With a dead battery, can the front or rear hatch be opened with a battery charger plugged into the cigarette lighter?

 

Yes with just a dead battery. Now if the battery is shorted or has a bad cell it might not.

 

You can always remove the fuse cover kick panel by the driver's door/left leg, grab a battery jump box and attach the hot to the post inside the fuse box (pulls out, I think orange in color?) and the negative to a convenient ground. That will give you enough power to start the car, open the trunk(s), etc.

 

Yes, it does not need much power to open the hood. You may even get the hood to open with the charger if the battery any life in it at all.
Otherwise it is the fuse box thing as described above.
Tony c

 

If I disconnect my battery whilst not using the car for a couple of months and close the bonnet for security (communal car park) will I still be able to open the bonnet again using the fuse box tab ?

Thanks

 

You can ask the service department at the dealer. New cars must have a procedure you could use on your car. New cars ship with no battery connected.

 

my battery went dead and I've been trying the fuse box route. Unfortunately, all that happens is the alarm goes off for 60-90 seconds. Since it's in alarm mode, the front boot won't open.

The dealer recommended using an old cell phone charger and powering it with the jump box. no luck yet, but still trying.

there has got to be a release lever somewhere in the car!!!!!

 

there is

 

Under the front fender, passenger side, pull the alternative release wire. The wire is approx parallel with the release latch.

You can do a search for the diagram.

 

is it on the passenger or driver side? the dealer said driver side but I don't see anything there

 

Dood,

Please see post directly above yours. Passenger side. Here is the diagram. (#12)

 

In my 99MO my bonnet releases feel manual. They are not? I see this a lot, why is getting the bonnets open with dead battery an issue?

 

or if it is really REALLY down. he may have to leave it on there for 10-15 min

 

Divot, thanks for the info and the pic. Found it, needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to pull it, but it did open. Battery was dead.

Any idea how to get the latch to reset?

 

Wow, I think I finally helped someone. These guys have helped me a million times, so no thanks necessary.

I'm not sure what you mean by "get the latch to reset". Look at another thread about 3 days ago. It covers taking the latch apart and re-working the spring. Good luck!