Klaus:

Have you ever seen the latch mechanism out of the door? I think this plastic piece you speak of may be trashed on my car. Is there anyway to get the latch to release without taking it out of the door--it appears that I cannot get the latch mechanism out of the door while it is closed onto the loop. That is why I was considering cutting the loop.

I can feel that the rod you speak of hits something on the latch mechanism but cannot tell what it activates to release the latch. If I could figure that one out, I could possibly get it to let go of the loop, take the mechanism out of the door and look at it better.

Can anyone provide guidance as to what part of the latch moves to release it from the loop?

TIA