After taking apart the trim, with out breaking any fasteners, and looking at the lock/latch mechanism, I was able to force it to "click" manually with my finger. The mechanism seems to be work with springs and some sort of actuator. The spring was fine, it was the actuator that did not allow the latch to close without some force. I heated up the area with a heat gun and the actuator worked fine. So it was the cold that was causing the problem. I buttoned everything up and called the dealer. They replaced the whole mechanism, without admitting that the it was a defect. They did charge me, but only 1/2 the acutal cost of the part, and installed it for free. Thanks for the tips.