How to Open a BMW Trunk Manually

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There are a few reasons that you might want to know how to open the trunk or rear hatch of your BMW manually. Some owners may just want to know if it is possible without the use of their keyfob or interior switch. Or you may have a dead battery and the trunk is not opening regardless of if you have the key or not. We will outline some solutions below. 

If your battery is fine and you are simply looking for the manual way to open the trunk or hatch from the outside of your BMW; it is typically located just above the license plate on both cars and SUVs. It is not visible at eye level but if you turn your hand upward into the small piece of bodywork that hangs over the rear license plate you will feel the switch to release the trunk. If the car is locked you will need to have your key on you. 

How to Open a BMW Trunk Manually if Your Battery is Dead

If your car’s battery is dead and you need to open the trunk or hatch you will still need access to the inside of the car. On most BMW SUVs there is a small panel on the interior of the rear hatch itself located on the passenger side. If you remove this you’ll see it is attached by a metal cord. Pulling on it will release the latch and the rear hatch will open. 

On a sedan or coupe the process is slightly more difficult. From the rear seat simply fold down the passthrough into the trunk. You will not be able to fit through but with a small pole or other tool you can reach in and hit the trunk release that is located by law on the inside of the trunk on all modern cars. 

The easiest way to open the trunk or hatch if your battery is dead is to open the hood and attach jumper cables to the attachment points in the engine bay. Whether you are powering from a device specifically for jumping cars, or to another running car; as soon as there is power flowing into the dead battery the trunk or hatch release switch on the inside of the driver’s door will function and you can access the trunk or rear cargo area. 

  1. Open the hood of your BMW. The hood release is located in the drivers footwell on the underside of the dash.
  2. Connect jumper cables to the battery hard points. Be careful to connect the positive and negative cables to the corresponding hard point.
  3. With the jumper cables attached and power flowing through them simply use the trunk or hatch release switch on the driver’s door and the trunk will open. 

1 thought on “How to Open a BMW Trunk Manually”

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    I have a 128i…we tried using the 12 V on the front engine but the car still doesn’t have any juice. Is there any other way to manually open the trunk?

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