When I bought this car, the dealer strongly cautioned me to never open or close the tailgate manually. He told me to always, always use the button near the bottom of the driver's door or the remote.
He acted like this was extremely important and suggested that I would damage the tailgate if I ever tried to open it manually. But having read the User's manual, I don't see any kind of caution about that.
Can anyone tell me if the dealer knows something that is not in the User Manual? Is it really likely to cause damage if I open or close the tailgate manually?

 

No.. Our Power Tailgate relies on a separate motor to pull or push the tailgate as it was an OPTION for the Tech Package and not a standard feature unlike modern tailgates that use a screw type actuators embedded into the strut itself.
So: Our system is 100% safe to use manually when you like it.
-Modern Screw Type Systems (Like the 3rd gen MDX) ARE NOT DESIGNED to be used manually.

 

Thank you Skirmich. That explains it.