I'm now able to control whether or not the central locking system will unlock the hatch. This will prevent wear on the latch mechanism, which is kind of a poor design. Everytime you unlock and lock the tailgate, the "thump" that you hear is metal pieces pounding on each other. Some people have expressed problems with "wearing out" their locks.
For the switch, I used a heated seat switch in the blank in the armrest to keep a "stock" look, but it doesn't matter what you use. If you just want to disconnect the hatch entirely, you won't need a switch.
First, locate the central locking relay. It is located under the glove box, beside (driver's side) of the ECU. It's a black box with one gray and one black connector coming out of it. (connectors are on the bottom side) It's held in place by 2 clips. Just wiggle, lift, and pull the thing around a bit and it should come out.
Pull the connectors out of the relay. (no retaining devices... they just pull off) The only connector that you'll be interested in is the black connector. Look on the relay where the connectors plugged in. You will see numbers for the pins. Locate PIN #1 in the black connecting slot. That is the wire you must interrupt/disconnect. It controls the UNLOCKING of the hatch. The wire is one of the 2 yellow/red stripe wires. (There were 2 yellow/red wires on my car)
Cut the wire, and either leave it disconnected entirely (to disconnect the latch & put some tape around the leads) or connect some wire to each end and send the 2 wires back under the center floor cover and into the center console. Removing the console is pretty straight-forward. (Simply removing the relay will also keep the passinger door from unlocking. ed)
If you're going to use a heated seat (or similar) switch, look at the engraved numbers on the back. The leads are: 1-ground, 2-illumination (dash lights), 4 (vertical pin)-OUT, 5-IN
You'll only need to bother with 4 and 5. Connect one wire to 4 and the other to 5. (Make sure the wires are going through the hole in the console before you connect the switch or you'll be using a few four letter words)
Reassemble the center console and coverings and you're done!
introduction.html