Driver's Door Won't Open

Tried to open my door the other day (<20F), although the other doors were unlocked, the handle on the driver's side door moved without engagement (just as it would if it were locked). Inside the car, the handle could not be pulled--it was stuck in the resting position. After things warmed up, it worked fine. But, it has now happened again.

I'm taking it to the dealer on Friday and I'll report back on what I learn. Any ideas in the meantime?

Thanks.

Lloyd

Moisture in the door mech froze solid? Snow filled boots melting causing excessive water vapour pooling in the doors freezing solid?

Just a thought.

Door won't Open

Nebelwerfer said:

Moisture in the door mech froze solid? Snow filled boots melting causing excessive water vapour pooling in the doors freezing solid?
Just a thought.

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We'll see. Gonna be 10f tomorrow night. Haven't had much snow..."boots"?

Thanks.

L

Twice so far for me this winter.

Drivers door. Opened fine leaving work....one hour later....from the inside...barely openend. The time before i had to crawl in from the back.

Only the driver door.

Seems like a viscosity issue.

This happened to my Wife's 2013 Passat SE gasser when it started getting cold around here.

We took it into the dealer. First time the replaced a door seal. We got it back on Thursday and on Saturday morning we couldn't open the drivers door. They ordered a latch and we haven't had any issues since, however we haven't had the car for the past couple of weeks as it got rear ended

It is probably going to be the door lock actuator. I have seen a couple do this in cold weather.

I also had a drivers window pull out of the regulator clips the other day when there was some freezing rain and a guy tried to put his window down before thawing it out. That was a royal pain to get back together. The rear clip is easy but I couldn't find any good way to get to the front one with out scratching my hands up pretty good in the tight spaces.

Mine started this too last week and has done it two times now, both cold days. Cold for the south anyway. Maybe 25-28F or so. Dont crawl through just open the back door and reach to the front and open it from the inside. Then it will work again right after that too as I checked.

I noted that it seems to be the activator inside the door cause when I hit the FOB I don't hear the door inside even trying to open. After it gets moved with the lever on the inside it works fine again.

This happened to my 2013 and I took it to the dealer under warranty. Error code popped up and they determined it was the actuator inside the door. Part is supposed to be here Saturday. Also, on mine, the door handle on the inside would not work either.

Door Won't Open

SilentShooter said:

This happened to my 2013 and I took it to the dealer under warranty. Error code popped up and they determined it was the actuator inside the door. Part is supposed to be here Saturday. Also, on mine, the door handle on the inside would not work either.

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Mine is the same... outside handle moves without engagement (like it is locked). Inside handle is "stuck in the resting position (will not pull/move).

Hopefully mine will show the error code at the dealer too.

One more to be repaired under warranty by VW. Lucky me it's the driver side and with the temperatures below freezing I'm not locking my car. It's too cold for anyone to steal it anyway. Door actuators are on back order at VW, 2 weeks wait time to arrive from China.

This morning mine was so bad I could not reach from the back door and get it to open. I crawled across from the passenger side on the 17 degree morning and drove 30 miles to work. I figured that by the time I got to work it would open from the interior heat. But to my surprise it would not. So I pulled harder and finally it opened but felt really stiff. 4 hours later at lunch and it was still stuck so I went to lunch with someone else. Then called the dealer who said to bring it in but I was the first (I live in Chattanooga where they are made and its generally warm here)

So at 3:30 with the afternoon sun shining on the drivers side of the car it then worked fine with the remote. I still left it at the dealer for them to attempt a repair. They said it would be Monday so Ill keep the group posted. They were checking for a bulletin first before replacing parts but n general they are pretty good at this sort of thing.

Had the same problem about a month ago when the temp was around freezing. Dealer ordered a new actuator, will have it swapped at my next oil change in about a week. I have not had the issue since. Seemed to have been happening when it was slightly above freezing followed freezing temps at night.
One time when this happened I was so frustrated I just kept clicking the door lock button on and off until I heard the door unlock.

I had know idea this was such a common problem with the driver side door. Why does it seem to be only the driver side door? Nobody has reported issues with the other doors not unlocking.


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Back from dealer. They did see the error code and called VW tech. First solution was to clean mechanism and use a different lubricant. It is now working fine; and, it has been really cold. However, I wonder if this will last.

Lloydo123 said:

.Any ideas in the meantime?

Lloyd

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Get a "come-a-long", and pull between a tree and door handle.

I think the Passats have a moisture freezing issue inside the doors. I have noticed a crunchy frozen moisture sound when opening the doors in cold weather, but it has never caused any problems.

VeeDubTDI said:

I think the Passats have a moisture freezing issue inside the doors. I have noticed a crunchy frozen moisture sound when opening the doors in cold weather, but it has never caused any problems.

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Me too! My Passat is just like your Passat!

So I stopped by the dealer today and the parts guy told me that there are none of these actuators in the country and are on back order for at least a month. He said this is a wide spread issue with the passat drivers door and there is an updated part. I'm out of warranty by 1000 miles but i talked to the service department and they are covering it anyway (didn't even look at the car just ordered the part)! Glad I talked to them before just ordering the part myself as it's 240 bucks for the actuator.

My 2013 Jetta is having the same issue!

Just had my car repaired for this today at the dealer - after the first real cold snap a few weeks ago, couldn't open from outside, and broke the latch trying to free up the door from the inside. A related issue (they say) occurred a few days later - the fuel filler door wouldn't open and I had to pry that off (and break it) to add fuel. All of it was repaired under warranty, but I am interested to see what happens next winter once the warranty has expired!

I experienced a slightly different problem with my 2013 Passat about a week ago. The temperature was -27C (-16F) and when I opened the door, I found it noticeably harder to do so than normal. This continued through the cold snap and now, with temperatures above freezing, the door works fine. Haven't reported this problem to the dealer but, in light of other door opening problems, will definately do so.

I had the same problem last winter and this winter. Both times the temps were below 15F. Dealer replaced the door lock actuator.

After two weeks of waiting I have called dealer today to see if new door actuator is in but was told it's on back order till first week in February. So it will be now 5 weeks before I can lock this 50K German automobile. What customer relation failure on the VW part. This will be my last VW.

Canuck64 said:

I had know idea this was such a common problem with the driver side door. Why does it seem to be only the driver side door? Nobody has reported issues with the other doors not unlocking.

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I would assume that 99.9% of drivers go through the drivers door and that if the passenger door was inop it may be missed if there's only one person in the car.

My dealer called Friday and said my latch was there so I dropped it off for replacement. The previous 2 days were 22F and it froze up. The day after was 28 and it did not freeze. On a side note the week before my Dodge Ram tailgate froze with temps around 10F. It would open but not shut. I sprayed it with ether and it worked again.

So my Passat appears to be fixed now and it didn't freeze up the days following the replacement. Hopefully that got it fixed as this was the first repair to either of my VWs that I have owned over the last 3 years.

Lloydo123 said:

Back from dealer. They did see the error code and called VW tech. First solution was to clean mechanism and use a different lubricant. It is now working fine; and, it has been really cold. However, I wonder if this will last.

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Didn't work... Happened again. Called dealer and they ordered a new lock mechanism. Let's see...

After complaining to VW.ca on Friday the dealer called me on Monday and they have actuator to fix the doors. They are just working through the list of 100+ cars that need new actuator.

JackMars said:

After complaining to VW.ca on Friday the dealer called me on Monday and they have actuator to fix the doors. They are just working through the list of 100+ cars that need new actuator.

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Mine is at the shop right now for this!

Same issues. 9 degree weather. Due to crazy work schedule I won't be able to bring it to the dealer this week. Funny thing is that during pick up of my car (HPFP failure) the service guy wasn't able to open the door right away. I watched him struggle for couple of minutes and he was finally able to open. Appearantly they washed my car and let it sit outside for a while. Haha.
Oh man.

Got my car yesterday! They changed the lock mechanism and no problem this morning at -21C (-6F).