Exterior door handles freeze and break?

During a recent cold snap (-17C, dunno what this is in F), I pulled up on a rear door handle, and heard a strange noise...after that, the outside handle does nothing.

Took it into the dealer 10 days ago, they said something broke and needs replacement, part is on backorder.

I asked if they knew of other cases, and they said "yes, we have a silver one on backorder too".

So, is this a known problem or just an isolated incident (or two)?

Scheduled to have new part installed in a few days, sure hope it's a warranty repair..it's not like I did anything unusual.

Its certainly possible, but thats not THAT cold. (-17C = +1 F). It was just that cold this morning.

Coldest i have had my car in and started without issues was -15 F (=-26 C). It sat all night at this temp and most likely a little lower. It didn't like it when i started it, but it kicked over with no issues. Never had any door handle issues though.

Originally Posted by D-2.5-GT

Its certainly possible, but thats not THAT cold. (-17C = +1 F). It was just that cold this morning.

Agreed, it's been colder quite a few times and I saw no problems. In this case, it was a LOT warmer (above freezing, with wet snow) and it suddenly chilled down, so, maybe some water got inside some mechanism and then froze.

Fingers-crossed that they'll fix under warranty; IMHO it's either a materials failure or a design flaw.

Originally Posted by nomoreS4

Fingers-crossed that they'll fix under warranty

Fixed this morning, under warranty.

I talked to the tech and examined the broken handle... plastic lever snapped near where it connects to metal rod.