The cycle ended twenty minutes ago and the door still answers every pull with that solid, judgmental clunk. Your clothes are hostages, and the internet's first suggestion is a pry bar. Put it down — a locked front-loader is almost always a machine correctly refusing to open over a condition you can't see, and there's a right order for talking it down.
Why it locks (and stays locked)
The lock exists so the door can never open with water above the glass line or a drum still spinning — front-loader physics is unforgiving about both. So the lock releases only when the machine believes the water is gone and motion has stopped. Every stuck-door story is one of those beliefs failing: water it can't drain, a wash cycle interrupted mid-logic, a hot "sanitize" cool-down timer still counting, or a lock mechanism that died in the closed position.
The talking-down sequence
First, run a Drain & Spin (or hold-to-cancel, which triggers a drain on most models) — standing water is the number-one reason for refusal, and this clears it. Second, power-cycle properly: unplugged three full minutes lets the control release its state; many locks click open within a minute of restoration. Third, wait out thermal locks — after sanitize-hot cycles some machines hold the door up to fifteen minutes by design. Fourth, the step most owners never learn: behind the lower access panel, next to the drain-pump filter, many front-loaders hide a manual release — a small tab or cable loop that pops the lock once the machine is drained (drain the little filter first; towels down). Your model's manual shows exactly where.
When the lock itself is the corpse
If drain runs clean, power-cycling does nothing, and the manual release is your only way in every load — the door lock assembly has failed and is now just a very committed latch. It's one of the most-replaced front-loader parts, stocked on our van, and a same-visit swap. The same assembly failing open (machine won't start, "door" error with the door shut) is the mirror version of the same repair.
What not to do
No prying — the glass, hinge and boot all cost more than the lock. No yanking mid-click. And if there's visible water above the door glass, stop entirely and call: opening against water is how laundry rooms flood. (509) 841-2179, and your hostages come home unharmed, Silverdale to Bainbridge.
