Jay, thanks for the info - I hadn't thought about doing the interlock connection, that would prevent on-the-road disasters with someone accidently openning the hatch at 70mph

I'm still working on another solution, had my brother-in-law (electrical engineer) look at the schematic last night and he agrees with me - in theory - that isolating the two would do the trick. He didn't have a lot of time, so he's going to look at it today more and get gack to me. I'll let everyone know what I find out.