I screwed up and permanently locked a rear door.

I upgraded the rear door speakers in my 2017 Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 crew cab today. My wife recently engaged the child lock on the passenger side rear door...the same door that I forgot to latch the lock cable and handle cable when I reassembled the interior door panel. And of course I closed the door before realizing I forgot to latch the cables.

Now I can't open the door from the inside or out. And I can't remove the interior panel when the door is closed. How screwed am I?

I was thinking I needed to destroy the interior handle so I could fish out the cable and tug it to open the door but then if the child lock is engaged would that not do anything? I'm at a loss. If you have any ideas or just need to snicker at an idiot...I'm all ears.

 

Not very. I did the same thing. Pull hard on the panel. It will eventually pull off. I’ll add a link shortly. You’re not the first.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/door-lock-actuator-help.575516/

 

Ah, the ole 3 door mod!

 

Hopefully never end up in a situation like this, however it’s good to know there are people like you around. I bet Op is gonna be stoked to find out he’s not SOL

 

blame it on her....problem "solved"

 

Thank you thank you thank you. I'm off to go assault a door handle.

 

Pull the panel above the handle. It will pop off. Not the actual handle.
And child lock or not it wouldn’t have opened. Can’t even blame the wife!

 

I did that too.... The panel will come loose near the top. Pull the 2 screws from the inside in the door handle and the grab handle and pull. It will come off enough to get to the cables. Pull the lock cable and the outer handle should open the door.

 

someone will help I'm sure.. bummer.
I was working on my tail gate for some wiring and unhooked one side lock / closed the tonneau cover and remembered i forgot to re hook one side , to late, like you locked out but of my bed.
had to get a wire hook and find the pull bar under the cover/ 1 hour later it opens

 

almost happened to me with the tail gate PnP Lock from Katie.....took off the orange tie rod and failed to connect it again , closed the tonneau cover but had the last section open.......i was lucky.....if i had fully closed tonneau, i would have been SOL

 

thats what i was working on, had to remember where the pull handle was under it.

 

Cops might still be able to slimjim it.

 

If it makes you feel any better.... I did this on not one but two land cruisers. I made a promise to myself to not take the door panels off of my tacoma. Im trying to hold to that

 

Simple fix.
You know what you have to do.

 

Well OP, did you get it open? Or did you break some plastic?

 

That has to be a really bad feeling when you first realize you cant open the door . Oh shit what have I done .

 

Best post ever. Lol

 

Not that it helps now, but for anyone else reading in the future....

It's much easier and safer to just remove the entire latch assembly from the panel.

 

I’ve opened locked doors like this before. It’s not hard to open up a 1/4” gap in the outside window weather stripping, put a probe light down there and move the lever on the door latch with a coat hanger or some bent 3/16 round bar. Try it yourself first and if not call AAA and tell them you’ve locked your keys inside. Have a cash tip waiting and an experienced driver should have it open in no time. Good luck.

 

she doesnt have to know that