Dilemma accessing Ford StreetKa

JoshAFC · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:52

My wife had a bit of a nightmare with her Ford StreetKa today. Finished work, went to get in it, door handle to drivers door wouldn't open, door handle to passenger door wouldn't open. She said that the door handles had been a bit 'touchy' lately, sometimes working only from the inside, sometimes not at all (previously she got in via the passenger door). Anyway, after calling out her roadside recovery, they couldn't get into the car either. They tried the old method of using a wire rod down through the window seals but the inner handles were exactly the same as those on the outside - no pull in them. We had to have the car recovered to home in the end via a flatbed with a winch.

I've had a quick Google and it sounds like it's a common problem with the the Ka/StreetKa. The mechanism behind the handle is made of cheap and nasty plastic causing it to eventually break and fail.

Thing is, how can I get into the car in the meantime? I need to get it to a local garage for them to fix the handles, but I can't even get into the thing! Any suggestions that don't involve breaking a window?!

LeMson · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:54

Can you not open the boot from the outside?

rodenal · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:54

Can't see how both handles could have broken at exactly the same time? If it's properly disconnected then you're going to have trouble doing anything without getting a doorcard off

window may be the best way - it's probably either that or through the roof!

jpmonkey69 · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:57

You could try the half-a-tennis-ball trick?

[TW]Fox · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:57

LeMson said:
Can you not open the boot from the outside?

It's a convertible, so you can't get into the cabin from the boot.

JoshAFC · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:59

LeMson said:
Can you not open the boot from the outside?

No, afraid not. Tried that and there's a metal plate between the boot and cabin.

SB118 · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:59

Being a KA it's probably got water in the door connector loom and part of the unlock circuit has corroded. Welcome to the world of electric deadlocks

Just pulling at the metal rod through the window rubber will do nothing as the mechanism itself has disconnected/disabled the input from the rod.

Probably need to break the cheapest window and you might need to destroy the doorcard too, as they're screwed in from the edges iirc.

JoshAFC · 23 Jul 2012 at 22:00

rodenal said:
Can't see how both handles could have broken at exactly the same time? If it's properly disconnected then you're going to have trouble doing anything without getting a doorcard off

window may be the best way - it's probably either that or through the roof!

The drivers one had been playing up for a while apparently. Does seem a bit odd that they both went around the same time, I don't think that the sun/heat helped - maybe it caused the plastic in the linkages to become brittle?

JoshAFC · 23 Jul 2012 at 22:05

SB118 said:
Being a KA it's probably got water in the door connector loom and part of the unlock circuit has corroded. Welcome to the world of electric deadlocks

Just pulling at the metal rod through the window rubber will do nothing as the mechanism itself has disconnected/disabled the input from the rod.

Probably need to break the cheapest window and you might need to destroy the doorcard too, as they're screwed in from the edges iirc.

The car does lock and unlock fine, it's just the actual handle and its mechanism. Both the inner and outer handles are limp and lifeless (strange way to describe a door handle, I know), it feels as though something has snapped off inside.

The car only has three glass windows, I guess the one of the side windows will be cheaper to replace than the windscreen?

#Chri5# · 23 Jul 2012 at 22:08

I'd expect the windscreen to be laminated / toughened, so should be damn hard to get through

Don79 · 3 May 2014 at 09:23

Josh the exact same thing has happened to my Streetka - please could you tell me if and how you managed to get in to the car. Did you have go resort to going through the roof window or causing any other damage to the car?

Fuzz · 3 May 2014 at 10:39

Break the door handle off (it's broken anyway). Access the rod through the hole that's left and give it a tug.
Once the door is open, take off the trim and unscrew the rest of the handle from inside.
(You may need to remove a plastic anti tamper shield that's glued to the door first if it hasn't had the handles replaced before)
Some cheap ass plastic rod on the back of the handle will have snapped.

Edit*
And re hang the door so it opens and closes properly. Half the problem is the doors drop as the hinge wears but the handle can't cope with trying to unlatch and unstick the door at the same time.