I have an '06 HHR LT1. On Friday night when we arrived home, the power locks unlocked but the driver's door would not open. We locked and unlocked the door several times using both the FOB and the switch on the door to no avail. I am able to open the door from the outside but not the inside. Does anyone have an idea to what is causing this. I have 168,000 miles on my HHR.

 

Looks like the inside door panel will have to come off (see how-to-section here for details), to see what has broken or become disconnected in the linkage from the inside handle to the mechanism that levers the door open. It's not a super complicated job, and it should be fairly easy to see the source of the problem. Often the plastic clip that holds the long rod from the handle has come loose, and just needs to be reattached.

 

You probably have a bad/broken door latch mechanism, if you're mechanically inclined and not afraid to dig into your door....give these two threads a read.

Removing the inner door panel...

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/door-panel-removal-14040/

Broken door latch mechanism....

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/door-lock-assembly-fix-lots-pics-45839/

There are worse jobs to tackle, and if time is an issue, your dealer will do the work for around $300.

 

Thank you for the advice. Between my husband, daughter and I we should be able to tackle this issue.

 

Well, I just experienced this problem this morning while trying to get out of my car at work. Looks like I will be taking the door panel off this afternoon when I get home from work. 2006 LS with 164,000 miles.

 

If you can open from the outside but not the inside then I would start at the interior door handle/lever. It could be that the cable came loose or that the piece the cable end slides into has broken off. The outside handle working suggests that the latch is still working but that does not mean that the inside handles cable did not break or come loose at the latch mechanism.

 

It is working now, from both the inside and outside, but the outside handle is very loose. Going to take the door panel off to take a closer look at it now.

 

Took the door panel all apart, adjusted the door handle rod to remove the slop in the door handle and everything was working great. Put the door panel all back together and then it stops working again. Take it all apart again and it starts working again, I think this must be a sign that the actuator needs to be replaced?

 

going through this myself. took the door panel off and discovered the clip on the handle end of the cable broke. I think that I may have to buy the whole latch as the cable itself is not for sale anywhere