I was hoping someone could shed some light or offer a suggestion on this one.

I recently went out to my car to start it and let it warm up due to snow. When I went to shut the door it wouldn't close all the way (the locking mechanism seemed to be stuck) so I locked and unlocked it until it was clear and then went back inside to grab the rest of my stuff for work.

So, when I come back out, my driver's side door is locked and will not open. I enter through the passenger door and even though the drivers side door is unlocked it still will not open. I turn the car off and on and have no change, also my seat does not adjust like it normally does when you get in the car and start it.

I've had the car do this once before in a similar situation (drivers side door would not open for anything and eventually with enough fiddling with the locks the car reset or something one time I turned it on and the drivers side seat adjusted and everything was good). Is this some kind of odd security "feature"?

 

Did you try using the actual key in the door, or just the keyfob?

Sounds like it's either a problem with the latch mechanism or the BCM (the brains that control the latch and numerous other functions). There have been a few other reports recently of door latch issues, mostly they seem to share cold weather in common.

 

I haven't tried the physical key, just the buttons (both interior and exterior). It actually does make the lock/unlocking noise when I push them, it just doesn't actually open.

I actually did call a shop and he also suggested the door actuator may be going bad.

 

lol.... i had the same exact problem dating back 2 months ago during a cold winter morning... I went down to the car and attempted to open the passenger door to put my bookbag in but it wouldnt open(inside or out but lock mechanism works) and I thought maybe it was frozen. I left it stuck for a while but I JUST fixed it two days ago. The door actuator needs to be replaced. Its a straight swap in and out no need for any module programming. The dealer charges around $300 for the part but I had some luck and found one on ebay for 100.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Infiniti-G35...e0e4da&vxp=mtr
heres one for the driver side. This will fix your problem.

 

I actually ordered the actuator from the same guy and worked perfectly. Buy it quick and Good luck bud.

EDIT: anyone familiar with the issue could explain WHY? cold weather would play a role in the failure of the actuator. Thanks

 

I just had this problem on the driver side door and replaced my actuator at the dealer a few weeks back. This morning it happened on the passenger side door and I'm not looking forward to another $400 repair. I'll look at the ebay option but I'm pretty upset that on a luxury car this is an issue after 5 years of age. Smells like a defect to me.

I've written the president of Nissan Canada to see if I can get any help there. I'll also do some checks on the TSBs to see if anything regarding this issue has been mentioned. I'll report back on this thread.

If anyone else has any information or advice I would love to light up this thread.

J

 

Had this happen to my car 2x a couple years ago. I did not see many other people complaining about it at the time, but I found some complaints involving the same issue on other Nissan products. I think now that our cars our getting older, and the issue has become a lot more common on the threads here, its safe to say that the part is a complete piece of junk. You need this part to work to get into your car, it should have been tested extensively in the most extreme environments to make sure this doesn't happen, especially considering the probably use this part across a wide variety of Nissan products.

Also, I wanted to say I think this is a major flaw/potential recall. It is absurd that your door can get stuck shut because it is cold out. What if you need to get out of your car quickly in an emergency situation? Cars have had power locks since 1914 you think they would have figured it out by now.

 

I've mentioned that nissan dumped some crappy parts in my car a while back and I recall getting flamed on by a few members claiming it was only my car that was messed up but apparently not. I had both front actuator fail on me within one month, (this past December.)I've searched that the 1st gen G's had actuator problems as well and you would think they'll learn from their first mistake but nope. I'd advice you to be careful when you open your door handle. I felt a lot of restriction from my left passenger handle today in the morning and I didn't even bother opening it to get my stuff out. I went around to the other door. I really can't justify a car being reliable when you can't even get in and out the ....with all these other complaints, I could confidently say that these oem actuator will probably fail in a matter of time. Maybe a universal door actuator would be a better alternative

 

There were actually conversion kits for the first gen G to make a cheap aftermarket actuator fit in place of the expensive OEM one. If they left one feels likes its about to break, I would avoid using it. Unless its been replaced already, then it has a 12 month warranty, in which case I would say break away, and keep breaking away till you get a good one.

 

I don't know for sure since I have never dissected one, but it's my guess that there must be some component within the acuator which fatigues and breaks; perhaps some specialized little plastic clip or something that becomes brittle under extreme cold conditions. I can ceratinly appreciate that this is a tedious and annoying problem, particulary since, IF it occurs, it is likely to take a number of years to do so and the car is very likely out of warranty coverage. While that majorly sucks and is definitely a bummer and all, IT DOES NOT CONTSITUTE A WHOLSALE CONDEMNATION OF THE CAR. I think it is naive and immature if anyone suggests so. If you think this doesn't happen in one form or another to many otherwise good cars on the road, then you simply haven't experienced enough cars. If you want to do something positive for your fellow board members, don't just waste a bunch of air bashing the brand; instead, why not take take it upon yourself to do a little investigative work. Just take the damn thing apart, find out what caused it to fail, and report the resluts back here.

.02

 

I don't think people are condemning the entire car, or the entire brand. Still really like my car a lot and am sure I could have definitely done worse(BTW, had a bunch of other problems with the car that I've shrugged off). Everyone pinches pennies, especially when they are owned by a larger mass market auto brand. Just saying they picked a really bad place to pinch pennies here, as something so little becomes a big PITA and is difficult for someone to fix without going to a dealer and paying $5-700. I know logically it makes no sense for a simple part to fail, but from an engineering standpoint, statistically most failures come from parts nobody thought they would need to double check because they are simple and somebody else used them before with no issue. It OK to admit these car are not perfect, same as you can pick on a terrible player on your favorite team, and hate on the cheapskate owner for buying them instead of somebody worthwhile, while still liking that team. So chill, not hating on Infinti, waiting to see if my power steering rack needs to be replaced 2k miles out of warranty before I do that...