I got out BUT closed the driver side door then went to the back to push the button it popped. you left the door open but I didn't maybe that's why.
Let me check...... this is really peaking my interest.
Mine doesn’t even have a power lift. I’m adding one myself to satisfy my wife, she has been complaining it’s too hard for her to barelyLet me check...... this is really peaking my interest.
EDIT: Ok here goes, Walked out to the car with my phone (don't use a fob). Opened the driver door, sat down in seat, placed phone on charging pad, placed foot on brake and started car. Shifted into drive, opened drivers door, car automatically shifted to park. While the door was open, put my foot on the brake and shifted back into drive, got out of the car and closed the door. Looked in and verified the gear selector was in drive. Car doors are unlocked. Went to the rear of car pushed the liftgate release button and all I get are three warning beeps.
I just thought of something. You have a Select so when you push the liftgate release button, does the liftgate automatically go up or does it just unlatch the liftgate? If it just unlatches the liftgate, there is where the difference is. These two systems are different.
mine doesn’t even have power lift. My wife has been complaining about it. She can barely close it. So I’m adding one myself to satisfy her. I have a wire tapped in an unused fuse socket but the other one of the wire connects to nothing yet, so I think it has nothing to do with how the door switch behaves.Let me check...... this is really peaking my interest.
EDIT: Ok here goes, Walked out to the car with my phone (don't use a fob). Opened the driver door, sat down in seat, placed phone on charging pad, placed foot on brake and started car. Shifted into drive, opened drivers door, car automatically shifted to park. While the door was open, put my foot on the brake and shifted back into drive, got out of the car and closed the door. Looked in and verified the gear selector was in drive. Car doors are unlocked. Went to the rear of car pushed the liftgate release button and all I get are three warning beeps.
I just thought of something. You have a Select so when you push the liftgate release button, does the liftgate automatically go up or does it just unlatch the liftgate? If it just unlatches the liftgate, there is where the difference is. These two systems are different.
Basically like I mentioned earlier, since you don't have a power lift, yours is set up completely different than one with a power lift. It has a different module and software so this is why yours works different. All I know is that all MME's with a power lift will not open unless the gear shifter is in Park.
thanks for this awesome write up. I’d love to know if there is a wire to trigger the rear doors too? I drive uber in my Mach E and passengers just can’t understand “push the button!”Snakebitten:
In my '21 Premium I installed a momentary hard button under the console (first post in this thread). In my '21 GT I installed an OEM liftgate button in place of the Max defrost button on the headlamp switch assembly (Post 57 in this thread). In my '24 decided to use the useless Parking assist button. It is very simple to do this. I explained in the first post of this thread you need to tap into the single brown wire in the top connector of the BCM and run that wire up to the console. There is a single 4 wire connector under the hazard/park assist switch. Pull the connector and peel back the tape over the wires so you can work with it. Cut the Green/Brown wire and tape off the wire going back into the loom. Connect the wire you ran from the BCM to the Green/Brown wire going into the connector. Plug back in to the switch and you are done. That is it. One wire from the BCM to one wire going into the park assist switch.
If you want more specifics let me know.
Here are two quick photos
Console top off and location of the connector to the hazard/park assist switch.
My black wire coming from BCM connected to the Green/Brown wire going into the hazard/park assist connector before I taped it up.
Not inside the car. You would have to run a wire from each door which would not be easy and also probably unsafe as the doors would open if someone pushed the button while the car was in motion
Understood. I’d probably have the wires run to the same place as you ran the hatch button in your 21. But I get what you’re saying
Thanks Ali for the info on the Molex connector PN and offering your leftover parts to those who might want it.
I completely agree with you! However, when I tried this mod on my 2025 MME Rally, it doesn't work...I had to take @markboris's idea a step farther. Where you tap into the BCM is the same as the button on the rear hatch, I can't pop it when I'm inside and the door is locked with the vehicle running. This might be a very small minority of people, but it affects me. ?
I investigated a 2021 escape wiring diagram to find out where it's button connects to and found it's on the Rear Gate Trunk Module (RGTM) pin 19, which is not so conveniently located inside the rear hatch. Anyway, since I was working on my rear camera for my dash cam, I ran a wire the whole way from the back to the headlight switch. It works perfectly just like it came stock!
Car on, door locked - button works
car off, door locked - button disabled after security arms
car off, door unlocked - button works
It works with the brown wire on the rear hatch, but is limited in function as you state. Pin 19 and 20 are empty on mine... don't know if Ford changed this, but looks like you have a wire in pin 20. 
I have a question Robert, if the car is on but in park, what's wrong with just pushing the door unlock button on the drivers door to open the liftgate?
Nothing wrong; however, when my wife is waiting for a pick up/delivery, I'd rather her doors remain locked for safety reasons. It'd be nice to keep the doors locked and only allow access to the trunk. Just my thoughts...
Completely understand. I don't have that scenario but can see why it might be important to some.
I was at a friends this morning who also has a Mach-E and she said the one thing she misses is a simple power button to open and close the liftgate. She doesn't like having to turn the car to accessory and make three selections on the center screen. She just wants to push a button.
I thought it couldn't be that difficult to wire up a switch to do this and I was right. I took a look at the wiring diagram and found that both momentary switches in the liftgate do nothing more than short an incoming wire from the BCM to ground. The BCM is located at the front passenger footwell at the top. Extremely easy to access just remove the panel that hides it and you can get to the wiring. The wire that is needed to tap into is solid brown and located at the large top plug connection. I tapped into it and ran the wire to the center console where I installed a small momentary switch just below my subwoofer volume control. For the ground I used the black/blue wire going to the parking brake switch in the console. All the black/blue wires throughout the car are grounds. I had this momentary switch laying around but I am going to change it out with one that is much flatter.
I now have a working power button that will open and close the liftgate from inside the car without having your key fob, or phone. The car can be on or off but the doors have to be unlocked and in Park. It works just like the one in my 2014 Escape did. I could have mounted the switch is several easy to see locations but like to conceal my work (like I did the subwoofer volume control) so nothing looks "added on". Just drop your hand down in front of the console and they are both easy to use. Besides if I ever needed to remove it, all I'd have to do is put a little flat plug in the hole and no one would know any different.
It took me about an hour to do the entire thing but now that I did it, when I do hers, probably should only take 30 minutes. I took quick photos of where I tapped into the wiring and it was before I permanently attached and taped up the wires.
Edit 1: Replacing the max defrost switch on the headlamp panel with a liftgate switch #57
Edit 2: Using the useless Park Assist button to activate the liftgate in this post #276
Using a combination of information I got from this site, Reddit and the Mach E wiring diagram I got from easymanuals.co.uk , I added the physical tailgate release button to the headlight switch cluster. This replaced the max defrost button, which I considered to be useless.
At the same time I also added the power liftgate close button to the hatch itself. This button was installed on early Mach Es, but removed by Ford for cost cutting. I also added a front and rear dashcam at this time, but the focus of this thread are the tailgate buttons.
A lot of my information I grabbed from this thread: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/adding-an-inside-liftgate-power-switch.6560/
First, I disassembled the donor Bronco/Explorer headlight switch to get the hatch release button. The Bronco headlight switch is similar to the Mach E's, but is missing the traction control button, and has a fog light button so it can't be used directly.
Taking the switch apart is extremely easy. Pry off the faceplate at the tabs shown, then remove the hatch release button with the next set of tabs.
Remove the Mach E headlight switch assembly and do the same thing to it, removing the max defrost button and reassembling with the Bronco's hatch switch. The switch comes out easily if pushed out from behind with your hand. Gain access by removing the side panel from the dash with a plastic trim removal tool. This just pops out with gentle prying.
Connect a stranded 20ga wire to one of the WT1002 pins, and add the pin to spot 12 on the headlight switch connector. I used solder and shrink tube to connect my wire, you could also use crimp connectors. Run this wire down from the dash to the trim pieces that run along the door sills all the way to the back of the car. The wire is easily tucked under the trim pieces without having to remove them. I saw one user who ran this wire along the headliner, and unwittingly ran it over the curtain airbags. Don't be this person. Also, that route is harder anyway.
Once your wire has been run to the back of the car, continue to run it up the plastic trim until you have it in the rear headliner. The headliner can be gently pried down to allow access. Run the wire to the flexible boot that leads to the hatch. Your goal is to run the wire through that boot. This isn't hard, but it isn't easy. First, all the trim has to come off the tailgate. Starting near the hinges and working toward the latch, gently pry all the trim off. The only tools you need are your fingers and plastic trim removal tools. The last panel has a light in it, so be careful to disconnect the connector when removing this. Next, pull the left flexible boot out of the holes on the car side and the hatch side. Run a copper wire through the boot as a fish, and pull your release wire through with that.
Now that your wire is at the tailgate, zip tie it into place and connect it to another WT1002 pin. This will get inserted into spot 19 on the grey connector of the RGTM module.
Your front trunk release button should now work. Next I added the rear closer button. This is an illuminated button and power for the light would normally come from the BCM. For ease of installation, I tapped into the tailgate interior light instead (not the license plate lights like a different user, I think the logic for the interior lights is closer to what I wanted). I used wire taps for this, although soldering and heat shrinking would've been neater and in hindsight I should've done this.
The stock Ford connector for the closer switch is absurdly expensive, so I used generic Amazon pins and a healthy amount of hot glue to connect to the switch and hold and insulate everything in place. You can also use WT1002 pins in place of the Amazon ones.
Pin 6 of the switch goes to pin 20 of the grey connector on the RGTM (right next to the one I added on pin 19 in the previous step). Pin 2 is grounded at the interior light connector as shown above and pin 3 picks up power for the light here as well.
Hope you enjoy these mods as much as I do. Good luck!
Part numbers:
Headlight switch assembly: SW-8816
Rear close switch: JL1Z-54432A38-AA
Rear close switch cover: LJ8Z-5840726-B
Connector pins: WT1002 (two required for front button mod, four required for rear button mod)
The external momentary switch for the rear hatch I installed in my Premium worked great but for my GT I decided to go the route that Pat (i8iridium) went a few posts above. Beings the GT has a slightly different headlamp switch assembly (has a traction control switch), I had to make a slight modification.
I bought the Bronco headlamp switch assembly (M1PZ-11654-AA). I removed the headlamp switch assembly out of my car and took it and the Bronco switches both apart. I replaced the Max Defrost sub switch on mine with the Hatch opening/closing sub switch of the Bronco's. They just snap in and out of the main switch assembly. On the connector at the back of the switch assembly, I installed a wire into Pin 12 and ran that to the brown wire at the top connector of the BCM.
This switch will open and close the liftgate when the car is on or off as long as the doors are unlocked and it is in park.
I bought a used switch and mounting plate from an online auto wrecker. I ended up spending more for those than Mark did on his brand new ones.<SNIP>
I am also keeping my eye out for a cargo area switch, the low one on my last Jeep spoiled me there as well.
Thanks @markboris , @BCMatt , @i8iridium
