UPDATE: I found the fuse and pulled it; now of course the tailgate won't open yet I can still hear some sort of clicking inside the cabin as it the latch control tries to engage. Ford needs to issue a recall as this is a safety issue. I could have lost a load of firewood or something all over the highway, because this defect - probably a moisture-induced short of some kind - lowers the gate even while the truck is in motion. On the 2016 Lariat model the gate is entirely electronic and there's no way to latch or unlatch it mechanically. The defect is bypassing any sort of lock-while-in-motion safety circuit. Not good, someone's going to get killed.

I have a 2016 Lariat and the tailgate won't stay shut. It appears that there's a short in the wiring to the mechanism, and this only happens when it's wet outside. The dealer says they can fix it but can't assure that it won't recur. I've read about disconnecting wire harnesses and so on but am hopeful there's an easier way. Any chance this thing is controlled by a single fuse and that anyone could kindly direct me on how to find that fuse? I want to maintain rear view camera and collision alert capabilities and am concerned that pulling wires out will shut all that down.

Again - it's just that contraption that aids unlatching and gently lowering the tailgate that I want to disable. Thanks!

motor, rotor, lever, hydraulic, nuclear reactor, whatever. I’m not a gearhead, sorry. Whatever powers it. Via correction I don’t think anything aids the lifting but there’s an electronic latch and some sort of mechanism that makes it lower gently.