Just recently the latch became progressively more difficult to open, and then finally, the door wouldn't open at all. The cable that activates the latch had stretched too much and wasn't moving the mechanism enough to un-latch it. With the door stuck closed, I had no other option than to remove the molding around the rear window, and then carefully pry off the inside door cover to gain access to the latch mechanism. I cut a small notch in a piece of 1/2" square aluminum rod (wood would work as well), and used that as a hook to grab the cable and pull up on it, therefore opening the door. Once the door was open I was able to further remove the inside covers. I needed a quick fix and didn't want to replace the entire cable system. I had a small 0.25" motor collar sitting around, and it was almost the right size to slip over the ball on the end of the cable. I drilled out the hole so that it would slide over the ball, and then I replaced the set screw with a regular screw so that it would grab on to the thin cable. This would act as a spacer to take up the slack in the cable. With the collar in place it was easy to reassemble everything, and now the latch handle works more effectively than it ever has! I realize not everyone has the supplies laying around to do this, but it might spark the idea for a similar fix.
