What is it with the tailgate struts on these wagons? We had ours replaced not long after we bought the car because they were pretty weak, and to be honest, the ones the dealer replaced them with were not much better.
I banged my feckin head on the tailgate yesterday because the feckin thing didn’t go up as it should.
Maybe time to source some new and stronger ones myself.
Before I got rid of the GM struts, every time I thought it might stay up - the bloody thing would wack me. Last straw was the dog nearly decapitated. The VE (and VF?, dunno) tailgate looks nice (i still think my wagon is sexy...) but it's got a few design/quality issues GM might of learned from if they were, alas, still around.
Just a few:
- As discussed, the stock gas struts aren't quality.
- The sedan has a manual boot release in the glove box if you can't open the boot. The wagons' tailgate manual release is, well, in the tailgate! And a PITA to get to, and effect.
- The design of the tailgate will dump drips inside as you open it in rain. Once up, its OK.
- The lock actuator and release mechanism is DEFINITIVELY a lesson in bad design and/or implementation. It is/was well known at Holden that this setup is a lemon. I replaced mine with a simple release button a while back and it works perfectly every time. Cost me $10? Maybe it was $7.99? The whole mechanism was replaced once under warranty, and fixed twice (at my expense). It started going again within 8 months, and I jumped ship.
Love the car, plenty of positives, but the negatives are VERY frustrating. Soz, bit off-topic, end rant.