My wife is going to kill me!

Mt Wife has a 2000 Honda Odyssey in the hottest place on the planet, Phoenix, AZ. Unfortunately the sun turns all plastic parts into the consistency of peanut brittle. While trying to open the driver side sliding door, I broke the handle off with my Herculean strength. This wouldn’t be a problem, but due to three rambunctious sons (affectionately known as Larry Moe and Curly), I have the child safety lock set to “on.” Now I can’t open the door. Is there a way to get the door open or am I stuck with a closed door and and angry wife.

Hopefully your Odyssey has two sliding doors, so use the other one. Then go visit a reputable body shop, who may be able to open the door and then order the parts needed for replacement. They may be able to show you how to open the door until the part arrives and un-do the child safety lock part, too. They have some good tricks that may help out here.

It’s likely you will need to take this to a body shop for repair. You can deactivate the child lock if you can get the inner panel of the door off, but you might not be able to get the panel off while the door is closed. Look for screw heads and other fasteners and try to figure out where the seams are and how the inner panel comes off.

Just a thought, but maybe you can use a coat hanger or something similar from the inside of the door to undo the child safety lock. (?)

It’s possible that a slim jim, either on the inside or outside might work. But it would really help to know how the parts are arranged internally. You could try calling a locksmith.

How about a call or visit to dealership for advice?

I carry a slim jim in the trunk of my car for such crises. It cannot ever serve me, but I could come to the rescue of others in a fix such as yours. Ask around; try Vito at the pool hall.

I know that a slim jim is a good solution, don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself. SteveF, do you live in PHX and go by the name of Vito in any pool halls around here? Thanks for the tip.

I’m not familiar with the layout of the Qdyssey, but is it possible to remove the inner door panel and replace the broken parts?

I was just looking at a friend’s Odyssey the other day. I think you’d need the door open to access all the fasteners on the panel.

Odd that the door handle broke off - usually that plastic is surrounding a metal core specifically to keep that from happening.

A former girlfriend of mine ripped off the door handle of my '99 Odyssey in 40 degree weather. I’m pretty sure it’s just because it’s a cheap composite. The doors also haven’t been working for me since 2004. Good luck with the wife.