Tailgate rattles

Hi everyone,

I’ve had my 2014 Tourneo for six months now and have managed to fix almost all the little issues. Now it’s time to tackle the tailgate, which makes a metallic rattling sound every time I hit a bump in the road.

On the highway, it feels like it’s happening every 10 seconds—it's incredibly annoying.

When the tailgate is closed and I pull on the bottom edge, it moves by several millimeters. It feels like the latch is rattling inside the lock mechanism. I also noticed that the bump stops (buffer stops) on the left and right sides of the tailgate don’t actually touch the vehicle body when closed.

What i tried so far:

I’ve started by adjusting the striker plate (the latch pin). I moved it back by about 2 mm, and the tailgate now sits much tighter and rattles significantly less!

However, the main problem now is that I can’t always get the tailgate to open. Sometimes I have to press the release button several times while applying light pressure against the tailgate to get it to pop. I suspect the tailgate is sitting too tightly in the lock now?

Is it possible that the bump stops are adjustable ? I might have just not figured out how they work or how to take them apart. Is there a trick to it, or are they really non-adjustable?"

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Does anyone know how to get rid of this rattle?

Thanks in advance, and hopefully I’ll be driving rattle-free soon!