I hope that the earlier responses help you and your daughter to get the hood open. The screwdriver trick worked for me on an '83 240 which was getting stuck often. I finally realized that someone had routed the hood release cable in such a way that it would bind and make the cable very hard to pull. I re-routed the cable to make the bends smoother and it never gave me any more trouble. Of course a good lube job on that cable and latch couldn't hurt. I've had good results with a spray can of white grease on the latch which sprays a a liquid and then the solvent evaporates leaving the grease. It penetrates pretty well.