Recently the battery died on my 2013 Mazda CX-5. Fortunately, I had jumper cables stashed in the spare tire compartment under the rear deck. Unfortunately, the rear hatch was locked with no way to open it from the outside. ☹

I had to lower one of the rear seat backs and crawl through to the back to get the cables out of the spare tire area. Not an easy thing to do.

Does anyone know of a way to manually open the rear hatch in this sort of situation? Is there some sort of inside release I missed?
Thanks!
Richard

 

HOW TO OPEN MAZDA CX-5 LIFTGATE HATCH MANUALLY

Enter the vehicle and gain access to the rear cargo area. You will need to be able to reach the interior of the liftgate hatch.
Using a flathead screwdriver, remove the cap on the liftgate door, located in the center of the hatch near the bottom.
Once the hatch is removed, you should notice a lever. Turning the lever to the right will unlock the liftgate and allow you to open it.
[Read more: Get a look at what’s new on the CX-5 for 2017]

Hopefully this applies to the 2013 as well.

 

Here is the link to the 2013 manual. Look at page 7-35

2013 CX5 Owner Manual

 

Another option is to get one of the small lithium ion jumper units and keep it in the glove compartment or in the pocket on the back of the front seats. You can jump the vehicle with that or just hook it up and open the hatch. The main thing with those is that you should charge them fully every month according to the instructions on most of them. I just put it in my Outlook calendar to remind me once a month to do that. I have one in each of my vehicles and I charge the MX5 on the 1st, the CX5 on the 11th and the Jeep on the 21st of each month.

Just don't store it in the luggage compartment or you're back to square one.

 

Thank you! I saw the small panel but didn't know what was inside. I didn't have a screwdriver.
I will be better prepared next time.
Richard

 

Thanks Mike! I think this is a great idea and I will get one of those.
Richard

 

Depending on where you live, just be careful of heat. Lithium batteries do not like getting hot. At a minimum heat degrades their lifespan, at worst it can make the batteries explode.

Living in NZ with an ozone hole above us we can get some very hot car interiors so I'm pretty cautious about it in summer. But I can confirm it works great.

 

Thanks Pernod,
I live near Washington, DC. It does get hot here. But probably not as hot as where you are.
Anyway, I will remove the pack during the really hot days here.
Richard