Abstract: An automotive trunk lid latch assembly including a housing, a pair of latching members and a cam member, each rotatably mounted in the housing, a shaft extending into the housing from a lock cylinder assembly and adapted to rotate the cam member in response to manual rotation of a key in the lock cylinder assembly, and a spring-loaded lever rotatably mounted intermediate the cam member and one of the latching members and retained therebetween by the end of the shaft, and adapted to be rotated by the cam member to, in turn, unlatch the latching members. In the event of removal of the shaft, the spring-loaded lever will snap away from the cam member into an inoperable position, thus preventing any unlatching operation thereafter by the insertion of a probe or a screwdriver to rotate the cam member.