Just took over payments for a 2020 Malibu. I was able to access the trunk the first day to check the spare tire and roadside kit for the owner’s manual (didn’t find one). The next day it wasn’t opening at all.

Press button on trunk while holding proximity key: Nothing, not even a sound.
Double-press the trunk button with the remote: Tail lights come on for a moment but trunk does not open.
Toss the fob into back seat, double-press unlock on door, then press button on trunk: Still nothing.
Valet Mode is not engaged.

My friend assured me that there has never been an issue getting in the trunk so I was probably just doing it wrong. Sure enough, it worked when he tried it, fooling me into put some items in that are now stuck in there, inaccessible to me. I tried repeatedly over the next couple days to no avail.

It’s obviously not a fuse since it worked one more time after the trouble started, but I’ll check to make sure later today. I saw where South Main Auto traced a similar issue to a bad relay on a previous generation Malibu so I’ll check that next. In the mean time, I thought I’d check to see if anyone else has had this issue with the current/final generation Malibu. Thanks!

 

Procedure to open trunk when prox key is locked inside:

Older 2005 Malibu traced to a relay:

 

Well, it opened for me again but would not close. As I recall, this happened before and I had to press the button again while the trunk was open even though the latch was visibly open. Sure enough, it made a noise and was able to close this time too… but it went right back to being unable to open again.

I checked the fuses and relays under the hood but I could not find a relay that seemed to be related. I could hear a click at the fuse/relay center when I double clicked the trunk open button on the remote, but I removed every relay one at a time and was still getting the click. Wherever that click is coming from, it doesn’t appear to be from that fuse/relay box.

I only expect to find fuses inside the car but I’ll check those fuses too when I get the chance.

 

This guy shows how to use a pick to manipulate the rear seat latches from outside the trunk so that you can get to the trunk’s interior emergency pull:

It really is ridiculous that they didn’t design for this issue, especially how unreliable the electronic access appears to be (multiple different issues across the last 3-4 generations).

The one he works on seems to have a similar issue to mine but it makes a click. When the trunk is not opening for me I get no click. He mentions Parts Geek but it looks like I can get an aftermarket part on Amazon for even less:
https://a.co/d/dJ3eDjU

I’m sure it’s crap but so is OEM, seemingly. I’ll fire the parts cannon because it’s cheap and if it works at all I will teardown my OEM unit to see what’s up inside.

 

Well, I ordered a slightly cheaper “DAFGSEA” trunk latch/actuator on Amazon only to get a heater blend door actuator instead. Weirdly, the Amazon tracking updated to say that delivery was delayed/rescheduled and there was no getting through the phones on Prime Day. To add insult to injury, it dropped a few more bucks for Prime Day too.



Even more strange: The correct part was delivered the following day (today) even though I wasn’t able to tell them about the mix up. It’s like they already knew and proactively shipped the correct part while the incorrect one was in transit.



The aftermarket Dorman trunk latch/actuator part number is 940-108 but all the other aftermarket parts typically copy the same part number. BOTH boxes are labeled 940-108 even though one contains 604-108 and would never fit 940-108 inside. Wonder how that mixup happened!



The cam for the emergency release cable was not greased like the factory original. I added some grease and installed it only to find that I could not close the trunk. The latch is in the open position but will not latch closed even when manipulated with a tool (pushed closed). I couldn’t just drive to work like that so I had to put the old one back. Luckily, it hasn’t been acting up on me in the last few days. I’m leaving one of the rear seats down just in case.



It’s been cooler and rainy the last few days so I suspect it might get stuck again when it gets hot. Maybe removing and reinstalling it has somehow helped but I doubt it. Regardless, this thing has got to go back to Amazon. I’m going to reinstall it one more time just so I can document it not working. I kinda wish I didn’t bother with Loctite before discovering that the new part doesn’t work anyway.



I watched an eBay listing with a “new” original GM part for relatively cheap and got an even lower offer from the seller but it’s still over 3x the Prime Day price after shipping and tax. I ordered anyway but I don’t fully trust it.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/26690443229...mis&media=COPY



What do you think?



I mean, I don’t doubt the part and the packaging are genuine, but the packaging says “Made in Korea, Republic of” while the part says “Made in Czech Republic.” The seller says it came that way from the dealer but I still think that means this is someone’s old part in the replacement part’s packaging (not dealer surplus). I will inspect it for witness marks and other signs of being previously installed when it arrives. Better yet, I’ll ask the seller to do that before he sends it.

 

Guess I’ll keep replying to myself to document this for anyone experiencing similar issues.

OK, I started getting duplicate shipments of all the other stuff from the same box as the actuator so it seems Amazon thought the package was lost or something. Guess they weren’t proactively replacing the incorrect part.

Anyway, the issue did come back with the original part. I installed the OEM replacement and it hasn’t come back (yet?) but now I now have an issue where the screen says “Service Vision System” when it should show the backup camera. Like the trunk latch issue, the camera problem seems to come and go. This makes me think there might be damage to the wire harness with intermittent connections which could cause that along with the trunk latch issue.

The camera issue is usually all or nothing but today I saw it in a marginal state where it would jump between a distorted backup camera image or a “Service Vision System” message. The trunk actuator was working just fine, however. Earlier in the day when they were both working fine I had my brother wiggle the harness and we couldn’t trigger any issues, so I may be barking up the wrong tree but it would be really weird for both things sharing a harness to develop unrelated issues as soon as I got the car.

Regarding the new OEM replacement part for the trunk latch/actuator: It didn’t have any witness marks that I could see so I installed it. It did have grease on one of the places for a cable to go in it but not the correct one for my car. I added silicon grease to the correct track and dropped my emergency pull cable in that one. Not knowing which you might be using is probably why the aftermarket one had no grease at all.