[Pegleg81]

After all the pain in using a trunk bike rack and efforts in trying to protect the paint using various vinyl wraps and tablet screen protectors, I now got a new car with a 2" hitch receiver so I can finally use a platform bike rack!

I am now in the promised land! Halleluja!

But I digress. I've already accidentally opened the rear hatch of my spanking new car and dinged the paint where the hatch hit the pedal (which had to be Xpedos which tend to have more sharp edges than Shimano's).

If it happened once, this could happen again, especially with kids, so what do you guys do for protecting the hatch? I'm even thinking of double vinyl wrapping the lower half of the hatch.

 

[127.0.0.1]

make socks for the pedals

 

[Forest Rider]

Train yourself not to use the electric door unlocker? Is it impossible to use a key/button to open it only from the outside?

 

[Pegleg81]

Train yourself not to use the electric door unlocker? Is it impossible to use a key/button to open it only from the outside?

I think that this is the best idea so far. I can make a habit of not using the button on the driver door and on the key, and only use the button on the hatch.

With kids and multiple activities for each kids, I can see myself easily forgetting about the 1-hour bike ride squeezed in between activities, that I rode 3 hours ago, while waiting to pick up another kid….so training myself seems best.

 

[fraseot]

Get the rear hatch covered with one of those clear protective films that people typically use to protect the front of a car from rock chips. It won’t stop dents, but it will stop scratches, and dents can always be pulled out by one of those paintless dent removal folks


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[Forest Rider]

Pull the fuse.
Nothing bad can happen from that in a modern day vehicle. ha

 

[One Pivot]

Depending on the car, the feature can often be deactivated. Sometimes at home easily, sometimes the dealer has to do it.

 

[Harold]

yeah, I refuse to use any extra buttons to open the rear hatch on my wife's subie. I only open it directly from the latch on the hatch. Ensures that I've tilted the bike rack away from the vehicle before opening it, or that I've removed the bikes.