First post and new member. My dad just recently bought a 09 H3 black. He bought most of the chrome pieces you can cuz he likes the chrome, I prefer the blackout. So we put on the door handles and the rear door was first (mistake 1) I didn't catch the steel latch thing and we shut the door. It doesn't open. No way to open door with button, huge engineering error by GM. So I took off the tire jack panel reached in to grab metal rod and lift pull whatever. I yanked the whole assembly out of the handle area and a spring fell off. There was the problem and I searched every forum to find a fix to just open the door even.

Here is how I fixed it through trial and error.

First- To open the door just reach in and grasp the metal rod and push in a downward motion to open door. You just have to take off the panel where the jack is and you will see the rod its like 2 feet long and it only needs to be pushed down like an inch.

Second- If you ever do knock the whole assembly off you have to take off both rear panels and remove the outside bolt that sits on the left of where the door hanldle sits. This allows for the removal of the whole plastic housing that rests inside. You have to un snap the white clamp from the steel rod to get to the pieces. Its a steel piece that has the spring and what the door handle catches. It's a pretty easy fix after that but it was just a pain to figure out how all of this had to be done. Sorry I didn't think to take pics since I was just cursing trying to get it all back together.

My pops got his chrome wheels in today. 4 of them off ebay for $661 + free shipping in perfect condition!

Hope this post helps somebody in the future.

 

Glad to see it can be done, Dr. T(he who shall not be named) had me worried you would have to drill freakin big holes in the door to get at anything. Sorry you had to be a GM engineering design tester though.

 

I read about this 1-2 yrs ago and tried to unlatch mine while it was open just for practice. I used the remote to lock it. I never could do anything that would release it??? and it was scary thinking it may not be possible.

I never heard any more from the previous posters. I will look at it again today, curious.

 

@rsc,, and others,,,
he lost a mechanical connection but still had the remote keyless to unlock the door.
I just stood outside with he door open,locked and unlocked ok. then locked and pushed in the latch with a screwdriver. I then pushed down on the rod as he did,,NO LUCK!! it will not open if the electric device is not working.
without ripping it apart I have no idea how to open it if the remote doesn't work.

back to step 1.0.
whoever said it was right. the solution would be very nice to know!!
without it you would need to climb in and somehow dismantle the assembly without access to the 3 bolts that hold the lock assm in the door, hidden when closed!
let us know if you are willing to try! not me.

 

Well that blows. When I broke off a passenger door handle the remote locks worked for a couple of cycles before the connection fell apart inside he door rendering it inop. Luckily you can get the inside rear door panels off with the door still shut to get your arm in there to pop the door. Not sure how we are gonna get the back open though.