we have a 2010 grand caravan and the front passenger door wont open either from the outside or the inside handle. the lock appears to be working the button goes up and down and you hear the noise like its unlocking, I am at my wits end ask a lot of people and no ones heard of this. Please help

 

Ray, did you ever figure this out? If so, what happened?

 

Hi, Nothing yet 244 people have looked at my post and no one has any idea. I have asked many mechanics and they said they never heard of this.. everything was working fine shut the door and the next time we stopped couldn't get out. we appreciate any ideas will try anything.

 

This sounds like a malfunction with the door latch. The problem is you’ll have to get the door open to repair it.

I’ll do some digging for you tomorrow on how it can be done.

 

You’ll need to start by removing the door trim panel. In the above diagram, part #3 are the screws that retain the panel to the door. Remove these and the rest of the panel is retained by clips around the perimeter that “pop” loose when the panel is pulled outward. There are special tools for these, but What I’ve found is usually you need to pry the edge of the panel away from the door and then position a straight blade screwdriver right against the clip and twist it to get it to release.

The screw inside the arm rest might have a small trim cover over it that can be removed by prying it up with a small screwdriver - look for a notch on one side to place the screwdriver. The other screw by the door handle probably has the same cover, but you might have to remove the handle trim bezel first.

You’ll also have to remove the triangular trim piece in the front corner of the door that’s directly on the other side of the mirror. Once that, the screws and retainer clips are loose, the panel can be lifted up and off the door.

The pain of this is the passenger seat is probably going to interfere with removing the panel. I’d recommend trying to remove the panel first and if there’s not enough clearance, you’ll have to remove the seat.

I’m still working on the details of what to do once the trim panel is off so I’ll post the following steps when I can. This should at least get you started.

 

I"ll try but I dont think there is enough room to move the door forward do to the pillar between the front and back door, also the edges of the door are blocked by the same pillar as the door is closed. this would work if I can get the door open but I cant. thanks for your time. I think thats the problem since the door wont open everyone is stumped on what to do. But I do appreciate you trying to resolve this.

 

There’s no need to remove anything on the pillars - everything you need to remove is on the door and it can be done with the door closed. It’s difficult but not impossible. As I said you might have to remove the passenger seat to get the clearance you need, but even that can be done with the door shut.

I’m willing to help you work through this but it’s up to you. If you’re not comfortable doing the work, I get it, but any shop (dealership or otherwise) that tells you they can’t do anything about it is either full of sh*t or they just don’t have the expertise to know how it’s done. I’ve been a tech for 3 years and in that time we’ve had a few customers bring us cars with doors that were stuck shut. The basic process is the same - remove the trim panel and figure out how to unlatch the door from the inside. Usually it’s been due to mechanical linkage problems (sometimes the clips retaining the linkage to the latch break or come loose).

 

I have the same problem but with my driver door I'm tired of asking my passengers to step out so I can either climb out from the passenger side or sometimes I just hop out the driver window. Since even Dodge couldn't help me resolve my problem what I'm going to do is buy a new actuator and then drill holes on the old one from inside the door so that I can be able to remove it and finally open the door "that is if my idea works" and finally Mount the new actuator and problem solved.
I just hope my idea works.