My driverside door will not open from either side. I opened it to get out, reached over to grab my phone, the door shut on me and now it will not open. it just barely closed, so i dont know why I cant budge it. its an old s10.
I would try calling a locksmith and have them open the door with a slim jim. Some police departments will do this for free. When the door is open…get the door lock repaired. BTW…most, if not all, vehicle door latches have 2 positions to lock (partial) and (full). You are stuck in the partial lock position.
Have it done ASAP. It’s a safety item especially in a vehicle with only two doors. If the passenger door decides to sufferer a similar abnormality or it doesn’t open in a simple parking lot bump, while this other door isn’t working, you could be crawling out a window. It could happen with just an inconsiderate parker too tight on the passenger side.
Well try getting aggressive with it. Go in from the other door and work the inside lock slide a few times to make sure it is unlocked. Pull on the inside handle and bang against the door pretty hard to see if it will dislodge. It might be just stuck in never never land.
I had that happen with my Riviera. Went to a body shop and was about to cut an access hole in the door, but just got aggressive with it and it opened and all was fine after that.
What might have happened is you took your seatbelt off, it fell into the door jam area, then you grabbed the phone and the door slammed shut, and some portion of the seatbelt got wedged in the door jam, springing the door hinges enough to misalign the door lock mechanism.
I think what @Bing suggests is probably what I’d do if calling in a pro locksmith isn’t an option. If the normal banging and pulling didn’t work, I’d be inclined to attach a rope to the door and put a little tension on the rope, have a helper pull (gently) on the rope maybe, then put a piece of plywood against the door lock area to spread the force out and hopefully protect the paint, and hit the plywood smartly with a rubber hammer. That might create enough inertial force to dislodge the lock.
I’ve never done that with car door locks, but I have done something similar with combination locks (like you’d use on a gym locker) and had it work.
Sometimes the grease in the latch assembly stiffens up with age and the addition of fine vacuum cleaner type dust particles which congregate inside the door. This can cause certain levers in the latch to stick and cause varying symptoms; one of which your vehicle is now suffering.
The odds of the latch being broken are not nearly as high as just being gummed up.
About all I can suggest is getting the door open (locksmith if need be) and looking at the latch assembly.
Sometimes they can be freed up with a little aerosol carburetor cleaner and lubed afterwards without tearing the door apart.
In other cases the inner door panel may have to come off and the latch serviced or replaced that way.
Sorry, that’s the best I can do without truck in hand.
Push hard against door to close it and have 2nd person work the release latch. Keeping force against door may allow latch to open when handle is pulled