I went out to the car this morning, unlocked it using the fob and started the engine to get things warmed up (it's minus a few degrees up here just now). I went round to the front passenger door to release the frost cover from the windscreen and...nothing. I pulled the door handle and it wouldn't open. It felt as if the handle wasn't engaging the mechanism. I tried again from inside the car, same result. I tried locking and unlocking the doors using the switch on the centre console. Still no joy. I tried again, listening very carefully to the front passenger door as I locked and unlocked the car and it sounded like the lock in the door was working. But I still couldn't get the door open. Looks like I'll be making a trip to the local dealer (not, unfortunately, the one I bought it from since they are 100 miles away).

Until I can do that, does anyone know if there's another way I can get the door open? I'm not keen on having to put her indoors in the back all the time...

Is it not just that the door seal has frozen? Try pouring some hot (not boiling) water all round the edge of the door...

Gummi Pflege FTW!

Edited 7 January, 201115 yr by Merlinman

Is it the "safe secure" locking system - one press on the fob's unlock for driver's door only and two presses to unlock the remainder - just a thought.

I would go with Bassa on this one. Worth checking out. I found that so annoying that I got my dealer to re-program the key fob to open all of the doors with one blip.

not going to be the safe secure opening thing.

OP said he tried using the unlock button inside the car and also the inside door handle.

i agree with apogee... frozen door seal.

especially if the car has beeen washed the day before

Is it the "safe secure" locking system - one press on the fob's unlock for driver's door only and two presses to unlock the remainder - just a thought.

Definitely not - I reprogrammed that myself via the Maxidot so that one press opens everything (page 27 in the manual - though it's not explained particularly clearly, and I had to play around with it a bit before I worked out what it actually did).

not going to be the safe secure opening thing.

OP said he tried using the unlock button inside the car and also the inside door handle.

That too.

i agree with apogee... frozen door seal.

I dearly hope that you are right. The rear window seals were certainly frozen last night. Maybe it'll thaw out during the day - the sun is on it at the moment.

It did, though, feel as if both the external and internal handles were not engaging any kind of mechanism. I did try giving it a hefty shove from inside to no effect. That's why I listened carefully to try to see if the lock for that door seemed to be operating when I pressed the internal switch. Maybe the mechanism itself has frozen up somehow?

especially if the car has beeen washed the day before

You're supposed to wash it?

You're supposed to wash it?

even yeti's deserve a bath every once in a while, and a clean shirt too :yes:

going back to your problem, just seen your frost on the inside post.

sounds like you have water getting inside somehow?

this would cause the frost inside AND the door seals freezing.

i would have a good feel around the footwells for moisture and also check the doorseals to make sure they show no signs of wetness on the face of the seal or water lying where it shouldn't.

this is a recognised fault with mk1 fabia. maybe the yeti has caught it too?

My money is on a frozen door too!! And no matter how annoying it is, you wont be able to program it never to do it again!!

The Gummi Pflege will usually stop this happening - my link is out of stock but there's plenty on Ebay!

UPDATE: I popped out to the car park just now to check the car, and the front passenger door opened first time, from the outside, no trouble at all. So it does look like it was frozen up and not broken - phew!

Looking at the seals a bit more closely they do seem to be rather convoluted so I can begin to see how a bit of ice in the wrong place could jam them, not just "glue" the door to the car with a thin film of ice which should (IMO) be pretty easy to break. Looks like I'll be buying some of that Gummi Bear Juice, then! (I do like to buy my Yeti a wee present from time to time, on top of the fifty-odd quid's worth of Rudolph's chosen combustant she needs to be fed every so often - which is not nearly as often as my old Impreza used to need feeding.)

I seem to remember, on this forum or my old Volvo one, someone recommended talc on rubber seals as being cheap and effective. May be worth trying first off before investing more heavily.