Kizashi Club

The trunk lid of my Kizashi from time to time doesn't want to latch. Usually I can get it working just by some combination of pushing a key into the latch slot on the lid, then using the remote unlock, then slam good and hard.

But today for the first time this isn't working.

Searching on this site I see pictures of the latch mechanism with a bright yellow or green emergency release handle and I don't have this on mine.
If pulling this handle releases the latch, then is the mechanism still supposed to latch if the handle is no longer present at all?

The lack of the emergency handle might be due to regulations based on market. Where are you located? Are you sure it ever came with one?

As for the latch mechanism itself, it's electronic and can fail over time. Mine did, exhibiting the same issues you are experiencing of not latching. It was intermittent at first and then resulted in a more persistent issue. I replaced the latch and the problem was permanently resolved. My suggestion is to replace it. It cost me like $20 on Amazon. More info on my write-up here:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5756

Make sure the striker bolts are tight. Ive seen this problem before. About the glow in the dark safety release, it doesnt need to be there for the latch to work correctly.

mine actually broke off when i was inside my trunk messing around with the carpet, thankfully my seats were down so i was able to crawl out lol