I wanted to check fluid levels before a longish trip tomorrow and the hood won't open. I do feel some resistance on the handle, but there's no click happening like normal. I can also reach the safety latch with my fingers through the gap, but pressing it while pulling on the hood doesn't do anything either.

I understand how the latch works in general of course, but there seems to be no informantion online specific to the Fit on how it can be reached on these cars with the least amount of effort (all the videos are like Step 1: pull the handle Step 2: lift the hood with your hand!). I live in an apartment and park on the street so I can't just easily put it up on a lift or something, so any lifehack would be helpful

 

Try a bit of downward pressure on the hood while pulling the lever inside the car and/or while trying to pull the hood latch.

The latch is sort of a two-stage release. The inside lever is the first stage and the hood lever is the second. If something is stuck or rusted, a bit of down pressure might help release it. I can't remember if there's any adjustment in the latch mechanism, but if you do get it it open check everything out carefully (e.g., does anything look bent) and lube the moving parts.

 

Thanks! I went to try it again this morning and it just popped open on first try

I tried pulling and pushing and banging on it yesterday with zero effect and today it just opened without doing anything special at all. Oh well! The oil was near the low mark so I topped up it and the washer fluid.

The latch looks a bit dirty but not obviously bent in any way. I'll try cleaning, lubing and poking it a bit to hopefully release whatever was causing it to stick.