Oldblue

I wonder if a long rod could be feed up thru the wiring opening , with a little hook on the end to pull on the latch linkage to open the door.
thst way the risk of damage to the door and fingers is minimal.

sleeper

I think that would be well worth a try.

Cat Man HHR

I found a picture of the door lock mechanism.
Don't know if the latch end of the cable could be gotten to.

Outside of lock


Inside of lock

syclone

Remove the bolts from the door hinges so you can get the door away from the body a bit , support it on a box / floor jack etc , carefully pry the trim panel away from the door a bit and spray WD40 on the pins that snap the panel to the door , the pins break easy , the panels break easy and the female clips break easy , WD40 saves all of these parts from breaking , you should be able to get to the cable that goes to the handle pretty easy. once the door is open the rest is easy. you can get to everything in a few minutes.

Cat Man HHR

Can the panel be removed with the storage box in place ?
I have had my drivers side panel off and you must pull all the sides first and then pull the bottom out, then lift up to remove it.

Oldblue

And again there’s the problem of no room to pull the door out without damaging the other end of the door.

Cat Man HHR

So he has two options.
1) See if the latch can be pulled with a stiff wire through the front of the door by the hinges.
2) Use a tool of some sort and cut open the inside panel to get to the cable on the inside door handle.

This is the only picture I could find with the foam skin off after the panel.
You can see where the release cable goes but the latch itself looks too far in behind the reinforcement .

Oldblue

As we can see here the latch cable goes to the panel side of the foam insulation so getting to that might be a problem

syclone

I have racked my brain , somewhat of a design deficiency , I doubt either inside or outside handles have anything to do with this or linkage or cables. The latch is obviously locked and the motor has simply failed or has frozen / same result. I did quick service for a number of years at Ford dealers and encountered problems like this on occasion. The options are pretty straight forward, it just depends what you are willing to do to resolve the issue. You have to get to the latch and should be able to get it unlocked. I would start by removing anything and everything inside the car that blocks door panel access , take out the drivers seat , easy , 2 minutes , this gives a little more room , remove all the cargo area parts , taking the hinges loose may / may not help as you don't want to bend the door latch area , WD40 around all the plastic pins is a huge help to keep from breaking clips and / or the panel. I think I could get the panel off but I think it will take some effort and won't be easy. An alternative would be to look at another door from the inside and see exactly where the release / unlock actuator is and where you could unlock it. Might buy a new latch first and look at it closely to figure it out. Measure where outside access would enable you to unlock the door and simply take a die grinder and a small cutoff wheel and cut a hole in the outside skin , get the door open , fix the problem and have a good body shop tack the piece back in / finish and blend the door. If it wasn't a panel it would be easier , these cars are a dime a dozen at Pick A Part and doors are cheap and most of the time available in correct colors. I know I will hear that cutting the door is nuts and I agree. I am a fanatic and once I determined I had to damage something it would probably be interior panel first if another is available , if not cut the door. I really like these little buckets but parts are cheap , life is short , it's only a car , just make a decision and get it done.

Cat Man HHR

syclone
Why don't you take the panel off the other rear door and look at what you want to look at ?