Tailgate Latch problems of the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche

2002 Avalanche with approx. 40,000 miles. . . Cannot lock or unlock the back tailgate. Took it into the dealers repair shop and had it fixed and paid for it. They were not willing to work with me on it, even though it was obviously a defect and so close to my warranty expiration. Now at 81,000 miles we have the same problem and cannot lock or unlock the back tailgate. I am afraid that I will break my key off in the lock if I force it too hard. I had the Avalanche at the same service center for recall work and mentioned that I had the same problem again. . They told me I would have to pay for it to fix it again. I told them don't bother.

I released the tailgate to remove an empty box from the bed of my 2002 chevy Avalanche. I jumped up in the back of the truck and retrieved the box. When I reached the back of the truck (tailgate), the tailgate gave way like a trap door and I went down with it. I hit both my knee and head on the tailgate as the tailgate hit the ground. Both cables (2) broke about 2 inches below the connector. I cut my knee and had a knot on the side of my head. Asprin seemed help, but there is still pain in the outside knee area (left). When I got to work, I pulled up the recall list. Much to my surprise, there was a recall on the very cables that severed on my Avalanche. I have owned the vehicle since June 2004 and have even had maintenance performed on the vehicle at a local chevy dealership. I did not receive a recall notice on this part although the defect notice states I should have.

Rear/end gate appears closed but opens periodically while driving. It scares the hell out of you and drops belongings from the bed area all over the roadway. It could cause major accidents.

Pulling out from a stop, the tailgate dropped open and as a result of the cable on the right side breaking, the tailgate fell off and was dragged along by the left side cable scraping the right side of the tailgate badly.

2002 Chevrolet Avalanche drivers side tail gate cable failure. Approximately 28,000 mies on the vehicle. Owner was sitting on the tail gate when failure occurred.

While driving, tailgate popped open, causing consumer to pull over to close it.