Power Sliding Door System: Description
Some vehicles are equipped with a power opening and closing sliding door system (Fig 1 ). Depending on how the vehicle is ordered it may be equipped with only a right side power door or right and left side power doors. This power sliding door system is a complex system consisting of many components. Some of these components are the door motor, latch assembly, sliding door control module, lower drive unit, flex drive assembly, wire harness and track, lower drive unit track and rack assembly, full open switch, B-pillar switch, overhead console switch, key fob switches (Fig 2 ), pawl switch, ratchet switch and child lockout and handle switches.
Each power side door has its own door control module, located in the center of the door behind the door trim panel. (Refer to DESCRIPTION ). The power side door motor is located in the front portion of the door, on the inner door panel sheet metal. The latch assembly is located in the rear of the power side door, near the body line. The lower drive unit is attached to the lower door hinge. The flex drive assembly connects the door motor to the lower drive unit. The wire harness and track and the lower drive unit track are visible with the door open in the lower door sill area. The power side door full open switch is located under the lower drive unit and is part of the hold open latch assembly. The pawl, ratchet, handle and child lockout switches are all located on the power side door latch assembly. The B-pillar switch, as it will be referred to, is an open and close command switch located on the vehicles interior body side B-pillar trim. The overhead console switch, is an open and close command switch located in the vehicle's overhead console. More detailed information can be found on these components later in this article.
Safety is of the utmost concern with the power sliding door system. Software technology has enabled the power sliding door control module to detect resistance to door travel. This allows the power sliding door to stop and reverse direction any time an obstruction is felt or any of the command switches are operated (while closing only). Battery voltage is supplied to the power sliding door system through a 40 amp fuse, located in the Intelligent Power Module (IPM) assembly (Fig 3 ). The child lockout switch prevents children from opening or actuating the power sliding door system when desired. In the unlikely event that the power sliding door system develops a fault, the power sliding door can still be operated manually from the interior or exterior door handle, just like a standard manual sliding door.
The power sliding door control module communicates on the J1850 PCI Data Bus Circuit. Therefore, the power sliding door control module can generate and store its own diagnostic trouble codes (DTC). A diagnostic scan tool, such as the DRBIII(R) is used to read and diagnose these trouble codes. Refer to the Body Diagnostic procedures for a complete list of diagnostic routines.
For additional information, (Refer to OPERATION ). For a complete power sliding door system wiring schematic, refer to apprpriate wiring diagrams. For power sliding door system operation instructions, refer to the vehicle owner manual.