Driver side door won't unlock- this would be covered under warranty right?

[IronLion]

So, last night, I park my car as usual after a 10 minute drive, get out, close the door, and hit the lock button on my key (not the keyless entry system) twice to lock the car- I notice that the second time I hit the lock button, the car's lights flash a second time, but there's no horn blip as there usually is to tell me everything is locked. I try it again and same thing- lights flash but no horn blip. Confused, I assume my door didn't close properly, so I try and open and re-close it, but to my surprise I find that I can't open the door! When I pull on the door handle, there's no resistance on it; the handle no longer feels as though its actuating the internal mechanism to open the door latch.

I tried manually unlocking the door using my physical key from the outside of the door, and also by hand inside the car (I can enter through any of the other three doors) and the door lock/unlock switch on the driver side door is tightly stuck in the locked position- even trying to force it to the unlocked position won't work. So, in short, my driver side door is stuck closed, which sucks.

I would assume this type of thing is covered under Mazda's bumper to bumper warranty right? When I bring it to the dealership to get it fixed, should I have to pay for labor or anything? It seems unfair to me that I would have to, given that this should not be happening to a 2010 Mazda 3 with less than 15,000 miles on it.

[ptcary]

Definitely sounds like a warranty issue.

Just for reference, in case you are not familiar with the locks in the door. The electric actuator is part of the door latch mechanism, then there are two cables that run up to the door lock manual button, then you have the electronic lock/unlock button.

Maybe there is a chance that one of the cables is binded ; because they do not disconnect very easily.

[IronLion]

Thanks. Am I correct in assuming that I shouldn't have to pay a dime to get this repaired?

[dlewbell]

You should not have to pay anything for the repair. The only way you would be responsible for any repair costs is if you damaged/modified the door locks doing something totally out of the ordinary. I wouldn't worry about it. If you did something to void the warranty there, you'd already know it.

[IronLion]

Originally Posted by dlewbell

You should not have to pay anything for the repair. The only way you would be responsible for any repair costs is if you damaged/modified the door locks doing something totally out of the ordinary. I wouldn't worry about it. If you did something to void the warranty there, you'd already know it.

Cool thanks. I am so skeptical of my local dealership, I feel like everytime I go there I have to fight not to get ripped off. I now try to do everything I can, but this is a repair I don't think I could do myself.

[dunston]

It is covered under the bumper to bumper warranty.

[catchphrase]

Not all dealers are alike, as you've discovered. Some of us have great experiences, some of us have terrible ones. You definitely should not have to pay for it, and make that clear that there was nothing you did that caused this.

However, if you had installed a new sound system, wired in new front door speakers, broke the door release mechanism in doing so, that would be different.

[gunit87]

I actually had sordof the same problem with MZ3. When I was inside the car I would try to open the driver side door and it wouldnt open unless I used the unlocking button on the door. Took it to the dealership the other week and they informed me that it was the lock actuator. They ordered it and had it replaced for me in less than two weeks for FREE!!

[nizzy1115]

My passenger lock actuator sqeeks when locking or unlocking. Wonder if I should have them replace it proactively? I do have another 1.5 years of warranty left tho so maybe ill just hold off till that day gets closer.

[IronLion]

Just got my door latch fixed for free under warranty- took about an hour and a half.