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I have a 2015 Titanium with hands free liftgate. While this is a good feature, it seems the sensor could be triggered unintentionally by shifting your feet near the bumper as you work near the rear of the car, or intentionally by little kids as they like to imitate adults. Either way, it could be a safety hazard. I know the gate has an obstruction sensor. However, I hate for anything to happen due to a faulty obstruction sensor, and I am not keen to find out what happens if it was my kid or my wife's head or neck at the edge of the closing gate. There is a way to disable the power liftgate, but I really only want the hands free feature disabled. Does anyone have similar issues or concrns? And do you have a clean and reliable way to disable the hands free feature (e.g. blocking the sensor)? Thanks.

Hi, This is one of those, 'If my wife had told me 4 months ago' I could have fixed it stories. After fixing the Tail Lamp Assembly on the hatch of our '16 Ford Edge this weekend I discovered that the 'hands free assist' to open the hatch no longer worked. I knew it had nothing to do with the work I had just performed and with my wife standing there I said, 'Gee that's odd, the hands free assist isn't working'. My wife said, 'Ya, it hasn't been working for me for months so I switched to the release in the outer handle'. 🙄 Perplexed, I hunted around under the rear bumper, but was unable to find the 'sensor' that caused the hatch to open when your foot waved in and out under the rear bumper. Wouldn't work on either side of the rear bumper. Then I noticed this small rectangular connector box next to the hitch receiver and I pulled the cap off. Green crustys and puss greeted me. Got some CLR and cleansed the area followed by some electronics parts cleaner to flush and dry it out. Once satisfied that the trailer 4-wire plug was cleaned up, I put some silicone grease (NOT DIALECTRIC GREASE) on the 3 female pins and the one male pin and replaced the cap. Waved my foot under the bumper and the hatch happily opened. Success, but why?? Does having a trailer wired to the Edge disable the hands free feature, or was there simply a short through that copper oxide goo that prevented the sensor from opening the hatch? Can somebody please explain the 'Connection'??