Car Door Won't Latch in Winter: Here Are the Most Common Reasons

When it's cold, our cars may surprise us with some new unexpected issues. For example, you can find that closing the door of your vehicle is too hard or even impossible. What should you do after you find this out? The question is too hard to explain in just a couple of words because we need to describe several possible situations and reasons for this.

Today, we'll tell you why your car door won't latch when it's cold. This usually happens in winter and in snowy weather but can also happen at any cold time of the year. And in most cases, it's not a very hard thing to deal with. Although you will need some time and patience, you will not need to spend hundreds to repair something in your car door locks.

Here's what we'll cover today:

• The car door won't latch in winter - what should you do?
• What are the most common reasons why the door won't latch when it's cold?
• How to close your door and keep the car safe for some time, in this case?
• Who can you call for help?

Let's get started!

Your immediate actions when the car door won't latch

So, imagine that you go out of your vehicle on a cold and snowy day and suddenly you understand that the car door won't close. You push it but nothing happens. You try to clean some snow from the door and the seal but the door won't come back to life - the situation seems dangerous for your time because you can't leave the vehicle open.

One more bad news is that you can't use your security system because the car understands that the door is open and won't set the alarm or apply the central lock. It means that you need to be around your vehicle to keep it safe from thieves or from any other potential danger.

Here's what you can immediately do:

• use all methods that we'll be talking about a little later to close the door of your vehicle at least somehow;
• call for help which is a very correct and wise thing to do but bear in mind that you will need to pay some money for this;
• leave your car open for some time and hope that everything will be fine which is not a good option, in most cases;
• driver your vehicle to a safe place like your garage or a secured parking lot and leave it there for some time;
• get frustrated and start kicking your car door with your foot - certainly not the best way to cope with the problem.

Of course, you should get some help immediately if you don't understand how car locks work and don't want to get your hands dirty trying to cope with the situation by yourself. Also, pay attention to what happens with the door when you try to close it. Does it seem like something is disturbing the door from closing? Or does it make some unusual sound? Does it feel hard to put the door in the position where it should close?

First of all, avoid extra emotions even if this door takes a lot of your time and makes you change your plans. Keep calm and find the reason why this happens. This will help you spend less time and eventually leave your vehicle in a safe place with no problems or extra costs.

What are the most common reasons for the door not latching in winter?

Before you know how to solve the problem, you have to understand what happened with your vehicle. In this section, we'll review the most common reasons for this phenomenon and also offer some solutions that will help you solve the problem.

Here they are:

1. Snow or ice on the door

Until the door is in its best position to close, the lock can't work properly. If it's winter and you experience some issues with the door, you should check the ice and snow deposits on the door. Open it widely and inspect the whole door. Do you see some snow and ice? Use some plastic or rubber tool or just your hands to scratch the deposits off the door. After that, try closing it again. This time, you should be able to succeed.

2. Deposits on the seal

Between the door and the car body, there is a rubber-plastic seal. This part prevents the door from scratching the car body when closing and created this smooth and silent sound. The seal is squeezed pretty hard when the door is closed. It shouldn't allow water and snow to get into the vehicle, so it should be squeezed.

But if something is there on this seal, the door will not be able to close correctly. Because of this, the door won't latch and you will have to inspect and clean it. Just see if there is some ice, snow, or mud on the seal and clean it.

3. The door lock is frozen and stuck

You may be familiar with the situation when the door is frozen and doesn't open. And you may know what to do in this situation. But what if your door lock is frozen open? You try to close your car door and nothing disturbs it from going into the correct position. But it doesn't latch because the lock is stuck.

In this case, you should do the following:

• use something warm to apply to the door lock;
• try moving parts of the lock with your hands;
• try closing the door several times after you heat up the lock;
• avoid slamming the door too heavily.

Of course, this won't guarantee that you'll be able to close the door because the lock may have been damaged.

4. Damaged or broken door lock

Now, things have become more problematic. If you still haven't found the reason for your case, the news is not that good. It seems that your door lock may have been damaged and now it just doesn't work. It doesn't mean that the lock should be replaced. Many car mechanics and locksmiths will be able to repair it. But you might not get away without professional help.

5. The lock has no lubrication

One more reason for the door not latching is that the door lock may have little or no lubrication. The lock is the mechanism and it's going to work properly in that case only if it's lubricated. When parts start scratching each other and destroying each other day by day, the lock will stuck once and require service.

If this happened, you should think about door lock lubrication. At first, you may use WD-40 to allow you to close the door. But after that, some special lubricants will also be needed to prevent the situation from happening.

6. The door has moved on loops a little

This problem is pretty usual for older vehicles. Car doors are pretty heavy and the loops are not eternal. After some years of work, the loops may go loose and the door will move a little from its perfect position. It means that when you are trying to close the door, two parts of the car lock don't come together as they should.

The solution to this problem is to lift the door manually when you are trying to close the door. But this won't repair the issue. After that, you need to go to a car body shop and have the vehicle repaired.

Who can you call for help?

In this case, there are several people who can help you. But you should keep in mind that calling these guys and asking them to come to some place will cost you some money.

First of all, you can call a car mechanic who helps you with maintaining your vehicle. This person may know how to close the vehicle in such an emergency and they can even tell you what to do on the phone. If the situation is really bad, this person can come to you and help you solve the problem.

Also, you can call a locksmith. This is a professional lock mechanic who will obviously help you solve the problem. The good news is that locksmiths usually can come to any place, so you won't need to worry about how to get your car to this person. The bad news is that locksmiths take quite a lot of money for their service.

Final thoughts

The situation when your door doesn't latch in winter is really bad. You can't close your car and you can't leave it outside with no security around. So, the best thing you can do is to inspect the door and find the reason for the problem. If you can't find the reason by yourself, the only thing that is left for you is to call a professional and get some help.

Preventing problems is always a better idea than repairing your vehicle after these problems come. So, learn more about how you can prepare your vehicle for the winter to avoid door lock problems.