Z Rear Bumper Button Panel Loose - 3 screws gone
 

Z People,

Here's a weird issue to have. In the last few months the button panel imbedded in the rear bumper cover has come loose. So loose in fact that it became difficult to open the hatch due the button moving around. Well this past holiday I decided to fix the problem. I removed the bumper cover and discovered that three of the five screws holding the button panel in place were gone. Apparently the car vibrates enough to loosen those screws. I guess it is a good thing that I keep all the old screws and fitting from past mods and installs. I used the blind nuts and 10mm screws that came with the Z-Speed under tray in place of the cheap wood screw style blind nuts/screws the factory had put there. Problem solved and unlikely to return.

Has anyone out there had this problem? Seems a silly one to have given that this button panel is used as often as the door handle. It's not like there is a button in the car that can pop the trunk latch.

Why Nissan, Why?

I never really considered popping the hatch electronically from the inside, but there is the standard emergency cable that (at least in my '09) was buried under all the styrofoam, Bose subwoofers, and the random *** spare tire someone decided to swap for mine at some point. There's supposedly a wiring harness under the passenger seat that could be tapped to install your own electronic release inside the cabin, should be a thread with a link somewhere on the forums... at least we can accidentally roll down our windows with the "intelligent" key, that's good enough, right?

I will be looking into this more.
 

Thank for the suggestion on the in cabin release switch. I have often wondered about this option. It is odd that Nissan actually has a switch designed for this on the 2018 model year Z. I wonder what took them so long to get this into the Z platform as it stands presently.

On the subject of the emergency release on the coupe Z. I know I have seen this pull tab, but I'll have to go try it out. Given that it is a very tight space, should be interesting to locate and try. I have racing seats too and that should make it even more difficult to get to.

There is actually a manual release in the event there is no power and the hatch needs to be opened: http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...k-release.html

Here's other info from people who have wired in a switch inside the cabin.
http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...tml#post795482
http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...ml#post3782185