We have a 2001 Caravan Sport with an electric rear hatch lock/release. Over the last few weeks the electric release has gotten progressively less responsive and sluggish to respond to the remote keypad and to the switch on the driver's door. The keypad batteries are new.

Now, the release will not respond at all either remotely or with the driver's door switch or when depressing the exterior rubber piece under the lip of the hatch handle. The key still opens the hatch without a problem. The electric door locks are fine, no problems.

Any ideas?

yep, it is very common for the switch in the hatch to corrode. It then sends a screwy signal to the bcm so the remote doesn't work or the switch in the hatch doesn't work. I've never tried it but in theory, if you unplug the hatch switch, the remote should start to work again. If it seemed to get worse after it rained or a car wash, that's another good sign it is bad. I bet 80-90% of the time, that is the problem.

My question is.....will having the liftgate handle replaced fix the problem?