the rear hatch on my mom escape locks and wont unlock all the time. we have found that it could be a bad actuator. looked up on youtube. looks like an easy fix. how do u pop the plastic off the hatch to get to the guts. ive done door panels. Is it similar? easy or hard. can u get an actuator at a place like Napa

 

You should be able to get the actuator at NAPA. Don't quote me though. As far as removal I don't know. I how on our 2012 escape there are 3 screws along the bottom and then just clips along the sides and top.

 

on my gf 06 it had the same problem, there are tons of threads on this fix on the escape fourms, just google it, there are screws on the bottom. its just like a big ranger door panel. a couple of screws and a good tug it will come right off. here is a good link for escape-central
http://www.escape-central.com/1forum...threadid=34766