The trunk pull down system combines work from both the pneumatic accessory pump (under the passenger rear seat) and the closing assist pump (in the trunk on driver's side up next to the gas tank).

The handle is extended/retracted by the pneumatic accessory pump.

The pull-down mechanism is extended by the pneumatic accessory pump and retracted by the closing assist pump.

When the closing assist pump is called on to do its duty by a door being closed or the trunk being closed, it applies pressure to the required line for a specific amount of time. If the circuit operates properly (meaning pressure is being held), then the cutoff limit for that circuit will be reached and the pump will cut off. If the cutoff limit isn't reached in a specific amount of time, then the pump turns off anyway and makes a "note" that the specific circuit failed to reach cutoff pressure. It will only allow this problem to reoccur a certain number of times before it cuts that circuit out of the loop entirely.

If your door closing assists are still working fine, then likely the pump has taken the trunk close assist out of the loop. If your door assists aren't working either, then possibly they've also been removed from the list, or the pump itself is not working.

To get the trunk "back in the loop", pull the fuse for the pump for about 5 or 10 seconds. It should be in the fuse box in the trunk.

If that fixes the problem, then you need to check to see why that circuit isn't reaching cutoff pressure - possibly a leak in the hose, or in the mechanism that actually pulls the trunk down.

It's also possible that the pump is too sensitive - mine tended to run too long after closing a door or pulling the trunk down, so I adjusted the cutoff pressure and fixed the problem. There's an excellent article to be found at www.uberalles.com on how to adjust the pump to reduce the number of timeout errors.

In the meanwhile, you can manually retract the pulldown hook. There are two levers visible under the trunk lid - push one to release the hook and pull the other to retract the hook, then release the first one. Then the trunk will close in a normal fashion - that time only. The next time you open the lid, the pneumatic assist system will extend the pulldown hook again.

Hope this helps.