Frunk Covering Windshield

[brad66]

I'm trying to be open minded about this one but I'm starting to have my doubts.

The OP has 2 posts, both in this thread, and has not been back since the day the thread was started.

[lastzr1]

Thank you for all of your comments. Gm called me back today and said it was my fault because I did not close it properly but to save receipts and if enough people have the problem they might reconsider. I of course replied that I never manually opened the trunk and had just been doing 75 on the highway before stopping so if, in fact, I did press the button it was only after stopping and starting again at a relatively slow speed.

Anyways, thanks again for your insight.

[JB]

Thanks so much for the welcoming and feedback. I cant say 100% the button wasn't pressed but I can say 100% I didn't release a latch because I would have to get out of car for that I think. I was just driving around town enjoying sundown and pulled over for 20 mins but didnt get out but when I left after stopping it happened instantly almost.

The button I maybe inadvertently hit while messing with phone or something but the latch seems impossible. Also if I had driven a long time with trunk open Id have probably noticed. Who knows. Maybe I didnt shut it all the way from a long time ago and never noticed. Seems unlikely though as its an awesome new car and I am particular about things like that.

Again, Im not pretending I know what happened but I do know approximately how fast I was going and it was only around 30. For this reason Id urge you all to double check trunk when closing as it doesn't take much at all to flip it up if unlatched. Luckily nobody hurt this time but it could have been different.

Ill see what GM has to say and move on I guess. Good news is I can still drive it with warped hood

Thanks Again

Im sure you have taken a photo..

can you please post a photo of this

thanks in advance and sorry to hear.

id definitely notify GM immediately..

not even a question.

[lastzr1]

The dealer did and I will this afternoon when I get back to garage. Not huge damage other than just hinges bent backwards which prevents alignment. i told dealer to order parts which might take a while. It slightly damaged edge of trunk but not enough to need replacement. The damage isn't tremendous its just more of a heads up issue going forward. My guess is total damage leas than 1k unless I replace whole hood which I think I can avoid.

[lastzr1]

I know it needs a wash but I'm afraid its not water tight now.

[Alvin]

One other suggestion; check any of your other cars with a standard rear trunk, try to open the trunk with either the dash button or the key fob button. Most will have to hold the button in for a full two seconds before the rear trunk opens. I don't have my C8 yet but I sure hope the same requirement for a two second push on the button is there.

[Neil H]

There is no delay when you push the button, but the car has to be in Park to pop the hood open with the fob, door switch or keypad.

[lastzr1]

Sounds like I must have accidentally pressed button while parked based on what was said. Probably totally my fault but just be careful as it was easy to do and I can assure you I never got out of car to manually open it. Sorry pics arent better but it makes a crunching sound when opening now and I dont want to do further damage but you can still see where the seams dont line up

[JB]

Lastzr1...its hard in tje photos to see the damage yet I thank you for posting up the photos.

all kidding aside even if you might have touched the button the front trunk should not have opened.

this is nit your fault and you should not accept blame.

if you didnt close the frunk thats one thing and even then you should have been alerted.

double closing is not an acceptable reason for the trunk to fly back.

seriously I would take this up the ladder at gm...not so much for the cost but rather as a fine member of the corvette community to help the corvette engineering team to explore the event make sure this doesnt happen to anyone else.

i would do it with a positive attitude to assist the corvette engineering team...and for that alone they may or may not help you out.

thats scary when a hood opens up and blocks the view of the driver...

you are lucky not to have gotten hurt.

thank you again for sharing here,

[JB]

There is no delay when you push the button, but the car has to be in Park to pop the hood open with the fob, door switch or keypad.

Actually you are correct...i dont believe the button on my corvette will open the trunk as Im driving. If I remember correctly my emergency brake has to be engaged while the car is running to open up the rear trunk. Ive tried in my driveway in the past to open the rear trunk while the engine is running and the trunk will NOT release until i pull up on tje emergency brake. I hope this helps you find the cause.

still this did occur on the c8 and as good member of the community I would ask LastZR1 to being this occirance to the corvette engineers in bowling green.

if done with a positive attitude ...I believe they will ask you to bring the vehicle into the chevy service department to see what is and possibly wasnt working.

id be quite surprised if the trunk was even half closed that it would open up.

worst case scenerio LastZR1 maybe you forgot to close the front trunk at all.

human error does occur...and many of us are victims ourselves of the flying roof club. Myself included.

i think the new roof cost me a grand out of pocket. No one to blame but myself.

sometimes even the best of us make mistakes.

im not saying you did or didnt but I would definitely schedule an appointment at your chevy dealership and I would also notify corvette engineering ahead of your visit to guide your world class gm service tech in protocols to determine the actual cause.

we as other corvette enthusoasts would appreciate your future efforts in this regards.

[lastzr1]

They said they were going to send a GM certified tech not affiliated with the dealer down but all I got was a call. They told me today the struts were less than 100 dollars each so at some point I have to value my time at something if I keep pursuing. I appreciate all your insight and really just wanted your collective judgement as to whether my thought process was erroneous. Obviously it was stupid to accidentally press the hood button when parked but given that every time I remote start my car to cool it in the afternoon and then go to put exercise eqpt in rear trunk the whole car shuts off it seems odd that something as dangerous as the front hood doesn't have a safe guard as well.

Ive had many vettes over the years and have found reliability to be excellent but dealers spotty. This wasn't the dealers fault though IMO. From what I can tell it was a GM decision not to pay. LIke I said earlier though if I were a betting man Id say I probably accidentally hit it when fooling with dash or radio but dont remember doing so. Ill ask dealer if he can read what button was pushed from diag as was suggested above but my guess is I somehow did it.

Prob not talking big money here and Im at least partly to blame most likely so I will eat it I guess. Id also like to have my car back and this process of fighting it could take a while. IN GMs defense they were very fair with me one time when my old 86 vet was out of warranty so in the scope of things perhaps I shouldn't complain.

Thanks Again

[KOPBET]

I have on numerous times over the years had my key fob buttons get pushed while in my pocket. Vehicles were not corvettes or push button starts. But I would have my doors lock/unlock and alarm activate while doing yard work etc. in the vicinity of my vehicles while keys were in pocket. Because of this and my paranoia, one of my first “accessories” I ordered was a nice corvette logo neck lanyard. I plan to keep my fob hanging on my chest. Will greatly decrease accidental activations and I won’t have to dig for my fob when I’m ready to re enter car. That is........... if I ever get my 3100 status car 😩

[JB]

I still dont understand how pressing the key fob would pop the hood while driving.

Am I to understand you got in the car, popped the hood with the fob before starting the car...that would also be a possibility.

thank you for sharing ...

i live murphys law so your sharing may have helped many of us myself included down the road.

[Michael]

Just checked this out on my car.

This post is long, so if you are not interested in the operation or diagnostics of the OP's problem, then skip this post.

Operation/general info, from what I can tell:

There are 3 latch positions (fully latched position, first latch position and fully unlatched position), just like the hood latch systems that have been used for many years.

Whenever the hood is at either the first latch position or the fully unlatched position, the warning is indicated on the RHS of the IPC (instrument panel cluster).

The emergency hood release button will open the hood at any time, under all conditions (which I assume might be the case for OnStar as well).

The other 3 electronic hood unlatching methods (fob, touch pad, door mounted switch) are only enabled and allowed and possible when the car is in Park, regardless of the state of the electric parking brake.

The only other way to unlatch the hood, whether it is in Park or not, is using the manual release cable, underneath the dash, above your left toes.
When that cable is pulled once, the hood unlatches to the first latch position and a 2nd pull completely unlatches the hood.


Diagnostics -- and these are only my thoughts, I'm not sure what is in the service manual, Tech Line, etc:

I think the hood unlatching function is controlled by the BCM (Body Control Module), and lets say it is for this discussion.
I also assume the fob signals are received by the BCM, but it could be a different module, in which case, the communication between these modules could also be a factor.

The front trunk hood release is controlled by the BCM and two relays, #6 (Relay 1) and #9 (Relay 2) in the Instrument Panel Fuse Block.
I am not sure how these 2 relays function together as per safety protocols, whether they are in series or in parallel or sequenced, etc.

There is a possibility that there was no indication on the IPC if the hood position switch (which is probably incorporated into the latch) or it's wiring/circuitry was faulty.

So, how could this have happened with no warning indicated and if the hood was actually latched properly to begin with:

1. The hood latch is faulty, allowing the hood to open without any inputs.
2. The manual release cable was pulled twice, either by someone or something. This is also possible if something above the under-dash pad or at the latch itself is physically contacting the cable and/or it's sheath, and/or if the cable mount at the latch bracket is broken.
3. BCM is faulty, signalling the hood unlatch relay(s) to open the latch (and not necessarily giving indication to the IPC and/or not setting any DTC'S/codes).
4. BCM received an erroneous "Park" indication from the shifter module (when not in park) and an electronic unlatch command was received.
5. The hood unlatch relay(s) received an erroneous signal to unlatch the hood (wiring fault or signal from the BCM). This signal would be to the control side of the relay, which is most likely controlled with a ground signal from the BCM. So, if the control circuit ground side was grounded for any reason, the relay would unlatch the hood. This could be as simple as that wire being intermittently grounded any where between the BCM and the relay.
6. The relay(s) could be faulty, intermittently providing a power signal to the relay output circuit.
7. The relay terminals in the socket in the fuse box could be shorted across.
8. The wiring may be shorted, in various configurations, intermittently, anywhere from the BCM to the fuse/relay box to the latch mechanism/solenoid.
9. RF interference
10. Stray voltages induced into circuits by high-current flows in adjacent wiring/cabling.

I'm sure there are also other possibilities that I haven't considered here.

And some of you thought the technician's job was easy!

I don't care one bit how likely the above examples are -- they are possible, they have happened in other situations and they should be considered -- especially with a safety concern like this and the way this incident turned out.

Luckily, no one was hurt.


One thing I forgot to mention is that the hood latch works like others do and it will latch properly if you slam the hood hard enough.
Just have to decide on whether to do that or keep scratching the paint using the 'push to close' method.

OP, just take Neil's essay into the dealer. There is a good chance they will repair your hood.