The fact that this has 1M views should tell us something about this design…

Wonderful! I found your video using a Google search and then opened a rear door on my 2009 Jetta TDI that had been stuck for more than 3 years. Two mechanics specializing in German cars had already told me that this would be an extremely difficult repair to do since it would require detaching the outer door skin while having no access to the door sides. So I had settled on just living with the problem , until now. Thanks also for demonstrating in the video that the door still opens and shuts normally afterwards. Only the outer handle is detached.

I'm a lo tech DIY'er but this worked brilliantly on my T5 camper, thank you so much, saved me a fortune!

This was all I needed, top class explaining! Well done man!

This video was exactly what I needed to fix my door and save a ton of time and money!!!

Thank you, you saved my day. I made it as you have described an put the small black thing a litle bit down and the door works perfectly now.

I just changed the latch on my rear drivers door on my mark 5. In order to get the right feel of the handle, I set the black tab in the handle deeper than the preload spring let me. After a day of it working correctly, the door would no longer open from inside or outside. After watching your video I put two and two together and realized that I must have set it too deep. I pulled the tab out of the handle and the door opened from the inside just like you showed. Thanks

Sir you saved my life lol I was so confused, I went to the grocery store in my 1999 Golf and had to exit from the passenger side but now we fixed it thanks to you!

This helped me so much. Had a car doing this on all 4 doors and it worked perfectly. All Now opening ready to get rest 👍🏻

I have this problem with my Volkswagen Jetta in Argentina, I will take your video into account and I will try to open the rear passenger door to repair the lock. You have been very helpful and thank you very much for this video. If I can at least open the door I'll be more than happy.

Thank you Auto Resource! it took me 5 seconds to open my passat b5 jammed drivers door with the help from your video! You saved my day!

Just tried today - it works with my Golf 5! Thanks a lot for this simple trick! Due to this trick everything is remaining undestroyed.

Amazing! Exactly as you explained it. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.

Thank you for being my saviour ..Solved which even mechanic had no answer except replacement for the door.

This fellow is Top Notch. Great explanation, can't wait for the repair instruction, in the next video. Peace be unto you.

Amazeballs!!! Not joking! This works! After suffering through this extremely drawn out video that does not work on a 2003 Beetle, I went up to the Beetle, hit the unlock switch once, smacked it twice on the door panel and the door latch suddenly worked. Amazing!!! What will VW think up next? I hate all these secret methods Euro cars have.

Thank you man, you saved me a pretty much savage way to open my drivers door. Caused by over stretched short string of the handle( dat one that you are releasing in the video! BIG THANK YOU!

After door painted on mine Golf 4 ,on 1st remote lock door was stuck. After watching this tutorial and best explanation I realize that the garage man put the little wire so high,at the end, and there is no ELECTRONIC CIRCLE. Thanks,I fixed and save me for wondering 🤔 and trouble. (Before paint was ok and only the handle was removed from outside). 👍👏

Excellent explanation on this issue, my mothers rear door is like this and now after your detailed video I can fix it for her. Thankyou

Thank you this video you made saved me from what I thought would be a nightmare!

Sir, you are a life saver. Thank you for posting this.

OMG ! You are a life saver ! I owe you a beer ! Can't thank you enough...

You are helping both the owners and also car thieves !

You nailed it! German engineers do things because they can....not because they should!

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT !!!! I had the same problem with my 2008 skoda fabia, I was contemplating having to cut a hole in the door and replacing it with a second hand one, im so happy I found your video 😁 it worked straight away thank you for uploading it, liked subscribed and rang the bell

Excellent instructions. Solved the problem to access door card

Replaced two of the lock control modules on my Passat. Verified that the handles worked by closing the latch with the door open, yet when I closed the rear door it wouldn't open! I apparently put the clip on the handle to far out. This technique got me into the car and functioning correctly without having to remove the door panels from inside the car!

Thanks for your very great video! Many people was searching for this help to fix the problem! Your are the „Master“ of VW Doorlocks. when ich telephone whith VW, i will say to them that i have learn by the biggest!! Thanks vor your Work

Excellent info ! We have an 01 Beetle it hasnt done this problem yet but modern door latching is a nightmare if you don't know the " trick fixes". In our 07 Ford Focus the micro switches were sticking.....causes all kinds of problems including the anti theft and of course the dome light. Despite Ford insisting on special Ford door lub I used a combo of dry graphite on the latch and white lith on the mechanism. That was 5 yrs ago and zero prblems since.

Good on you mate - good stuff - highly recommended

This is what i`ve been looking for..thanks a lot man!

thank you for posting this video , i have had this exact problem with my vw caddy van and no other videos on you tube had this solution, some garages where saying i had to smash the lock out with a hammer. so thanks again as this worked perfectly

Good explanation of a common ,fault, when I worked at a VW dealership around 2000/2001 this was a known fault then cant believe they still had the problem in 2007 model year cars!!

Much like my 04' Passat 1.8T GLS Wagon's hood release completely broke. Was a pain in the butt and alot of people had issues but the main blame 4 me being worse off from other people's situations was because my x wife ignored the signs if it causing issues. Now that I have my hands on it she is running soo smooth and has been upgraded parts and hoses it is now time for me to get into the interior and check on how everything is looking which includes the door component sets which I may replace. Not a fun job since they are riveted on but that's why it's my project car. Thanks for sharing.

you did a brilliant job to explain this in details and yet keep it simple. I can now proudly say that my Kia Sportage's left hand-side rear door has started to do the same, not opening neither from outside nor inside. and from what I have learned reading/watching some contents online, it is either the cable at is linked to the actuator or the motor inside of it. but like you said it can be a RESET issue. which none of the others really mentioned. Now, I reckon if I can open the door with the pick approach you demonstrated it will safe a massive headache since for my case i will need to remove the inside door cover. and without opening the door it will be so difficult to remove the push pins that holds the bottom of the door. such a good point you made about Engineers in general, It works great when it s new, but good luck fixing it when it is broken. Right to the point. Have a great one.

Excellent! 👍. Normally we operate the lock multiple times and then bang the door in the area of the lock which works about 80% of the time, the other 20% we rip the panel off the inside.😀

Thankyou so much for taking the time to explain this. This fixed my problem . Champion!

Thank you very much I've been having this trouble with my gti, you saved me from ripping the door apart. Cheers 😂

Thank you very much for that tip, I found it useful to solve that same problem, greetings.

Thank you, this is class!

Thank you mate. Helped me out lots.

OMG I’ve spent the last I don’t know how many hours trying to open my door…seen this hack & hey presto door opens…mind blown but thanks massive 👍👍👍👍

Thank you, a lot!!! You saved my door and my day :D

Perfect! Explained everything so well thankyou. Got me out of a jam

Brilliant, great tips. Thanks for this information

Thank you so much from spain!! I was very worried with this!!! Regards!

Excellent and very informative video. Thank you

Thank you so much. Saved me a lot of hassle

Brilliant saved me a lot of time thanks

Thank you very much. Your info was perfect!!!!!

Great video - very informative! With the 2009 Passat CC, I was under the impression that the lock mechanism could be replaced by removing the interior door panel first (believe I have seen KZfaq videos and forum posts explaining this)? Are you saying I need to remove the exterior door skin? EDIT: Yes, I believe you now! Outer door skin needs to be removed to replace the actuator - need to find and then watch your video on how to do this!

Amazing, thank you for the detailed video, thanx to your vid i could open the door again, thanx

Just wanted to say thanks, after a lot of wiggling of the narrow screwdriver in the gap right in whilst trying both internal and external handles it opened!

Thank you very very mutch for your Explaining that Problem with that Mechanism...i hat the same Problem..and now i can fix it from inside, until now a couple of Mechanics in Germany where unsuxseßfull to repair it ,had no Idea about that Way...! Thank you sooo mutch

Hello, I had probe this method and it was perfect. Very very thanks. I was going to broke somethin and you have salve me

Great instruction BIG thanks I have had to replaced all 4 actuators on my 2007 golf

Like a real teacher!

Thank you for the Video - it worked also on an 1999 Golf 4 -

Your the man! Going to try this tomorrow!

Wow it worked !! thanks a lot mate 👍🏽

Wow. This brings nostalgic memories of my Audi S2 and S4 back in the days. Sad to have let them go but feeling blessed to not to have to deal with German over-engineering ))

Changed the lock case on my Octavia MK1 today due to some electrical problems. Closed the door and was not able to open it again neither from inside nor outside. Your video gave me a clue, and it showed out that the problem was related to the steel wire from the outside handle as you pointed out. Somehow the steel wire end with its plastic joint had gotten a little bit out of its position, which caused the problem you highlighted with the lock not freeing out properly. Sprayed wd40 through the handle opening, and slammed carefully on the handle with my hand. Obviously the plastic joint rotated on place, and the door is now fully in order again❗ Thanks ❗

I totally agree with you.. It’s a crazy door design which makes everything inside very difficult to access.Having got the door skin off I’m having a nightmare resetting the handle.

Same problem with my -99 Passat... Thanks for tips.

See my passanger side inner handle stopped working first, only way to open the door was from the outside. Now it wont open from either. But I will check for this aswell! Thank you Sir.

Many thanks for the valuable advice!

Danka!!! My saviour - thank you so much! Driver's door (2009 VW Passat CC) won't open from inside or outside! Need to get the door open so I can remove the interior door panel and replace the locking actuator/mechanism. EDIT: Sorry, outer skin, not interior door panel - that will achieve nothing!

Great job I learned that from my car because the back door not open and he takes me lots of time to fixed lots of money to go to the dealership car Volkswagen it’s very much expensive staff

Great ! Thank you for your explanation.

Brilliant I’ve got the same problem with my Vw polo. I’m going to try dismantling the outer door cable. And let you all know the outcome. I’ve just pulled the inner door panel off and got nowhere. I cannot believe how bloody difficult it is to try and open the door from inside the bloody car. As I’ve always done. Like with any car. Ford escort, Hillman hunter, Morris minor and many other cars. So much for German engineering.

Thank you, thank you, i'm Brazilian and i see your vídeo and...open the door

Amazing super vry helpful...

you stunner of a man thank you

Wow! So simple, thank you so much for showing this! Please help! How do you put back the little plastic piece connected to the wire and the outside handle? This is driving me crazy! 🤪 Thanks

really helpful video thanks so much thumbs up 👌🏻👍

U r the best thankyou 🤗

Great video! So much crap is produced today... Have a 30 year old Opel Vectra and had never anything like that. The Seat of my daughter... nightmare... Right back door opens from inside but not from outside. Also central locking does not work 100% Sometimes doors stay open, etc. Keep the garages busy and the manufacturers rich...

Very helpful video, thanks.

cheers mate, helpful video, thanks

What used to happen to my 2015 Jetta (and only on cold Candian winter mornings) is the drivers door locks would click locked and unlocked eight or ten times by themselves. When the drivers door wouldn't open from the outside i would go in from the passenger side and have to open it from there with great difficulty.

Perfectly summarized @7:40 about German engineering and your gesture in particular describes it the way it is: 🤷🏾‍♀️.

GREAT VIDEO, thank you sir, very much.

Fritz your amazing, I taker it all back

OMG I have had exactly this problem and had to take it to the agent to get sorted because I couldnt open the door. Damn I could have replaced the mechanism if I knew this. Excellent video thank you

this does not work if the lock has failed in the locked position.

Hallo , vielen Dank für diesen Tipp, es hat geklappt nachdem sich die Beifahrertür nicht mehr öffnen liess.

The short cable that attaches to the outside door handle should not be under tension when the handle is is not being pulled. If it is that's probably stopping the door lock actuator going fully back to its "rest position" so you won't be able to open the unlocked door from inside or outside. I've just released the cable (as very well explained in this video) and refitted it in naturally (not pulling it) and everything works! 5 min job but need a torx to remove the metal cover at the end of the door handle. The torx is accessed from just inside the edge of the door, slightly above the outside door handle, behind a round rubber grommet. Good luck kids!

I have exactly that problem at a Skoda Fabia. Changed the closing mechanism, everything is ok. when I first tested closing the door, it did not open, don't know why. I tested your trick, the doe is open😁

Çok faydalı bir bilgi verdi teşekkür ederim proplemimi çözdüm bu viedo sayesinde

This came in so handy for me today

Thank you for that explanation I hawe same problem on my golf 5 the rear right door is not open from outside. Thank you again.

Very well done love it, learned a lot about the vw doors. By the way love youre accent , U sound a little like Gru from Despicable me movie ;-)

Would this solution work on a 2011 Golf 6 Variant?Rear door is stucked, the handle and the door looks just like the one in the video.

Thanks ! You rock !

Unfortunately this hack didn't work on my right front door. I removed the wire from the handle as explained in this video but it is still not possible to open from the inside. The door is still stuck.

Excelente ayuda, me iba a volver loco tratando de abrir la puerta, gracias

Before or in the same time you remove that cable from door handle, get a strong, slim and flexible wire and pull it through that head whole of that cable and catch it so you can try to pull it back later to the initial position.

Works perfect, thanks.

Unfortunately it doesn't work on a 2007 VW beetle, i had my fingers crossed that it would, have you any idea how to open the passenger door on a 2007 beetle

Very good video, thanks