On Dec 16, 2:45*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
The second bar is "behind the main striker plate. *I believe its
purpose is to keep you from being able to use a credit card from
opening the entire latch. *If you try to push the card slowly into the
tapered side of the door latch, from the outside, you can get the
latch to retract into the door. *But the separate bar does not push
back gradually, so you can't get the door open.

That is incorrect.

The smaller bar is a "double lock" that is NOT supposed to latch
behind the strike plate.

It is there for the reason you stated, to prevent someone from
entering with a credit card. BUT, it doesn't hold the door closed.
What it does is lock the main latch in position so it cannot be
defeated with a credit card.

Lock the door and depress just the little pin, as if it were resting
against the strike plate. Now the main latch will not retract when you
push on it.

If you think about it, what good would that little pin do to hold the
door closed all by itself. Any moderate amount of brute force would
bend it after the main latch is slipped out of the way with a credit
card.

Loose-fitting door should be fixed with replacement weatherstripping.
What was there is probably gone or worn out.