What are interior door handles and where are they located?

An interior door handle, quite simply, allows you to open the doors of your vehicle and get out. Every vehicle will at the very least have a driver side and passenger side interior handle, and vehicles with rear doors will have interior door handles for those as well, in addition to those in the front of the vehicle. Also, if your vehicle has a liftgate or rear hatch, in some cases there will be another handle installed on the inside of the rear of the vehicle as well.

How do I know if my interior door handle needs to be replaced?

On most vehicles, the interior door handle is bolted to the door panel or inner door frame. Inside the door, the handle is attached to a connecting rod/link that moves the door latch. Over time, the latch can become worn due to lack of lubrication or excessive contaminates (dirt, grime, rust) in the mechanism. This wear puts more stress on the door handle parts because it requires more force to move. If the stress is too much for the handle to take, it can cause the internal door handle to snap, which is bad news.

Can I replace the interior door handle myself?

The interior door handle can be replaced by the average do-it-yourselfer. The process usually requires a ratchet and socket and whatever is neccesary to remove the door panel, which may need to be removed depending on the vehicle. The removal will consist of disconnecting a door handle rod and possibly a door lock rod from the handle. Sometimes the handle will be bolted or screwed into the door. From there you can slide the handle forward and off.

As you may have guessed, your interior door handles are used rather frequently - every time you get out of your car as a matter of fact. Thus, they are subject to and incur a great deal of general wear and tear over time, which may cause them to break. And let’s be honest - is there anything worse than a broken interior door handle? Don't you hate having to roll your window down in order to reach out of your vehicle to pull the exterior handle to get out when this happens? Or worse, having to slide over or move to the front or back of the vehicle - depending on which inside door handle is broken – just to exit the automobile? Talk about an inconvenience and a big hassle.

1A Auto Inside Door Handle Features:

• Frames, levers and other components made from durable plastic and metal.
• Front door handles and rear door handles are reinforced in failure-prone areas. These
  interior door handle parts are better than the originals!
• Available in a variety of colors, including chrome.
• Worried about the color not matching?  We offer kits to replace all of the inside
  handles in matched sets.