I just found out last night there's a rubber button strip tucked behind the license plate light. I didn't see anything about it in the manual, but it's there. Your doors have to be unlocked for it to work.

 

just the fob.

 

wow that's really kind of weird

 

but saved a few bucks on the car.

 

Or you could both read what I wrote. It's there. There's just no release inside the vehicle.

 

yes. i read what you wrote, but the OP specifically asked for "inside the vehicle". some cars have a button or level down on the floor near the driver's door. or in the glove box. the focus has neither. i looked for it too during my test drives. while i wouldn't have minded having one, it's not a big deal to me that it doesn't.

 

You're right, Scott. Good point. But it doesn't hurt to let him know there is still another release other than the fob.

 

My Mustang is the same way. Have to use key fob. Wonder what I would have to do if battery went dead?
I know, get a new battery.

 

Or unlock your doors (they would have to be unlocked to get in the car anyways) and then put your hand above the license plate to open the trunk.

 

I was actually looking for this last night! Not a big deal using the key fob. Good to know there's a release on the actual trunk itself. I think I'll just use the fob. Two clicks and it opens all the way.

 

Hi, I guess you guys arcoss the pond have the same problem with reading the manual that we do over here [scratch]
Chris

 

Hear, hear!!!

http://www.motorcraftservice.com/pubs/content/~WODFOC/~MUS~LEN/41/13focom1e.pdf

Page 77 of the 2013 Owner's manual - (except that that appears to be to the left of the headlight switch, which is also shown on Page 91 as the dimmer decrease button and Page 92 as the Fog Light switch, so ...) And the 2012 manual didn't mention it at all ...

Mystery solved - it looks like the 2012 did not have one. The 2013 does and the dimmer switch is on the right side of the headlight switch (like it was for 2012's with fogs) and the left side is either the trunk release or a segmented trunk release/fog light switch, but the 2013 manual doesn't correctly reflect this on pages 91 and 92.

 

Like I've pointed out in another similar thread, your sitting in your car and you want to open the trunk for someone, you most likely have the key in the car with you. It acts as trunk release inside the car. No point in having an actual latch if you have your key.

 

But if you have IA your key fob is likely in your pocket, purse, backpack, fannypack, etc. So now you have to go fish for it just to open the trunk, as opposed to reaching down to the floor to pull a lever like many other vehicles.

 

erm. you don't even need the fob to unlock the doors of your car if you have IA. you just walk up to the vehicle and pull the handle, get in, push the start button, and drive away. no fishing for fobs!

 

The rubber button above the license plate works with the IA system, so if you have the FOB on you just using the button will open the trunk, no matter if the doors are unlocked or not. I can't say anything about it other than using the IA system.

Outside of that, there's absolutely no trunk release from within the car.

 

On the non-IA systems, the hatch release will not work unless the passenger doors & hatch are unlocked. There is also a hatch release button on the key/remote to unlock and pop the hatch if you push it twice.

 

Interesting indeed. I wonder if we'd be able to simply switch that control unit piece to have the luxury of the release button.

 

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=290882&page=2

Highly doubtful - the same switches were used for fog lights in the 2012 and swapping the switches DID NOT enable the fog lights, even though the wiring out of the BCM was there.

I suspect at MINIMUM you would have to swap the switch and have the dealer flash the appropriate section of the as-built codes from a 2013 similar car.

More likely the BCM's are probably different and you'd have to swap in a 2013 BCM - and I'm not sure that would even work.

Sorry for the bad news.

Other possibility would be the BCM always had wiring for the switch and circuitry for it and you just have to install the switch to get it to work like you said.

(Ford does some odd things sometimes - you have to re-wire the entire car to add factory fog lights (and then you still can't use the factory switches), but installing cruise control is just a matter of swapping the steering wheels so you have the correct activation switches - go figure!!!)

Good news is there likely isn't any additional wiring to run - if it does work.[popcorn]

 

Oh well. Though I thought I would miss the interior release when I bought the car, I don't. After all, whenever I want to get in the hatch, I'm standing right there where I can hit the button on the hatch itself.

 

After reading through the OEM fog light installation on an S model, I'm going to go ahead and say it won't be worth the time and effort to have the new trunk release button. The two releases I have are good enough for me.

 

Auto lights work with a switch swap on the S. So it is possible. But since it's new to the 13 models I'm gonna say it won't work.

 

Unless/Until someone tries it, there's no way to tell.

The headlight switch sends Pulse-code modulated signals to the BCM. It's possible the 2012 BCM had all the circuitry and Ford just left out the switch to save cost - but not likely.