Hi all again from Jimb.
I am sharing this with you people because you have a wide knowledge base and may have a solution I have not thought of. However I am not overly confident. My wife's 2008 Hyundai Sonata NF won't unlock the back passanger door tried locking unlocking many many times to no avail.
I wondered if the door solenoid was remaining partially energised . The fuses are all written in other languages than English. Rang local dealer to find out which fuse it was . They had no idea as usual, and said they would get back to me after I gave them the Vin number.
I disconnected the battery which was not my preferred option and again the door remains locked . I cannot remove the door trim because the fixings are not accessible with the door closed . I have tried fishing with wire down the between the weather strip and the glass and again cannot release the door. I do not have a lot of confidence in the dealership from past experiences. Probably should not put this on this forum however you have a wide knowledge base. So apologies for this entry , not expecting too many encouraging replys. Cannot be unlocked from either side I should have added.
Regards Jim.

Disconnecting the battery was probably a bad idea. Most of the modern cars have a code not only in the radio but often to the car & if you don't know it that is not helpful. Normally if I have to change batteries one steals the motor cycle battery to keep the circuit live until you change the dud.

Wiring diagrams are on the web. If the door has not been used for a while & was shut when wet some times the rubber will stick to the body.

Don't know how its mechanism works but don't do anything radical. The back seat swab comes out & you may be able to remove the trim to get at it from the inside. Even if that involves knocking out the hinge pins.

With some modern "Technicians" there may be a problem. The Zephyr has survived this long by keeping it, as much as possible, away from modern "Technicians" when it really needs a mechanic. The fact that there is no plug to interface with a computer, is liable to see them needing counselling.

Marc

Hi Marc.
The door is used regularly and yes I was aware of possible codes the car has survived the disconnect ok. I have done it before .
Regards Jim.

Faults like that can be entertaining. The ute is different the locking mechanism is separate to the one that holds it shut. Around every 15 to 20 years the spring breaks in one of the doors entertaining one for about10 to 15 minutes (including coffee) to replace it.

There are a litany of issues with Hyundai's noted on the web and a single door loosing communication with the zapper is one of them. de- powering was one method which fixed some. However, that was not done by disconnecting the battery. That was done on the particular model by unplugging power into the fuse box inside the car. That was in part a reason for suggesting trying the second zapper in case the other one was faulty. 2011 model seems to have that issue.

Unless the rug rat retainer has been activated, the inside handle on the door should cause the door to release, as you should not have a setup that traps you in the car. In both the 323 & A4 you can actually hear the electrical mechanism.

Marc

Hi Jim,
A suggestion ... my fully electronic door locking cars had a door handle with a 'trim' surround (plastic coated to look like chrome) ... maybe, with the door handle held in the 'open' position, the trim can be removed ... and may provide enough room to get hold of the mechanism to open door manually.
Nothing to loose ....

Hello Marc and Ian.
I rang the Hyundai dealer and the dim wits could not tell me the fuse that isolated this . That did not surprise me . I have for previous bizarre faults disconnected the battery so yes I did again. I have tried both remotes with no success . Ian the only trim that is removable is around the inside door handle and that revealed nothing . I agree Marc you should not be able to be trapped in the car. But this is not The case the inside handle is inoperative. We are not in a financial position to replace the car and it ony has 121, 000 K on on it and is still like new, it has been looked after with regular servicing and always garaged since our ownership it was 3 years old when we bought it.
I will ring the dealership again tomorrow but I know this is an excercise in complete futility.
Kind Regards. Jim

I should also mention , regardless of the remote controls the inside lock/ unlock switch on the drivers door panel has the same result.
That is to say the remotes are not the problem. Even if we were flush with cash and could afford to replace the car which we are defiantly not. I would feel a moral obligation to reveal this problem . I could not knowingly burden someone else with this. This action would result in the car being worth zero dollars. It is not far above this figure anyway.
Happy days! Jim

Modern cars, including my 2003 Commodore have radios with a feature that remembers the original car it was installed in and only asks for a code when the radio is placed in another car. For older cars not having this feature, the PIN number is usually on a card inside the owner's manual, and yes, most do keep this card in the glove box - amazingly.

The last time this happened to me on a car, the problem was the door feed wire to the solenoid was open circuit.
The most likely point is where the loom flexes on the hinge line.
The door solenoid was sitting in the lock position permanent.
The manual inside handle would not work, but the key would outside (front door).

Whey would you even think of getting rid of the car just because a door doesnt work?

We found out how to remove the door trim from the web, exposed the workings jumped a plus wire to the solenoid and clunk, it worked.
Then we realised the door feed relay was clicking in the relay box, but no voltage at the solenoid. No volts means wire open somwhere.

Then we fixed it properly by flexing the loom and getting intermittant operation and realising the bend was where the fault was.
Unwound the tape, found the break, soldered it up and finally stopped the driver having to get out of the passenger door!

Kept the car until the radiator rotted through internally and dumped cooling fluid in the auto box, but thats another story.

Fred.

You can hear the solenoid trying to work and can feel some vibration on the internal lock flag which is part of the internal handle.
There does not appear to be a code for this radio. Had all the books when we got the car and radio still works.
Regards Jim

Um it sounds like a little plastic link in the door may have either broken or come off. Which is fairly common.

Googling around, I note quite a few posts on forums about this problem on various year models. I get the impression that it's often caused by a jammed Bowden cable or a broken plastic component that the cable is attached to.

Hard to find what people have done to fix it, but quite a few refer to breaking off handle parts from the outside in order to get the door open so that they can get access to inside the door trim to deal with the cause.

As it seems to be a common problem, any experienced dealer ought to be able to attend to it.

Thanks again guys. I will contact the dealer tomorrow.

There's been various cases where the doors of modern cars could not be opened, and people have had to smash their way in. A recent story told of a woman who got herself locked in, and she eventually died there.

So watch out: these things can be death traps.

One solution - carry a safety hammer in the glove box. They aren't expensive. Just tapping it on side or rear window glass will break the window with the greatest of ease.