Rear hatch latch

[mpropst]

I have an early 03 X5 that my rear hatch recently stop latching. It was intermittent at first, and then it just quit altogether. After reading here I figured my latch mechanism was shot so I picked up a new unit from the dealer.. it is doing the same thing as the old latch. When I press the rear hatch button on the remote, I can hear the mechanism activate, so I know it is getting power, however, when I press the rubber switch above the license plate, the mechanism no longer activates.

The actual latch part does not appear to be under any spring tension the way other latches are. Is there supposed to be spring tension in this design? Other than a bad unit from the dealer, any other ideas as to where to look?