My 2018 T6 rear tailgate suddenly unlatched and wouldn't open from outside or inside. So here's what I did as temp and then permanent fix.
Temp fix - on inside just above the latch in centre of tailgate is a rubber grommet. Remove to expose latch mechanism. You will see the latch bar. Pull this up to open the door. Close door, drive home. The actuator may unlatch it again randomly, so you may need to repeat.
Permanent fix - remove tailgate trim (see you tube!) I confirmed that this was an actuator problem because central locking nor both door opening switches initiated the lock actuator.
New actuator bought for £25ish on eBay part description and number 'Boot Lid Tailgate Locking Actuator Solenoid Motor VW Passat Touareg 3B5827061C'.
Unplug the switches,
Slide the plastic cap holding the latch bar from the actuator
Remove the three screws holding the whole rear door handle mechanism (with actuator bolted to it) and slide whole mechanism out.
Reason for this is because the actuator retaining screws are on the back!
Unscrew the two actuator retaining screws and replace with new.
Plug in handle and check it works.
At this point I also popped out the rear door handle. Has two retaining lugs at each end, simply push in with a small screwdriver and handle Will pop off.
For me this exposed a little rust to the edge of handle hole where handle seal was poor. So a bit of rust neutraliser and touch up paint sorted this, I hope. One to watch anyway. This is all hidden by door handle so didn't need to be perfect.
Then reverse removal and a full check of all operations before replacing trim.
Note it kept randomly delatching again, so checked the codes (obd11) and cleared the central locking rear tailgate lock intermittent fault (code 00329). This stopped the random delatching.
Job done, has been behaving since done.
Hope this helps
Other possible fault is external door switch, so make sure it isn't that before buying the part. But replacing it is same procedure as above.
Temp fix - on inside just above the latch in centre of tailgate is a rubber grommet. Remove to expose latch mechanism. You will see the latch bar. Pull this up to open the door. Close door, drive home. The actuator may unlatch it again randomly, so you may need to repeat.
Permanent fix - remove tailgate trim (see you tube!) I confirmed that this was an actuator problem because central locking nor both door opening switches initiated the lock actuator.
New actuator bought for £25ish on eBay part description and number 'Boot Lid Tailgate Locking Actuator Solenoid Motor VW Passat Touareg 3B5827061C'.
Unplug the switches,
Slide the plastic cap holding the latch bar from the actuator
Remove the three screws holding the whole rear door handle mechanism (with actuator bolted to it) and slide whole mechanism out.
Reason for this is because the actuator retaining screws are on the back!
Unscrew the two actuator retaining screws and replace with new.
Plug in handle and check it works.
At this point I also popped out the rear door handle. Has two retaining lugs at each end, simply push in with a small screwdriver and handle Will pop off.
For me this exposed a little rust to the edge of handle hole where handle seal was poor. So a bit of rust neutraliser and touch up paint sorted this, I hope. One to watch anyway. This is all hidden by door handle so didn't need to be perfect.
Then reverse removal and a full check of all operations before replacing trim.
Note it kept randomly delatching again, so checked the codes (obd11) and cleared the central locking rear tailgate lock intermittent fault (code 00329). This stopped the random delatching.
Job done, has been behaving since done.
Hope this helps
Other possible fault is external door switch, so make sure it isn't that before buying the part. But replacing it is same procedure as above.
