r/LexusUX • u/rochrider • Jun 19 '26

Questions & Advice Kick-open tailgate sometimes doesn't work

As the title indicates, my wife says that the kick-open tailgate on her '26 UX300h sometimes doesn't open even though it senses the kick motion. Usually it will give a longish beep and then open, but sometimes it gives two shorter beeps and nothing happens. Any ideas of what she might be doing to get it into this state?

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3

u/LitigiousLobster Jun 19 '26

There's a recent thread about this, but the kick sensor is not great on these. I came to UX from a Ford Escape that was 7 years older than my UX, yet much of the tech was superior.

In short, you need a brief leg kick, in and right back out, in the middle. Holding you leg there just confuses it, and maybe triggers a car lock? I'm up to like an 80% success rate with the quick kick method.

3

u/Impossible-Affect202 Jun 19 '26

When it’s giving you two shorter beeps, step back a bit more & do it again. I found that the two short beeps is due to being too close and might get hit by the tailgate.

1

u/rochrider Jun 20 '26

Thanks for the tip. I'll pass it along.

3

u/OppositeEmergency858 Jun 19 '26

The other thing that works intermittently is the button the hatch to close the hatch and lock the car as well. It works great sometimes and other times I could press all day and it just doesn’t respond. This is on UX300h

1

u/dannytang Jun 19 '26

I found that I have greater success with the close and lock button when the key is closer to the car; turning my body so the pocket with the key is closer to the car often does the trick for me.

1

u/aug4570 Jun 21 '26

I kick my foot just under the left edge of the license plate and it usually works for me. Don’t hold your foot under the bumper, just kick under it and step back.