Dont know if this has happened to anyone else but my friends battery died and he was no longer able to open the back latch until he recharged the battery. Was this just his or will this happen to everbody?

the rear latch release is electronically controlled when you push that the button so it makes sense that it wouldnt work until you recharged the battery.

haha someone beat me to it

The moral of the story is to NOT keep your jumper cables in the back. :D

The hatch on the xB has an electronic actuator (sp?) It will happen to everyone. I believe that its mechanical on the xA though so it shouldnt happen.

For some reason I beleive I heard or read that there was a release lever in the rear panel somewhere?

Look in the owner's manual -- there is some kind of lever behind the rear hatch trim panel that can be used to pop it open w/o power.