2011 SRX Known Liftgate water issues

I have a 2011 SRX. Two days ago the back hatch closed with me halfway in the trunk. I know for certain that the power button had not been pushed. I weigh 95 pounds and could not stop it from closing. The motor would NOT stop. I ended up with bruising on my back and the backs of one of my arms as I was trying to get out. Now the hatch will not stay open. When I push the button it will open all the way up and then immediately start coming back down. If I try to turn the power button off to open manually that doesn't work either. This is a BIG safety hazard. Had it been one of my children getting something from the rear storage, they could have been seriously hurt or even killed! I am taking it to the dealership for recalls this Saturday. At that time I plan to talk to them about the liftgate.

I am going thru the same issues with my SRX 2010, 115,000km. In the past 5 year, the car had a few floods and the tailgate won't open when it is cold. The warranty paid for the replacement of 2 modules, I paid for one. The dealers did not listen to me and focussed on the front sun roof drain tubes, which were replaced under the recall, the problems I entertained were related to the rear tubes. Talk to Cadillac/GM services and they indicated that I had to clean the drain tubes, although there is no such mention in the owners manual, I challenge anyone to try to clean the rear drain tubes (front is fairly easy) since by the way you require a special tool to remove the sun roof, no common SRX owner can do this work. Note that GM/Cadillac said I could get the cleaning done of the rear drain tubes for free by my local dealer (I guess you need to make the arrangement when you file a complaint). My SRX is at the dealer right now for the replacement of the hydraulic pump, not enough pressure to lift the gate! Just been telling them for the past 5 years! Don't know if I will pay for that yet.

My 2011 SRX had the same issues. First, the Chevy dealership removed the interior and cleaned all the water out and dried it. They pulled the liftgate module and computer from the rear bay. The circuit board was destroyed and lots of mildew in the module so it must have leaked a few times. I did not know about the leaks because the drain tubes had become disconnected in the rear of the moon roof and the water ran down the inside of the pillars and nothing was wet in the interior. In hindsight... I should have suspected something because I recall a couple of weeks where there was condensation building up on the windshield which would indicate moisture in the car... my wife drives it so I didn't think about it much.

$2400 was the quoted billing. I found this thread and was upset when I discovered other threads discussing a recall on drain tubes in the front of the moon roof that caused leaks under the dash... but nothing addressing the rear tubes. I told the dealership not to reassemble the car and put in a claim against GM. They attempted to put a claim against my extended warranty... that company just laughed it off as water damage is never covered. I stood my ground with them and told them there are thousands of these cars experiencing this leak and I am not accepting this car back without an explanation from GM. I put in a claim myself on GM.com website and was surprised when I received a call the next day. They were very easy to work with and took me out of the loop and worked with the dealership directly. They confirmed that the drain tubes were not installed properly as they had become disconnected; however they stated it was not a recall issue and not a safety issue. I argued that it is a safety issue and a malfunctioning lift gate in an accident could cause an egress problem. I told them I was not picking up the car until this was settled and fixed correctly. about 1 week of arguing and explaining my position and the # of cars is unacceptable; they finally caved and GM told me the best they could do is pay for all of the parts as long as I paid for the labor. Luckily I told them not to reassemble the car and leave it drying in the service bay so they didn't rack up too much more to fix it.

I had to pay $1200 in labor, the interior was cleaned and inspected... after repair, I was pleasantly surprised to find my car in the wash bay with a spray nozzle taped to a post and raining down on the car while parked on car ramps to simulate the worst angle. They had run water on it for 3 hours to test everything.

I still think this is a safety issue and should be a recall on all SRX's... now I am constantly cautious and telling my wife to stay out from under anything that can get debris in there... we are in Washington, so not being in the rain is not happening!