Rear passenger door locked closed | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Rear passenger door locked closed

okiefarmer

New Member
Joined
March 26, 2015
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Year, Model & Trim Level
2012 Explorer
Background: So my wife's 2012 Explorer rear passenger door seems to be locked closed and cannot be opened from the inside nor the outside. I've seen several threads related to broken latches and springs in door mechanisms, but all start at the "remove the door panel" step. My problem is that I have a latched closed door.

She took it to the dealer today and was informed their 1st step would be for them to cut a hole in the door panel to unlatch the door. They would then open the door & remove the panel to repair the internal problem. So labor to destroy a panel, parts/labor to repair door mechanism, and also parts for a new door panel after paying them to destroy the original. I'm not thrilled with this approach but if it really is the only path then I prefer to use my cheap labor to destroy a door panel.

So question #1 - is there any way to unlatch that door without cutting a hole in the interior panel?

And question #2 - if the answer to Q1 is no, where should I cut out to best access the latch/lock mechanism?
 






Roll down the window and try taking off the belt moulding and window track. You may need to remove a screw to get the belt moulding off. Youtube this and I'm sure you can easily do it yourself. This will give you a little room to look down inside and see if the latch has just came undone. At that point you may be able to take one of those shims that pops locks and slide it down there to manually release the latch.

That's what I would try first.
 






Ford just announced a recall on the 2011 - 2013 Ford Explorer for door latch/spring issues. You should check that out. Your problem might be covered by the recall and not cost you anything.
 












Back
Top