Total time to fix: 20 minutes or less
Total cost: $5 or less
Difficulty: very easy
Tools required:
spray can of white lithium grease
Screwdriver (or other round-shank handled tool)
I had a similar problem on my 2007 EXL w/ RES. After messing with it repeatedly in sub-freezing and t-shirt weather (in the same week. I live in Kansas), and driving for a couple weeks with the power the door power switch off to preserve my sanity, I finally attacked the hinges and latch mechanisms with white lithium grease. I like it because it doesn’t gunk up as bad as WD, and it coats pretty well. Stays put and tends to slough off when it gets too dirty. It’s my go-to when I’m lubing bicycle chains. You have to remember that the latch mechanisms are both on the front of the door and the rear of the door. In my amateur opinion, the mechanism on the rear edge of the door is possibly more important. It is also often overlooked, maybe because most of us grew up with minivans that only had one latch on the sliding door(s), and it was at the front edge toward the B-pillar.
In other similar threads, I’ve seen people suggest that temperature is a key factor that affects this problem. I tend to agree, because lubrication is affected greatly by temperature. To me, this is primarily a problem of lubrication. In many cases, I suspect faulty electronics have nothing to do with it. If a door is not lubricated well enough, then the door will require more effort to move, and the smaller moving parts may not work right, either. Latches may not spring or catch, bearings may seize, et cetera. Eventually that might cause other parts to wear out prematurely, like motors or switches. All things that can be fixed by the committed DIY weekender, but also problems there could maybe be avoided with a $10 can of spray lubricant and some attention to detail.
My fix: liberally spray the latches on the front edge of the door, towards the B-pillar, and also the hinge at the rear of the door, toward the C-pillar. Use something (I used the shaft of a screwdriver) to manually move the latch mechanism up and down, to help the lubricant coat the various moving parts. You should notice that the latches move more freely, smoothly, with less pressure. Finally, spray white lithium grease in all the tracks and bearings, upper and lower, also the bearings of the hinge mechanism in the main track at the middle of the door, which pivots as the door reaches the closed position.
your mileage may vary, but after I did all that spraying and wiggling, within a few cycles opening/closing the doors, I noticed a difference in the sound and the motion. The doors closed quieter, and the movement was smoother, less jerky. Most importantly, they closed securely, and there was no more noise of the door ajar alarm.
An added bonus: the middle hinge mechanism can fail on these vans, and I almost replaced mine due to them sticking and not pivoting correctly as the doors closed. The symptom was the passenger side sliding door would close halfway, then stop and open back up, as if it had pinched a small child. Got some white lithium grease in the hinge bearings and tracks. Problem solved. My spare parts remain unused in the box.