Trunk won't close with bike rack

This has happened with 2 vehicles, 2 different brands of bike rack. They are both standard sedan style cars and the bike racks are both the typical kind, a foot/feet/ bar that goes across the top of the trunk and 2 feet that come down one on either side of the lock, and 2 arms that stick out that hold the bikes. The first was my mom's car and we could not get the trunk to close with the bike rack on it. We loosened all the straps-- they were still in place just loose-- and tried again, still wouldn't latch. I took off all but the sides hooks, the top & bottom hooks will go on when the trunk is closed but not the side hooks. It still wouldn't latch. I took the bike rack off entirely just in case something was broken. THEN it latched. I started over. One person has to hold the bike rack. Another person holds one side hook on. Another person holds the other side hook on. We shut the trunk. Then we put the bike rack on and the top & bottom hooks on. But don't ever open the trunk with the bike rack on it because it won't close again.

That worked for the 3 days we were using it.

Now my friend's car is doing the same thing only worse-- now his trunk won't latch AT ALL. Even with the bike rack entirely removed. It just won't latch. We had to tie it down to drive it home.

Luckily he is starting commuting by bicycle tomorrow. So he doesn't really need to use his car at all! But of course we need to get this fixed.

Since a similar thing has now happened to 2 cars, I thought it surely has happened to other people. And maybe someone knows how to fix it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

This has happened with 2 vehicles, 2 different brands of bike rack. They are both standard sedan style cars and the bike racks are both the typical kind, a foot/feet/ bar that goes across the top of the trunk and 2 feet that come down one on either side of the lock, and 2 arms that stick out that hold the bikes. The first was my mom's car and we could not get the trunk to close with the bike rack on it. We loosened all the straps-- they were still in place just loose-- and tried again, still wouldn't latch. I took off all but the sides hooks, the top & bottom hooks will go on when the trunk is closed but not the side hooks. It still wouldn't latch. I took the bike rack off entirely just in case something was broken. THEN it latched. I started over. One person has to hold the bike rack. Another person holds one side hook on. Another person holds the other side hook on. We shut the trunk. Then we put the bike rack on and the top & bottom hooks on. But don't ever open the trunk with the bike rack on it because it won't close again.

That worked for the 3 days we were using it.

Now my friend's car is doing the same thing only worse-- now his trunk won't latch AT ALL. Even with the bike rack entirely removed. It just won't latch. We had to tie it down to drive it home.

Luckily he is starting commuting by bicycle tomorrow. So he doesn't really need to use his car at all! But of course we need to get this fixed.

Since a similar thing has now happened to 2 cars, I thought it surely has happened to other people. And maybe someone knows how to fix it?

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I've owned two trunk bike racks--my first was Hollywood, but now I have Bones. I've never had to open the trunk to attach the hooks on any of the cars that the racks were attached. Perhaps you should try putting the rack on without opening the trunk first. The hooks should just slide into the space between the trunk hood and car. If that fails, perhaps going to your lbs for advice. Best of luck!