A short to ground on the ground side of a trunk lid solenoid and trunk release switch may not directly affect the circuit at all. Which statement best describes this?

• A. immediately blow the fuse.
• B. cause trunk to release continuously.
• C. cause battery drain.
• D. may not directly affect the circuit at all.

Answer: (D)

The trunk release circuit relies on a complete path from battery positive, through the switch, into the solenoid, and back to the battery negative. A short to ground on the ground/return side doesn’t create a new path that would energize the solenoid or change its duty cycle; it simply ties the return conductor to ground at another point, which the circuit is already using as its reference. Because there isn’t a direct positive-to-ground short across the supply, this fault is unlikely to cause the solenoid to energize, blow a fuse immediately, or make the trunk pop continuously. In short, such a ground-side fault may not directly affect the trunk release circuit.