Anyone know how the whole contact or switch thing is situated on the trunk? By the lack of other items in the car, I'm guessing it's inside the latch assembly on the trunk lid? Our car started randomly giving this warning. We ended up loaning the car to one of our "kids". He locked himself out of the trunk (valet key) but he ended up with the trunk open warning the whole time he had the car.

I had already reset the VSC thing, but it came back with the VSC lit up (and off) and the trunk open warning will not go away. Guessing I'll have to swap out for a "new" latch assembly, but if anyone has fixed whatever is giving that warning, I'm all for hearing about it.

Side note.... will the trunk open warning cause the VSC thing? Worth asking cause it seems like every dang thing else on this car triggers it.


scanned with code reader. Got a P1615. Cleared and hasn't returned. No CEL.
Son left the headlights on and killed the battery when he brought it back, so I had to jump it. Charged up over night and hasnt presented us another issue.... so I'm guessing that code came from me trying to start on a dead battery.

 

I figured it out. For the benefit of anyone else who has the ability and the same problem...

The contact switch is inside the latch assembly on the trunk lid. It can be observed with the latch still affixed to the trunk lid, or you can remove it. If you want to test it, the middle pair of wires in the 6 pin harness to the latch are the wires to the switch. With the trunk latch open, there will be continuity between the two pins. With the trunk latch closed, there will be no continuity.

In my case, since the latch was bent from a previous owner's collision, I straightened it out the best I could a few months ago. Since then, the dash started displaying "trunk open" warning. I'll describe this the best way I can....

There is a "bar" with a ramp on it. That bar moves in relation the latch. As the latch rotates to the locked position, the ramp on the "bar" will slide against the contact on the switch to signal the trunk is closed. What I found was that the "bar" was still bent from the collision damage enough that it was not in line with the switch. It was actually riding up the side of the switch. I muscled it back the best I could, which did get it in line with the switch like it is supposed to be. I then open and closed the latch and verified the ramp was contacting the switch. I also verified with the multimeter that the switch was opening and closing.

Plugged everything back in... and it worked like a champ.


In the photo, you can see the greenish switch. The "bar" is above the contact lever of the switch. This was the problem. Once the "bar" was bent a little, I got it to work.

If you remove the plastic cover from the latch, you can see this on the latch without removing it from the trunk lid. May or may not be easier to work on, though...

 

great post! same issue. any chance you can link to picture? This has surely been my biggest headache with the car. I've kept my subs out for over a year now since it wont stay latched closed on its own.