Patent ID: 7389898

Claim:
A spare-wheel carrier for a motor vehicle, the spare-wheel carrier pivotable at a body of the motor vehicle and arranged in a region of a tailgate of the motor vehicle, comprising: at least one sensor configured to detect at least one position of the spare-wheel carrier and to transmit the at least one position to a control unit, the control unit configured to enable and block functions of the motor vehicle in accordance with the position of the spare-wheel carrier, wherein the sensor includes a lock having a touch-sensitive switch configured to detect the position of the spare wheel carrier, the lock configured to retain the position of the spare-wheel carrier; wherein the lock includes at least one locking element, including a striker having a ball and a pin, and at least one complementary locking element, including at least two swivelable ball sockets, one of the at least one locking element and the at least one complementary locking element attached to the body of the motor vehicle, another one of the at least one locking element and the complementing locking element attached to the spare-wheel carrier; and wherein the lock includes an emergency release device configured to manually release the spare-wheel carrier, the emergency release device including an emergency release lock including a striker having at least one rotatable actuator rotatable into at least one unlocked position and a locked position, in the unlocked position, at least one first lever arranged to release the spare-wheel carrier movable in accordance with displacement of the striker, in the locked position, the at least one first lever not movable in accordance with displacement of the striker.