Bulletin No.: PIT5973C
Published date: 06/27/2023

Preliminary Information
PIT5973C Dead Battery After Recall N222386380 and / or
Unwanted Liftgate Opening
Models
Brand:

Model:

Model Years:

VIN:
from

to

Engine:

Transmissions:

Cadillac

Escalade Models

2022 - 2023

All

All

All

All

Chevrolet

Suburban

2022 - 2023

All

All

All

All

Chevrolet

Tahoe

2022 - 2023

All

All

All

All

GMC

Yukon Models

2022 - 2023

All

All

All

All

Involved Region or Country North America
Additional Options (RPO)

Condition

TC2 - Hands Free Liftgate
Some customers may comment after recall N222386380 (DRL May Not Deactivate)
was completed, that they now have an issue with the battery going dead.
In addition, they may also have a complaint when they are standing outside the
vehicle, near the liftgate with the fob, the power liftgate will open on its own, which
is unrelated to when the recall N222386380 was completed.
NOTE: If the battery draw is being monitored, when the draw is duplicated, this
issue will cause a battery draw well over 10 amps.
The cause of this concern could be an issue with the K171 Hands Free Liftgate
module repeatedly sending a false wake up request to the BCM commanding
the liftgate to open, but the power liftgate may or may not actually open, see
Important statement below.
In addition to that, after the BCM is updated for recall N222386380 , if the BCM is
woke up by any LIN device, it is now waking up additional modules, causing a higher
amp draw on the battery than it normally would have prior to having the recall
completed.
This will lead to the battery being discharged at a faster rate.

Cause

Important: For the power liftgate to actually open all of the following criteria must be
meet before the power liftgate will actually open from the false hands free request:
1. Vehicle must be in park,
2. Power liftgate switch turned on (max or 3/4),
3. Hands free setting in the radio must be turned on (open or open/closed), and
4. The fob is within 1 meter of the liftgate itself.
Note: The BCM update for N222386380 is not the root cause of the battery draw,
but it is magnifying the draw on the battery if the BCM is inadvertently getting woke
up by a LIN device. In this case, the K171 Hands Free Liftgate module is repeatedly
waking up the BCM, causing a very high amp draw (10+ amps) on the battery.

Correction:
If the customer has both complaints of a battery going dead after recall N222386380 , and unwanted opening of
the power liftgate, then the most likely cause is the K171 Hands Free Liftgate module and it will need to be
replaced.
In addition, GM engineering has released new BCM calibrations to reduce the battery draw magni cation when
the BCM is woke up by a LIN device. This new BCM calibrations was released in a quarterly OTA (over the air)
update, but please verify the BCM has the latest cals. If it does not, then reprogram the BCM with the latest cals
using TLC/SPS.
NOTE: If the K171 Hands Free Liftgate module is not available, due to a parts backorder, etc., then the F35RA
10amp fuse, for the K171 Hands Free Liftgate module, could be removed, which would allow the customer to
drive the vehicle until the part is available.
With the fuse removed, the hands free liftgate feature will not work, but the power liftgate will still function
normally.
In addition, if the truck is equipped with Trailer Tire Pressure Monitor system (RPO UET), then that feature will
also be lost while the fuse is pulled.
Please review this option with the customer if the K171 Hands Free Liftgate module is not readily available.
Tip: The F35RA fuse can also be pulled/removed for testing to see if the issues go away.

Warranty Information
For vehicles repaired under the Bumper-to-Bumper coverage (Canada Base Warranty coverage), use the following
labor operation. Reference the Applicable Warranties section of Investigate Vehicle History (IVH) for coverage
information.
Labor Operation
2063030
2810215
*6486208

Description
Rear Closure Hands Free Module Replacement
Body Control Module Reprogramming with SPS
Remove Fuse F35RA - Use This Unique Labor Operation
To Allow The Customer To Drive The Vehicle While
Waiting For A Hands Free Module
* This is a unique labor operation for bulletin use only.

Labor Time
Use Published Time
Use Published Time
.2 Hrs.

Version History
Version
Modi ed

4
01/25/2023 - Created on.
01/27/2023 - Update to warranty section
02/23/2023 - Update to warranty section
06/27/2023 - Update to the correction and warranty sections

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