When your car hood won’t latch or won’t lock into place, you can’t start your vehicle or get your hood to shut completely. If this happens to you, there are several possible reasons that you can inspect and fix with relative ease. This article outlines five common reasons why your car hood won’t lock, along with tips on how to fix them in minutes instead of hours.

The primary latch is not engaging

If the primary latch is not engaging, the VW Jetta hood latch won't close because the hood won't close all the way. This can cause the latch to be caught on something and get stuck. The first step in correcting this problem is to open up the hood of your car and take a look at what might be preventing it from closing all the way. 

You'll need to remove any objects that could be obstructing your latch from being able to engage or disengage. If you find any debris or insects, take care of them with a vacuum cleaner or broom. Once you've cleared away anything blocking the top half of your hood, close it shut and try to reopen it again. You should now be able to see if there's anything keeping the bottom half from opening as well. If there are any particles holding it closed, clear those away as well. Once you've ensured that both halves of the hood are completely free and open, make sure everything is closed tightly before trying to start your vehicle again.

The secondary latch is not engaging

When your hood won’t latch or is keeping your vehicle from starting, it can be quite frustrating. Sometimes the problem is easy to fix, but in other cases, the problem requires a little more work to get fixed. For example, you might have a secondary latch that isn’t engaging properly when you close your hood. This is usually caused by dirt on the secondary latch that needs to be cleaned off so it engages with the lock and prevents the hood from opening.

Car hood latch stuck

If you find that your hood latch won’t close all the way, this can be a very frustrating problem and it can happen for a variety of reasons. One common reason is that there is dirt or debris between the hood and the body of your car. Cleaning out this dirt or debris should fix the problem easily. Another reason could be that the linkage rod between your hood and trunk might have come loose. A good way to check if this is true is by pulling on each side of your hood latch while it's closed. If one side feels looser than the other, then you may need to tighten up these linkage rods with some pliers.

The latch mechanism is damaged or defective

You may think you have the world's worst luck when your car hood won't lock, but fortunately it doesn't always need a tow truck or locksmith. More often than not, these car hood problems can be solved without going too far out of your way. Here are 5 common reasons why the latch mechanism won't latch and how you can fix them: 

The first most common issue is when the latch is damaged or defective. This will likely cause your car hood to hang from its hinges with no way of closing it, even if there is nothing blocking its path. If this sounds like what's happening to you, check for anything that might obstruct the locking arm as well as a release lever that could be broken on either side of the hinge.

The hood itself is bent or damaged

When a car hood won't lock or is having other problems, the first step that you should take is to inspect the hood and make sure it's in good shape. If there are visible damages such as dents, scratches, or rust, that might be the issue. You can try using bodywork primer if it doesn't go deep into any of these issues; otherwise, you'll need a new piece of metal work. As far as minor damage goes, if your hood won't latch at all or only latches halfway down, you can use spray adhesive to temporarily fix these issues. There are plenty of sprays on the market with instructions for application that will do the job well--just remember not to apply too much! Other reasons why a car hood won't lock: The latch isn't properly aligned: The best way to deal with this problem is to release the hood so that it can rest open and then manually adjust it until the two parts of the latch line up. It may help to put some paint marks on the front edge of each side so that you can see where they align while adjusting them.