Tailgate handle assembly with sliding and pivoting lever

摘要

A tailgate handle assembly in a housing including a flush-mounted handle and an adjacent key cylinder. The housing is spaced apart from a latch mechanism. A laterally extending lever is slidably actuated on the housing from a locked mode to an unlocked mode manually by rotation of the key cylinder, or electrically via a power actuator, and then pivoted by manual lift-pulling on the handle, to thereby lift a latch rod extending between the lever and the latch mechanism to actuate the latter.