This is yet one more reason you should keep at least some basic tools in your car. #2 philips is the tool you need to get out of this car (without opening the window) when the inside door handle breaks. I don't know why, but I expected more than ~15 years of service life before it snapped. If it's between this and a piston rod, I'll take this breaking any day, but oh well.

 

Shouldnt be too hard to fix or salvage a new handle.

 

Well, I ASSumed you couldn't buy "new" parts for our 15yr old cars anymore. Just found out I was wrong. Go buy all new handles.

 

Like 10 minutes after I started this thread a new OEM part was ordered for like $13 from an eBay seller a couple hundred miles away. I, too, was SHOCKED to see this part is still available new. Even there is a Dorman replacement part! I guess these have been snapping pretty frequently to have an aftermarket DOOR HANDLE available.



Till a couple days from now I'm pullin/pushing on the rods inside the door. Looking increasingly like a hoopty each year, but it still keeps driving as long as I keep fixing it so...



ETA: i did the math, the handle probably was pulled a half million times or so over the years. Then I started to do the maths on how many times the pedal joints have pivoted and the engine parts have spun and stopped when the decimal started shifting. No wonder cars get worn out.