after hearing false fire alarms over and over do you think people have become immune to the warnings they give?i have seen people in packed malls not blink and eye when a fire alarm goes off, they just go about shopping, even with the red lights flashing.and in apartment buildings when the alarms and the automated warning voice comes over the intercom, people dont even think once that perhaps there is a fire in the building, they just get annoyed and turn the TV up.Do you think this is a dangerous habit for people to have?
I am not a professional on this subject but black sharpie for the rubber parts and spray paint for the plastic breathing vents.
Try to remove the door trim panel. It will be difficult to do without being able to open the door and without breaking the trim panel. But once you can get inside the door, you should be able to unhook the latch and actuator from the striker. Most likely, the actuator is stuck in the locked position, which is part of the latch assembly on those. Not an easy task, and it might get broken in the process, but probably easier than the method you described above, if it's even possible to do it that way. (Assuming, of course, that you've already tried to unlock it manually with the unlock lever and were unsuccessful.) Might try pulling up on the lever while pressing the unlock button to free it up and get it unlocked.