First post, hi everyone!

I recently bought a 2004 Dakota SLT Quadcab and it's been violated already. Seems the thief knew exactly how to get in, a small screwdriver appears to have been hammered into the door just under the doorhandle on the driver's front door. Now the driver's door can be opened by the handle even if the truck has been locked (it has power locks, btw) as pulling the handle now unlocks the door from the outside. Awesome. I pulled the door panel and there's a small electrical switch that looks damaged exactly where the screwdriver went into the door, if I replaced this, would the truck be secure again?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Very common entry point. The ram's have the same susceptability. Somebody makes a steel plate to put behind it to block it but I forget who.

I haven't been inside the door panel, so i'm not sure what switch you speak of.

 

It's a small rotating switch that's attached directly to the end of the lock cylinder. Seems that it detects the direction that the key is turned in the lock and sends a signal to the door lock actuator to either lock or unlock the doors. Appears to have been knocked off of the end of the lock cylinder with a good amount of force, breaking whatever holds it firmly to the lock cylinder. It will stay on now if pushed back on, and it actuates the door locks but the outside handle still unlocks the system like the inner handle does... and it really shouldn't. There could be more going on in there that I'm unaware of.

 

Starting to think that whatever part that isolates the outer door handle from the system (at the actuator) while the door is locked must be broken. Does this sound likely? If so, what is it? I found a small white piece of plastic in the bottom of the door that looks like a broken piece of a clip, possibly one that holds a rod onto the actuator? I couldn't see very well so am not sure if there are any white clips on it, I did see purple ones...