Well I'm definitely in a jam. I can't get the trunk open to get to main battery and jump start. Is there anything else that can be done? I tried putting a small 2 amp charge on the aux battery hoping it would provide enough juice for the electric trunk release to work, but nothing so far. What's next? Remove rear seats?

You know that metal key needs to be inserted way in there, right. It basically is scraping the escutcheon when turning it.

I can try again but it turns only about 30 degrees. I can hear something moving inside but no luck so far.

Do your doors open, or are they unlocked?

Open the door with the key,, Open the hood. Put jumper cables on the attach points, power up, open the trunk.

Yes this will work because i had the same issue and that's what I did

Got it open. The handle was stuck 'open'. So I had to push the handle back (towards the car) and then turn the key and pull the latch. Came right up.

I got it resolved but curious as to what attach points you speak of. I don't think they exist in the '04's.

Check your owners manual for jump start

As you face the windshield from the grille, look up your left side up the fender almost to the hinge area... there is a flat tab there. Thats one of the jumper cable attach points.

Yes, very low or dead battery prevents trunk from opening, so if you have a jumper pack in the trunk it's useless. Really bad design flaw in my opinion. I don't want to carry it behind my seat, but that's the only option I can think of unless there's room to mount it under the hood. AAA or your insurance company's road service may be the only answer here.

What is this deal with people not being able to open their trunks to jump the car? That's what the metal key is designed for and it works PERFECTLY as I learned today for the first time. You just have to twist it in the right direction with the right amount of finesse and force.