So a couple days ago I was connecting a backup camera which required me to take my aftermarket head unit out and plug something in, i ended up not connecting or disconnecting anything. I got out of my car and tried to close the door, it didn't close and latch shut. So i held the door closed and pressed lock on my keyfob. Than right after i clicked unlock and tried to open the door and it felt like the door was still locked (like the handle wasn't connected) and i couldn't open it. It didn't make a difference if i tried opening from the inside or the outside or if it was locked or unlocked. So got into the car and tried to take the door panel off but that didn't work and i went to get out of my passenger door and guess what? that didnt wanna open as well, and it being a 2 door as well as both back seats were up so i had no way out. I called my dad, opened the trunk for him and told him to pull the thingys to make the back seats go down and crawled out. I was trying different things with the doors like pushing on them with all my body weight and pulling the door handle and shaking it. The one thing that has worked three times now now is pulling the door handle and letting go so it slaps the door. After 4 or 5 times it would open the door. i drenched it in penetrating fluid to remove all the old grease (i suspected the old grease was making the lock stick) but i don't think it made a diff. because my dad borrowed my car today and hand to get out through the passenger door because the drivers side wasn't opening again. I know it has something to do with the doors being locked because it has the same feeling whether its locked or unlocked when it wont open and it only happens after the car was locked. Anyone else had this problem? its really annoying and weird. Could it have something to do with me dickering around with the stereo? its just that it happened to both doors separately within 15 min of each other right after i played around with the stereo.

I'm thinking about taking off the door panel and looking at the mechanism to see what's going on. I was able to replicate the problem with the door being open but all i did was wiggle the latch back and forth and it randomly let go again. As of right this moment, both doors are working but I'm afraid of it happening again in the future.

 

We were toying around with it today and i noticed that when we pulled the door handle and let it go to make it slap the door and open it, the lock stick thingy on the inside moved up about 1mm when it finally made a connection.

 

You know what's crazy is my driver door started the same thing yesterday. I found if you push on the out side of the door then pull the door handle it will open. I'm gonna try to adjust the door latch at work today. Hopefully I don't have to buy a door latch....

 

Hey Guys, exact same thing happened to me.., i recently purchased a 2006 Cobalt SS Coupe..
and drove it for about week and a half before last night ( when it started to rain) after i got back from the mall i couldn't get back in to my car.. sitting outside in the pouring rain the only way was to go through the passengers doors.
after reading countless forums seems there is no permanent fix.. ( ppl go to the dealers and all i hear that they only grease the assemblies and give it back to you- which only works for week or two and charge you 200$ per hour..)
The only way i can get in my car so far is to hold the outside handle open and punch the door just underneath the lock.. after 3/4 times it works but my hand is so bruised at this point i am tired and im willing to pay whatever to get it fixed.
And also after opening the door the door wont close because the latch is still in closed position and wont latch onto the car frame.. ugh please someone help before i break my hand!


does anyone know the cost on the replacement?

 

These things don't have the best latching mechanisms. It seems to be a pretty common issue. One of the links between the handle and the latch becomes disconnected. I've read if you pull the door apart you can put it back together but I don't know how long it lasts. Mine does it periodically as well. Just locking and unlocking it a bunch of times fixes it for me. You can hear the pieces snap back together when it works. I find that if the door doesn't shut, keep it open. Manually push down on the lock and pull it back up. That seems to prevent mine from freezing shut.

 

This works

 

Yeah, i called the GM customer service as this is a serious safety issue. she told me to take it down to the dealership and open a ticket with them. depending on what the problem is she could cover the costs if its a factory fault..

but for now i will be pulling the door assemblies today when i get back from work, i just hope i can
get a permanent fix.. if that doesnt work ill take it to the dealership see if they can fix it.
ill keep you guys posted

And yes i have looked at the video.. and no that doesn't work lol at least not for me..
i have to manually bang under the lock for the latch to open

 

I've been locked in my car. It's not fun.

The door latch sticks, from what I found.

I took some all-purpose grease and worked it in the door latch pretty good; no problems since then.

 

Thanks ill give it a try today lol i really hope it works!.. (Lunchless cuz i couldnt get in my car today during lunch time )

 

So after Work i stoped at canadian tire to and picked up some degreaser and some new greese.
obviously i couldnt get out of my car... had to get out through the window..
but after the purchase when i managed to open the doors i sprayed the locks with degreaser and it worked! i waited a littlebit for it to dry and put a fresh coat of grease.. so far so good!
hope any of you that have this problem try this first. its a 20$ fix that you can do yourself in less then 5 min.

 

I took my door panel off today and tried to replicate the problem (haven't done anything to the doors since it last happened). I tried for 10-20 min and could not get the doors to malfunction. Im not sure why but i guess the problems gone for now, lets just hope it will stay gone. Might be because it was a bit warmer today...

 

Yeah, im starting to believe that there was not enough grease inside the latch assembly and that's why it would get stuck..especially on the moving parts (if they are not greased they will rust) so i just set reminder in my my phone to chekup on the locks in 30 days. see if the same amount of grease is still there if not ill add to it.

 

Happend again today... Bump.

 

did you try cleaning old grease off the latches and putting on a fresh coat?
mine are holding strong ever since.

 

It's the door lock actuator, easily replaced. Very common issue on ALL gm vehicles. My car left me outside of the airport terminal in AC looking like a moron, window down, car running, door unlocked, and im pulling the door handle and nothing is happening.