Hood release cable broken

[NautilusSuffer]

Hi All,
My hood release cable is broken on my 2019 Nautilus 2.0 L. I’ve tried many options but I’m now down to trying to unbolt the hood latch bar (the bar that is bolted to the hood which gets latched into the latch assembly on the body of the car).

That latch bar is bolted to the hood with two nuts. I can juuuust reach those nuts through the grill. It’s a tight fit that requires using a socket on a swivel. I need to grind down the socket in order to have the room to slip the socket on the nut.

Would someone know (or check their car) for the size of those nuts?

OR….does anyone know of an easier way to unlatch the hood? (I’ve tried disconnecting the release mechanism under the dash but the cable just pulls through)

Thanks!!!

 

[11MarkX]

Its not a 10mm? (standard for most modern Ford latches). Can you put a slim jim or skinny screwdriver under the hood and push the latch (where the cable used to be) to the side to pop it? If not, then the closest vid I got is below. Front grill is of course different but I think Ford still uses the same latch mechanism.