'06 Avalon - no trunklid keyhole!

OK, make that the '05 in the subject line. Typo. :-(

The most common scenario for battery failures is that the car won't start one day but the radio will play, etc. If this is the case, you will still be able to open the trunk. Also, you could tie a string to the interior trunk release, run it to the pass-through and pull.

I have a better one than that...

As a kid I was fortunate enough to have access to a very nice 67 Riviera GS (430 CI big block) that had the (monstrous) battery relocated to the trunk for better weight distribution. The trunk release was electric and there was no keyhole. Of course, I soon managed to run down the battery and there was NO WAY to get to it short of a crowbar (ouch). It took my friend and I a while to figure it out, but we finally hooked the jumper cables to the starter and were able to pop the trunk open that way.

As long as you don't mind a tampon string on your back seat;-)

Back then removing the rear seat would often give access to the trunk.

I think you worry about something that damned rarely happens. I haven't had to "jump" a car in probably 20 years.

We just got the 2005 Limited Avalon and I doubt there is anything else I would want in a car.

I was worried about the "fob" battery dieing and leaving us stranded - the fob has a key to enter the car and allows for starting even if fob battery is dead.

Fob battery has about a 3 year life.

I guess one could worry ones self about not being able to access the trunk but I think its less worrisome than a rock thru the windshield from a passing truck.

I predict you will like the car - nice ride, lots of get up. Sound is incredible.

ron

Me thinks you worry too much.

If your cables are in the trunk, fold the seat down and get them out ...

I have a friend with a Highlander, and his clock kept resetting when the battery was low. He had no other problems, and there was no indication that the car was about to refuse to run, but the clock insisted on blinking.

Jack G.

He still worries too much, unless one really believes that the engineers didn't plan on tools being in the trunk when the battery is dead. I don't know the 05 Avalon specifically, but I have never seen a car that the trunk couldn't be opened in some mechanical fashion. The doors too, unless they were customized.

Should've done it right with a V8 LS.

Unless it has been removed in the 05 Avalon, there is an opening into the trunk between the two rear seats (behind the center arm rest). My guess is that there is a way to unlatch the trunk through that opening.

Merritt

Those who can afford a brand new Avalon don't worry about trunk lids or batteries dying. They either trade up to the next model within 3 years or call AAA to tow their car to the dealer.

Brilliant, Mark. I wish you could see my grin.

Actually, it has occurred to me that I could put the jumper cables in a box affixed inside the trunk near the small pass-through. It might take some agility, but I bet I could access them that way.

I do love the '05.

I didn't post the full story when I started this thread. I was in the showroom, nosing around an '05 due to be delivered an hour thence. When neither the dash nor the fob button worked but all other accessories did work, I hailed a salesman. He couldn't open the lid either. He called a service person who was equally unsuccessful. I don't know how they resolved that issue for the new owner, but apparently the death of a battery is not the only cause of a sealed lid.

BTW, my 1989 Scorpio had reclining rear seats.

Brent

That would have been a MAJOR pain... there was no provision for access to the trunk from the back seat. Think 60s luxury car...

They snapped out on most cars even back then.

Maybe you can release the safety release from there. I believe all new cars have them so kids don't lock themselves in the trunk.

You're right, Art. My Toyota dealer told me the new Avalon has a glow-in-the-dark safety release that extends nearly the width of the lid. I'm going to check out the design. I expect one pulls it inward to release the latch. Else, a tipping valise would open the trunklid during acceleration. :-) If it does pull inward to unlatch, then a simple cord rigged between the bar and the pass-through would fill the bill.

Still, how expensive would a keyhole have been? Isn't the need for battery power to unlatch the trunklid an example of glitz over practicality?

Brent "I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning." -- Stevie Smith: "Not waving but drowning"

Does the car have a trunk open warning light on the dash? I have a top of the line 2001 XLS Avalon and it does not. Plus the seatbelts don't have adequate winding springs, the auto climate control sucks, and for a bunch of other reasons I would not buy another Toyota until they go back to quality cars..... at least not ones assembled in the US.