I have a 2022 Aspec Advance and I'm having a slight issue with the hands free access tailgate. The car seems very specific about where I kick my foot and how long I keep it under the bumper to get it to open or close. Most of the time it will take 3 or 4 tries to get the tailgate to activate. I've been experimenting with how high I put my foot under the bumper and how long I maintain it there all to no avail.

I had a 2019 Advance that I could activate the tailgate on the first try almost every time.

Has anyone had trouble with theirs on any year that required sensor replacement? I had a look under the car and I don't see anything that even looks close to adjustable and nothing looked like it's in the way of the sensor.

 

You are not imagining things.
I had a 2019 advance and the tailgate would indeed easily open or close with the first kick....
After taking delivery of my 2022 ASpec/advance, I also noticed the tailgate seemed to take a few kicks to open or close, and seemed to be very specific regarding the where, height, speed of the kick, and thought there was an issue.
The technician at the dealership confirmed that for 2022, Acura had repositioned the kick sensor, and resultingly, had made the 'kick to open' feature more difficult to trigger easily, requiring a more specific kick angle, height, speed etc.
Unless Acura comes out with a TSB for it, you will have to practice to get the specific height/speed/kick angle correct.
I found that you have to stand right behind the hatch, and kick only in between the two mid 'vanes' in the rear diffuser under the vehicle, for it to work more consistently.

 

FWIW it’s not Acura-specific. I’ve always found that feature worthless on my other cars too.

 

I actually find it easier on my 2022 than my 2019 Lexus NX.

 

It wasn't a feature I was in the market for when I bought the 2019 Advance but after using it for awhile I found it to be quite useful. I used it most of the time when I'd grab two bags of groceries from the back and then just a quick kick to close the tailgate. It was like "How did I live without this before?"

I did get a few unintentional openings on the 2019 if I had to shuffle close behind it. I'm going to guess Acura got a few complaints about things like that and dialed back the sensitivity on the newer cars.

If I had my choice I'd rather have the occasional unintended opening like the 2019 was doing than be stuck behind my 2022 kicking and kicking to get the tailgate to go down.

 

I just kick right in the middle, lined up with the license plate.

 

I found the long time delay caused our initial problems. A second kick would end up canceling the first.

 

FWIW on my Lincoln it works without fail every time I use it.

 

I’ve found that the slower the ”kick” the better the result.