Thanks for the pics! Those are great.
Lucky for me my Trimark is nothing like that one. Made in '02, it's bigger and doesn't have any plastic inside. Looks like this:
What I do to prevent being locked in/outside my Journey is to leave the little window beside the door unlocked so it can be pried open if necessary. Than I can reach in and unlatch using the main door handle. And I also do this...because there's a little spring that breaks or wears out and can lock you in or outside so I just Zip tie it so it can't drop down and lock.
Looks like your newer style would be an even worse design then our older styles. Hope the newer/newer style you got as a replacement is even better.