I also have a electrical release on the inside of the van, but in my case it didn’t work, it was the actuator that failed. The only way to open the tailgate was to physically trip the latch from the inside of the tailgate. Not easy when you’ve got a California chair kit fitted. I now have the aforementioned fishing line from the arm on the latch, up the inside of the door & tucked out of sight at the base of the rear window where the wiper motor would be. Pulling the fishing line trips the latch regardless of whether the electrical side is working or not.
