The original door relays that laid nicely in the recess, had the handle facing down, requiring you to push the handle forward to open the door and pull the handle back to lock the door. GM quickly realized that in a sudden stop situation, the door could fly open by a drivers or passengers arm, not something you want in an accident.
GM’S engineers in their infinite wisdom, decided to flip the relays over, there by keeping the down position of the door release handle. I’m suspect GM bean counters got involved when the recess did not get relocated, but instead added a couple of pads under the door panel to keep the rod from binding.
As you discovered, the relays can be swapped putting the rod back in the recess and if you face the handle up, the door will open by pulling back on it and locked by pushing forward.
Last edited by Phak1; 12/27/2024 12:18 AM. Reason: Typo
