Your vehicle may have an underbody-mounted tire hoist assembly equipped with a secondary latch system. It is designed to stop a tire from suddenly falling off your vehicle if the cable holding the spare tire is damaged. For the secondary latch to work, the tire must be stowed with the valve stem pointing down.

Your vehicle uses the underbody tire hoist assembly to store either the compact spare or a flat road tire. See Storing a Flat or Spare Tire and Tools for instructions on storing the spare or flat tire correctly.

Caution: Before beginning this procedure read all the instructions. Failure to read and follow the instructions could damage the hoist assembly and you and others could get hurt. Read and follow the instructions listed next.

Caution: Someone standing too close during the procedure could be injured by the jack. If the spare tire does not slide off the jack completely, make sure no one is behind you or on either side of you as you pull the jack out from under the spare.

To release the spare tire from the secondary latch:

1. Place the jack under the vehicle, ahead of the rear bumper. Position the center lift point of the jack under the center of the compact spare tire.
2. Turn the folding wrench clockwise to raise the jack until it lifts the secondary latch device under the wheel plate.
3. Keep raising the jack until the compact spare tire stops moving upward and is held firmly in place. This lets you know that the secondary latch has released.
4. Lower the jack by turning the folding wrench counterclockwise. Keep lowering the jack until the compact spare tire is resting on the folding wrench.



5. Grasp the compact spare tire with both hands and pull it out from under the vehicle.
6. Reach under the vehicle and remove the folding wrench and jack.

Have the hoist assembly inspected as soon as you can. You will not be able to store a spare or flat tire using the hoist assembly until it has been repaired or replaced.