to even hear one 2019 owner posting with the same problem.
 
#18 ·
Seissua said:
Did I cause confusion suggesting I pushed the 'sweet spot' with my shin? No I'm not that tall. I pushed the 'sweet spot' with my thigh, not with my shin. Sorry!
Lol :lol: Shin, thigh....who is to judge? As long as can duck and cover, to move that body out of the way fast enough before the tailgate crushes you from behind! :roll: I'm still surprised at the response of similar situations from just the small sampling of people that read this random post on this small forum!
 
#20 ·
Gogzy01 said:
I tried this on my 2020 velar this morning and yip, I push the rear bumper and it opens and closes. Bizarre. Very easy to replicate as well.
I'm not sure whether to live with this or report it and have the rear of the vehicle ripped to bits.
Gogzy01: I definitely would advise you to at least report it to your local dealer, for them to escalate the complaint to corporate as mine did. The sooner LR hears multiple complaints about this same issue they claim to have been unaware of, the quicker they will hopefully work to resolve and possibly recall the vehicles!
 
#21 ·
I can't make my 2019.5 do it at all - however my gesture tailgate hardly works either (takes 10-12 goes most times) so maybe that's linked......
 
#22 ·
I was beginning to think it was April 1st and the Kings New Clothes came to mind when I first read this post and as John Mc Enroe exclaimed "I don't believe it" but I am coming round slowly to believe it actually could be true. LOL
 
#23 ·
Spencerwilks said:
I was beginning to think it was April 1st and the Kings New Clothes came to mind when I first read this post and as John Mc Enroe exclaimed "I don't believe it" but I am coming round slowly to believe it actually could be true. LOL
Spencerwilks: Did you try it out?? I see you have a 2019, and don't know if it truly extends back to that model year, although someone else did post that their 2019 did! A neighbor has a 2019 Diesel, and I tried it out on theirs with no success.

***I get the skepticism, but I now have confirmation of a true and recognized issue from the dealership, with them having replicated the issue on other 2020 vehicles in their inventory!***
 
#24 ·
Happened to me few times, I've decided I'm pressing the button on the key while it's in my pocket, but now I can replicate it more often than not - and it is not the key. 2017 First Edition with gesture control, if I'm doing something in the boot and I lean on the bumper with my tight(s), the tailgate tries to close. Sometimes repeatedly and it's frustrating if it's noisy as you won't hear it closing!
 
#25 ·
geniusloci said:
Happened to me few times, I've decided I'm pressing the button on the key while it's in my pocket, but now I can replicate it more often than not - and it is not the key. 2017 First Edition with gesture control, if I'm doing something in the boot and I lean on the bumper with my tight(s), the tailgate tries to close. Sometimes repeatedly and it's frustrating if it's noisy as you won't hear it closing!
WOW, geniusloci. Very interesting to hear from you, as this is the first I've heard of anyone state as far back as 2017 this is potentially happening! But exactly as you described, that is how I've run into the issue and replicated it over and over. Thanks for the information!
 
#26 ·
PijazZes if you get a positive outcome to this problem please let us know. We made our Australian LR Dealer aware of this problem with our Velar. They know us well enough to believe us when we explain what happens. The Manager at Port Macquarie Land Rover in NSW acts as both sales Manager and Service Manager, that appears to be a great mix, the guy knows his products real well. That Dealer like us is waiting to hear if you can find a resolution. Now at least we know why the tailgate sometimes unexpectedly drops on our head. However this is definitely a safety issue, someone could get hurt if this issue is not resolved.
 
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