NHTSA Complaint #11452995 — 2016 CADILLAC SRX

My lift gate has stopped working. I cannot open the back of my car in any way! I am handicapped and the power lift gate is very important to me because I have to store my walker in the car when I drive. Now since I can’t open the back of the car it is very difficult to get anywhere for me. When I looked up the issue, it seems Cadillac has a problem with this model (SRX) from 2010-2016. The issue develops because rain runs down the Sun roof straight into the place that the lift gate parts are in- and the parts corrode. Once the lift gate power system fails there is no way to manually open the back of the car. There is no manual release, and no place to insert a key. This problem is well documented online with attempted class action suits that failed to “gain traction” per various attorneys. I have been told by the repair center that it will cost about $5000 to fix because of the difficulty of reaching the parts that need replacing. They say that the repair will take about 10 hours of service to replace the corroded pieces. I am so disappointed in Cadillac. They knew of the design flaw since 2010 but did not address it until 2017. There is no reason that unsuspecting owners should get stuck with a $5000 repair due to a design flaw! I purchased this car 2 yrs ago, and only found it now because we get so little rain in California, and I have a garage. We had an abnormally large amount of rain in December and it failed right after the largest rainfall we have had in years.