Device Inside to Open the Trunk - 2008?

Quick Summary:

1. Is there a way to open the trunk from within the car?

2. Is there a way to open the trunk with a manual key in a keyhole?

I've had my Prius exactly 9 months today. One think I haven't been able to locate, if it exists, is a lever or other device to open the trunk from inside the car. On multiple occasions, I've picked up someone with luggage at a train station and have had to get out of the car myself to open the trunk. The most recent time, I couldn't even pull the trunk open easily, and we ended up just putting all of the luggage in the back seat. (It's taken me these 9 months to just get the hang of opening the trunk. Yesterday, I actually got it open the first time to put something into the trunk and successfully got it open later to take it out!)

Also, is there a keyhole on the trunk to open it manually with the key? I have tried looking for this way to open the trunk, again with no success.

Thanks for any help you can give me on this.

 

Thanks for this information, especially the link to the User-Guide. I've just downloaded it and plan to study it in more detail.

I found the photo on page 42. It's definitely not what I was looking for. Apparently you have to go into the trunk (what others call the "hatch") to open it from the inside! And I guess that means putting down the back seat and climbing in there yourself.

Maybe this was done as a theft prevention mechanism - to prevent people from getting into the main part of the car if it's unlocked and opening the trunk/hatch from there.

I recall that on at least one of my old Acuras, as well as on a Chrysler LeBaron one of my sisters had, you had to use the key to unlock the inside trunk release. With many of us not using a key, period, with the Prius, this could be more hassle than it's worth.

I think my most recent train station debacle with the trunk/hatch occurred because the motor was indeed running. This information is also re-iterated on page 41 of the User-Guide (under the heading "Unlock"). I'll keep this in mind for the future.

 

Hatch Vs. Trunk

Actually, from May 16, 1981, through June 3, 1998, every car that I owned (a Chevrolet Citation and three Acura Integras, although one of these was totaled in an accident in which I was not at fault on the 3rd day I owned it) was a hatchback. In the early 1980s, hatchbacks seemed to be the "in" thing. However, since most of the cars that had been in households in which I had lived (my parents' cars plus my first car, a Dodge Dar) were sedans, "trunk" became the only word I knew for the part of the car that opened in the rear in which items could be carried and, more importantly, hidden from view.

My parents had one station wagon, a 1958 Chevy, during the years in which I was growing up. More recently, the man in my life had a series of station wagons leading up to the Prius he bought last February at the same time when I bought mine. I think I just called the back part of these, where we could put luggage and other things, "the rear" and "the back". I've never liked the way that much of what's stored in the back of station wagons is visible. I do recall that my parents' car from 50 years ago and the station wagons the man in my life had also had a smaller section where items could be stored out of view.

When I got rental cars in the 1980s and early 1990s, for the price range in which we were renting, we usually were assigned a Chevette or other low-end hatchback that, unlike my Citation, Integras, and Prius, did not have a cargo cover. I would then go back into the rental office and say that I didn't feel my luggage would be secure in a car with no "trunk" cover. This was an honest complaint, not a put-on ploy for an upgrade, but every single time, I can't think of any exceptions, we got a different car with either a "real trunk" or a hatchback cover.

One thing I miss from the Acura Integra four-door sedan I had from June 3, 1998, through February 23, 2008, is a rear window ledge on which I could put some trinkets that didn't get disturbed when the trunk had to be opened. However, I'm glad to have a rear window windshield wiper again! My earlier Integras had these. My first one was a 1987 4-door hatchback. This one got totaled in a flood in 1989. I wanted another 4-door Integra with a rear winshield wiper, but the 4-doors at that time no longer came with this because they were now considered to be "sedans" rather than "hatchbacks". I went for a 2-door hatchback, which I bought on August 31, 1989. A driver eating at the wheel driving high-speed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Saturday of Labor Day plowed into our rear. My passenger walked away unhurt. I walked away with an old injury aggravated but no other serious damage. The other driver survived but went off in an ambulance if I recall correctly. Since this car saved us from serious injury, I definitely wanted another one.

By 1998, I was ready for a 4-door again because I had had problems chauferring my elderly parents and other semi-regular riders in a 2-door car. I knew that one cost was forgoing a rear windshield wiper, but I decided to do this anyway. Now I have a 4-door with a rear windshield wiper again, and I'm very happy with it.