Adjusting Hatch Open Height

Gen 1 owner here so take advice with a grain of salt but is there perhaps a way to tether the liftgate in some fashion with a cord/rope attached to the floor of the trunk area and up to the liftgate? You could adjust the length of the tether to the height you desire and should be reversible if you use existing attaching bolts/points on either end.

erewhon said:

I got something like this...

... to stop my car in a consistent place in the garage.

(See, for example, https://www.amazon.com/MAXSA-37358-Right-Black-Parking/dp/B000F6DNMQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1498528007&sr=1-2&keywords=car+stop)

Then I padded everything that the hatch would hit when I opened the hatch, with the garage door both open and closed. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

I use an orange-colored tennis ball suspended by a string from the rafters in my garage as a guide to indicate where to stop my Volt. When the ball touches the front windshield, I stop. Fortunately, I can open the trunk door without hitting the garage door or its mechanism.

erewhon said:

I got something like this...

... to stop my car in a consistent place in the garage.

(See, for example, https://www.amazon.com/MAXSA-37358-Right-Black-Parking/dp/B000F6DNMQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1498528007&sr=1-2&keywords=car+stop)

Then I padded everything that the hatch would hit when I opened the hatch, with the garage door both open and closed. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

I turn on the parking sensors. When they scream, I'm close enough.

This has come up before. I think the tether idea above was one of the easiest solutions. I think you can tie off the bottom to the cargo tie-down d-ring in the cargo compartment, and tie off the top to the strut anchor point on the hatch.

It is also possible to change to a different set of struts, but getting a good match of power and length, etc. is extremely hard.

I had the same problem with a minivan. I was able to find a spot to park in the garage where there was just enough overhead room, then used the tennis ball method mentioned above to park there consistently. Actually, I used an old wiffle ball, which was easy to tie up.

My mother in law had the same issue (not a volt). She just glued a chunk of rigid packing foam to the part of her garage door that connected with her hatch. It worked well.

The tie-down to an anchor point and the foam padding on the garage door sounds like the easiest solution. Nothing like a tube of liquid nails and some R3 rigid foam with soft foam on top!

If going with the tie-down, make sure the rope you use will fall naturally into the cargo area and not get caught in the hatch edge when you close it.