No dumb questions, right?! I tried search, but only find threads on how to fix it.
My question is, what is the purpose of the hatch pull down ?!
I thought maybe pressure equalization, or prevention of slamming the hatch. Thanks, Greg

 

It was just a fancy touch that was normally found on higher end cars. You simply close the hatch with little effort and it does the rest of the work.

So yeah, it's just so you don't have to slam the hatch closed.

 

Find an 82-85 Camaro/Firebird with good weatherstripping. Roll the windows up, close the doors, try to close the hatch. It usually took a few tries with my 83, and more then once I'd find the hatch wasn't latched a day or two after going in the trunk.

With the pulldown, bring the hatch down, push down softly until the latch engages and the motor takes over. Only problem withe the pulldown is the fragile plastic and meatheads that think they need to slam the hell out of everything.

 

That and the failure prone hatch struts that go soft and annihilate said fragile plastic housing

 

I thought I remembered reading early on that slamming the hatch down could sometimes break the glass. I don't know how true, but I think the the manufacture of that big curved rear window was something of a challenge at the time.

 

Back in the 80's I watched my friend's hatch glass explode into a million pieces as he slammed the hatch closed on his 1982 Firebird SE. There was nothing back there to hit the glass. It was in the middle of a cold NJ winter so I'm sure that didn't help!

 

I know for sure that I read that this was a concern. I even read that just the ability for PPG to manufacture that back glass was a concern when they designed the car. I don't know how often they broke and maybe it is something that isn't likely, but I know it was sometimes cited as a reason for the rear pulldown motor. I don't think they were just trying to be fancy. In all the years I've driven these cars, I was always careful to be the one who closed it. Some people have this odd need to put all their strength into closing doors and trunks. I've known this one girl my whole life. She's all of 5' tall, but when she closes a car door I think she almost slams it completely through the car. I cringe every time she gets out of my car.

My Dad's 1970s Cadillacs had pulldown motors for the trunk. No glass involved. You just pushed the lid down and it grabbed the trunk. That was just trying to be fancy for the Cadillac crowd.

 

Grab a large sheet of anything stiff and swing it through the air flat. Note the wind resistance. Now imagine you're trying to fight that wind resistance and compress a somewhat air tight compartment. Large trunks are no different. Try to slam a large trunk lid down and sometimes it'll take a few tries before it catches the latch instead of bouncing off the weatherstripping. Seems like this used to be a problem a lot more often in the 80s. Newer cars it's never been a problem, but back then... Even my Mustang takes a few tries to get the trunk to latch. So embarrassing sitting at a stop sign and you notice the trunk lid is wide open. Gotta watch for that kind of thing, some people don't look too kindly on a trunk full of dead hookers.

 

I do like the pull-down unit (when they work right) and I've always had to fix it on cars I've bought. My 82 however does not have the pull-down and I spent several hours (and when I say several hours, I mean over a course of 3 days) many years ago adjusting it and to this day, I can sit that hatch down on the weather stripping, place my palm on the lid under the spoiler and with light pressure push until it clicks. It's air tight and doesn't leak. Guess what? YOU CAN TOO! All you have to do is want it bad enough. There is no reason to slam them. My hoods are the same way. I amaze everyone when I gently sit either one of my hoods down and with just 2 fingers: click.

 

In 1989+ when I had my 87 TA I frequented a local full service car wash where they did everything including cleaning the glass. I would always tell the guy receiving the car at the entrance of the wash that it had an electric closing hatch, but every time the car would get to the wipe down area somebody would slam the hatch, then look at it like it didn't close as it would be getting pulled down. Drove me nuts. I think it was misunderstood as an electric release as the message was relayed down the line. They had (still have) a glass window waiting room so you could watch your car get detailed.
In their defense, the only other cars at the time with closers were trunk cars like the Cadillacs & there was no need to open the trunks to clean the glass on those. Just something most hadn't seen at the time on a hatchback car.

 

my pops was a GM mechanic when these cars were new. he used to tell me the purpose of the pull down was because people would have to slam the hatch, and the glass would break.

 

I pinned/bolted my pulldown in place on my old Camaro back in 2000 when the gears stripped. After adjusting it for a while I was able to achieve nearly the same result. Slamming the hatch is completely unnecessary with a fixed latch when properly adjusted.

 

I've always liked the hatch pulldown. Makes for a nice, tight seal without having to use a lot of force to close it. I'm not sure why they got rid of it for the 4th gens. Maybe too many warranty claims, not sure.