Hood Latch (Rear) Won’t Release: Suggestions/Help?

    (Apologies in advance if this has been addressed before, I could not find it using the search function.)


    HELP! After 1.5 years of trouble free operation & many openings, my Rear Passenger-side hood latch now won’t release ?( (Front passenger-side latch, & both drivers side latches seem to release OK).


    I noticed when I last depressed the hood release lever, it sounded odd. Normally I can hear the “clicks” of the hood latches releasing on both sides, but this last time it was silent on the passenger rear side. I’ve tried depressing/jiggling the lever multiple times, pulling up on that rear hood corner while depressing the lever, and even drove it around for ½ hour to see if that would jar something loose. No change, it still won’t release.
    Seems like the cable is no longer activating the rear latch, but hard to diagnose the problem when the hood is down & you can’t see the latch.


    My Question is: How to get the rear latch to release, so I can get the hood open? I don’t see a way to reach it via the wheel well. Can it be accessed from below if the SS was up on a rack?

    This can’t be the first SS this has happened to, there must be a way to get the rear latch to release. Hopefully my SS brothers can point me in the right direction on what to do or try next. :thumbsup:


    Note: My SS is scheduled later this week to have the recall/warranty work done. If I don’t have an answer by then, the Polaris Service Department will get to deal with this issue. (But I’d really like to know how to fix this myself in case it ever happens again)


    Reference Info: 2016 SL. Has stock hood latches and braces. Has never needed to be adjusted before. Always have closed the hood by “dropping” from 6” to 8” high & only occasionally needed to press down on hood to completely close a latch. Hood is never left open long-term, so warping should not be an issue.


    Thanks All :)

    I had the same issue one time i used a screwdriver on the front latch( the cable for the rear latch comes off the back of the front latch) you can get to it from the side under the fender,tight but doable

    When this happened to me, I used a long screw driver, found the front hood latch (on the side that won't release) and was able to insert the screw driver and depress the spring loaded latch.


    This has help to fully pull on the wire going back to the rear hood latch.

    Thanks for the replies Fla Tom & Live-a-Little


    As I mentioned, the front latch seems to be releasing OK, so using a screwdriver to access & manually release the front latch may not help release the back latch. I'll give it a try, but based on what I'm hearing when depressing the lever, I'm not sure the front latch is still connected by the cable to the back latch.


    I'll re-post an update when I know more (screwdriver works), or if the Polaris service folks figure it out...

    You can see both cables(at the front latch) the cable that unlatches the front latch is toward the front of the slingshot, the cable towards the back unlatches the rear latch. If the front latch hangs up(out of adjustment) and the rear latch catches it will not unlatch ( using the Handle up front. I just went out to my shop and took a photo of what I could see with the hood closed (under the fender )and with the hood opened

    Fla Tom, Thanks for taking the time to shoot & post some pictures, really appreciate it! Should help me while I'm poking around trying to release the stuck rear latch.


    Joker 256, Thanks for posting the video, I had not seen this one yet. (Noel does some great stuff!) The explanation on checking the latches for simultaneous opening & how to adjust them is great! Just what I'm going to check on & adjust once I get my hood open again.


    This Forum and its members are making America Great Again one Slingshot at a Time!

    And now for the rest of the story...


    I was able to use the large screwdriver (in the wheel well) to get the passenger side Rear and Front latches to release. Once the hood was up, a closer look at the mechanism confirmed my suspicion: a cable had broken, only not where I expected.


    There are two cables attached to the end of the hood release lever. The cable running to the passenger side latches was broken off right at the hood lever. (see missing cable in photo).


    This is an item that will be repaired under warranty, once my dealer orders up the replacement cables (Going to insist they replace both sides rather than wait for the other side to break later on).


    I've attached a parts diagram showing the cable for those that may need to order a new cable should theirs decide to break. (see Item #1, P/N: 2635374)



    Curious as to how the front latch released?

    Quote from Slingrazor

    Curious as to how the front latch released?

    If you mean curious why the cable wire to the front latch broke; I agree. I can feel the frayed strands of the broken cable just where it exits the slot where the cable normally connects to the hood lever. Hard to see what the wire may have been "rubbing against", if something like this caused the break.


    Perhaps just a defective/weak cable to begin with? Once the broken part is removed it may be possible to see what went wrong. I'll ask the Polaris mechanic for his opinion on what was root cause just in case there may be some kind of adjustment that could prevent this kind of breakdown