A vehicle door operating mechanism includes a reversible electric motor (19), a rack member (22) and a door rod (26). The reversible electric motor (19) has an output gear (20). The rack member (22) has teeth (30) engaged with the output gear (20) so that the rack member (22) moves in response to rotation of the output gear (20) of the motor (19). The door rod (26) has a first rod end portion (40), a second rod end portion (42) and a connector (18). The first rod end portion (40) is operatively coupled to the rack member (22). The second rod end portion (42) is configured and arranged to be operatively connected to a vehicle door (14). The connector (18) couples the first and second rod end portions (40) and (42) together to provide a limited amount of relative axial movement within the door rod (26) between the first and second rod end portions (40) and (42).