Cable release for hood on 2001 Toyota Echo does not work?

Look for damage to the car (like the hood pushed back or out of alignment). Try this: With a second person helping, have one person in the drivers seat pull the hood release while another person pulls up on the hood either with their fingers or using some type of pry bar or screw driver (you can also try pushing down and pulling up).

If the hood is not coming up at all, then you need to either take the car to a dealer or mechanic, or take more extreme measures. The first thing to do would be to spray as much penetrating lubricant as possible at the hood latch assuming you can even hit it, let it sit for some time, then try the above again. You could try removing the hood release lever inside the car, and pull the cable with pliers (to get some extra travel on it).

It is possible that the cable is no longer attached to the latch at all, in which case you will have to manually open the latch. The only choices are to either try to get to the latch from below the car or through the front grill. Most likely you will need to remove the front grill to access the latch mechanism from there (this would most likely require breaking the plastic tabs that hold the grill in place or cutting part of the grill). Once you have access to the latch, you can manually open it either with your hands or using a screw driver or pliers.