Trapped in the back.

[motomech]

When I sleep in the back of the suburban, weather permitting i close the rear doors. Has anybody come up with a way to install a door release on the inside of the rear door so you can let yourself out. As it is right now i have to either leave the door open or crawl to my rear/side door and let myself out.

 

[hidesertwheelin]

I once saw somewhere, where someone cut a small hole in the passenger side ambulance door behind the lock. They then attached a small piece of metal to the bar that leads from the lock to the lock release button on the handle. It looked really clean also. I will try to find it.

 

[Desert Dan]

I know what you mean.

In my H3 you can reach up inside the door (the jack compartment) and push up on the door release to open the rear door.

I"m sure you could make a latch to open the door from the inside.

 

[evldave]

There's an access hole under the passenger door panel. You can just remove the panel and reach your hand under there and pull the bar from the inside, or rig up something to leave the panel in place. I just cut a hole in the rear door panel and put in a removeable cover, when i wanted out, I just lifted the cover and opened the door.

 

[paulj]

This has been a frequent question on Honda Element forums. The E has enough space for sleeping (6' on the floor with the seats up, 8' with all seats laid flat), and a clam shell tailgate. It is possible to exit through the side doors, but some find it awkward

The simplest approach is to lay a sock over the latching mechanism. The upper tailgate can close but not latch. Probably won't work with the barn doors.

Another is to drill a 1" hole in the plastic liner directly over the locking mechanism, and use an extended finger to move the lever. That, obviously, depends on finding the mechanism, and the depth of space there.

Others have rigged cable releases, using a bike cable, chock cable, etc, and locating the pull knob at some convenient point, usually on plastic trim near the glass.

The next step is to install a solenoid and cable release.

 

[08whitex]

It would be real easy to wire a solenoid/actuator to a switch that is located in the back of the truck. When you push the button the solenoid/actuator will pull on the latch from inside the door. You can then mount a door popper at the bottom of the door. When the door latch is released the popper will push off the truck and the back door will pop open about 3 inches by itself.

Let me know if you need some help with whatever you choose to do.

 

[motomech]

There's an access hole under the passenger door panel. You can just remove the panel and reach your hand under there and pull the bar from the inside, or rig up something to leave the panel in place. I just cut a hole in the rear door panel and put in a removeable cover, when i wanted out, I just lifted the cover and opened the door.

I'm going to try this, seems the easy way. Future plans also included removing the door panels and "Hollowing out the door" So i can store stuff in there.

 

[Jeep]

I set a few police Suburbans up for tactical. They specified a 1/8" cable attached to the latch inside with a grab loop on the inside, all it took was a 1/4" hole in the interior body panel with a grommet. Works great.

 

[evldave]

I'm going to try this, seems the easy way. Future plans also included removing the door panels and "Hollowing out the door" So i can store stuff in there.

I did the same thing, your biggest issue will be the latching mechanism, if you shove stuff in there, it can jamb up the door mechanism, making it a PIA to open the door. I put a thin panel to block off the mechanism so stuff wouldn't jamb it up (you have to make it semi-flexible to fit in through the access panel unless you cut a new big hole.