Suicide door

For the song by Lil Uzi Vert, seeSuicide Doors (Lil Uzi Vert song).

Asuicide dooris anautomobile doorhinged at its rear rather than the front.Such doors were originally used onhorse-drawncarriages,but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less safe than a front-hinged door. Being rear-hinged, if the vehicle were moving and the door opened, aerodynamic drag would force the door open, and the driver/passenger would have to lean forward and out of the vehicle to close it. As seat belts were not in common use at that time, the risk of falling out of the car and into traffic was high, hence the name "suicide door".Another reason could have been that while a door was open on a city street, a speeding car moving in the same direction as the parked car could rip a front-hinged door off the parked car but someone inside the adjacent seat, even if moving to leave the car, could not get scratched. However, with a suicide door, someone inside or partially outside the passenger compartment would get struck by the suicide door forcefully swinging back to a shut position due to the impact of the speeding car on the door.

A suicide door on aDelahayeType 135

Lincoln Continental with rear suicide doors, left side doors open

Initially standard on many models, later they became popularized in thecustom cartrade.Automobile manufacturerscall the doorscoach doors(Rolls-Royce),flexdoors(Vauxhall),freestyle doors(Mazda),rear access doors(Saturn),clamshell doors (BMW) simply describe them asback-hinged doors.

History

TheFiat 600 Multiplawith front suicide doors, right side doors open. Note that all four doors are connected to theB-pillars.

Rear-hinged doors were common on cars manufactured in the first half of the 20th century,including the iconicCitroën Traction Avant.In the era beforeseat belts,the accidental opening of such doors meant that there was a greater risk of falling out of the vehicle compared to front-hinged doors, where airflow pushed the doors closed rather than opening them further.

Rear-hinged doors were especially popular with mobsters in thegangsterera of the 1930s, supposedly owing to the ease of pushing passengers out of moving vehicles with the air around the moving car holding the door open, according to Dave Brownell, the former editor ofHemmings Motor News.

AfterWorld War II,rear-hinged doors were mostly limited to rear doors of four-doorsedans.The best-known use of rear-hinged doors on post-World War II American automobiles was theLincoln Continental4-door convertibles and sedans (1961–1969),Cadillac Eldorado Brougham(1956–1959) four-door sedans, andFord Thunderbird(1967–1971) four-door sedans.The BritishRover P4used rear-hinged doors at the rear. German Goggomobil saloons and coupes had two-door bodies with rear-hinged doors until 1964.The French, hand-madeFacel Vega Excellenceoffered a four-door hardtop with a Chrysler-sourced Hemi V8 beginning in 1954.

Modern use

2010Opel Meriva

In 2003, the newRolls-Royce Phantomcar reintroduced independent rear-hinged doors in luxury vehicle applications. Other luxury models with rear-hinged doors include theSpyker D8and theRolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupefour-seat convertible. The most recent mass-produced model with such doors may be theOpel Meriva,followed by theRolls-Royce Cullinanin 2018, and a few Chinese electric vehicles including theSingulato iS6in 2018 andHiPhi Xin 2020.Lincoln announced that 80 limited-edition 2019 Continentals would be made with "coach" doors, marking the Continental's 80th anniversary.The 2020Citroen Amielectric vehicle is unusual in having a suicide door for the driver but a conventional door for the passenger, as the doors are identical units that are not differentiated by side.

In the early 2000s, rear-hinged rear doors that are held closed by the front doors, and cannot be opened until released by opening the front door on the same side (hinged at the front), have appeared on a number of vehicles. Such doors may be referred to asclamshelldoors. Examples includeextended-cab pickup trucks,theSaturn SC,Saturn Ion Quad Coupe,Honda Element,Toyota FJ Cruiser,BMW i3,Mini Cooper Clubman,Mazda RX-8,Mazda MX-30andFiat 500 3+1.

Rear passenger rear-hinged doors had long been used onAustin FX4London taxis,discontinued on their successors theTX1,TXIIandTX4,but reintroduced in the 2018LEVC TX.

Severalconcept carshave featured rear-hinged doors, such as theLincoln C,ahatchbackwith no B-pillar and rear-hinged doors at the rear, or theCarbon Motors Corporation E7,apolice carwith rear rear-hinged doors designed to aidofficersgettinghandcuffedpassengers in and out of the back seat. TheKiaNaimo, anelectricconcept car, also has rear suicide doors.

Other car manufacturers which have produced models with suicide doors includeCitroën,Lancia,Opel,Panhard,Rover,Saab,Saturn,Škoda,Studebaker,Ferrari,Mazda andVolkswagen.

• Suicide doors
• 
  2021 HiPhi X
• 
  2013BMW i3
• 
  Saturn Ion Quad Coupe 2002—2007
• 
  ALincoln concept car (Lincoln C)from 2009 with rear suicide doors, left side doors open. Note that there is noB-pillarand therefore there are two pillars, A and C.

Advantages

An open rear suicide door on aRolls-Royce Ghost

Rear-hinged doors make entering and exiting a vehicle easier, allowing a passenger to enter by turning to sit and exit by stepping forward and out. This is important for passengers who need to make a dignified entrance; the UKState Bentleyhas rear-opening passenger doors that are broader than usual and open very wide, allowing the monarch to exit the car in a dignified way.

In combination with traditional front doors, rear-hinged doors allow chauffeurs easier access to the rear door. InAustin FX4taxis, drivers were able to reach the rear exterior door handle through the driver's window without getting out of the vehicle.

Rear-hinged doors also allow a better position for a person installing a child seat into the back seat of a vehicle than conventional doors, while being simpler and cheaper to build than thesliding doorscommonly used onminivans.TheOpel MerivaBcompact MPVintroduced in 2010 had such doors.

The combination of front-hinged front doors and rear-hinged rear doors allows for a design without theB-pillar,creating a large opening for entering and exiting the vehicle.

Disadvantages

LloydLT 600 van with a front suicide door

When front doors are directly adjacent to rear suicide doors, exiting and entering the vehicle can be awkward if people try to use the front and back doors at the same time.

There are also a number of safety hazards:

• Aerodynamicfactors forcing rear-hinged doors open at speed in older cars. In 1969,Consumer Reportsreported this problem on aSubaru 360.
• If a person not wearing a seat belt falls out of a moving car with a coach door, the door can catch them and drag them along the road at speed, causing serious injuries.
• If a person exits a vehicle while parallel parked and a car hits the door from the rear, the person would be crushed instead of the door being ripped off.

Car manufacturers mitigate these hazards with such safety features as seat belts, and locks requiring front-hinged doors be open before permitting rear-hinged doors to open.

See also

• Butterfly doors
• Canopy doors
• Gull-wing doors
• List of cars with non-standard door designs
• Scissor doors
• Sliding doors
• Swan doors