Suicide door

Uncommon card · No. 78520

A suicide door is an automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on horse-drawn carriages, but are less common on modern vehicles than front-hinged doors, primarily because they are considered less safe. If the vehicle were moving and the rear-hinged door opened, aerodynamic drag would force the door open, and someone must lean out of the vehicle to reach the handle to close it. As seat belts were not commonly used in the early days of cars having suicide doors, the person reaching could easily fall out of the car and into traffic, hence the name "suicide door." Initially standard on many models, they later also became popularized as a modification on custom cars. Automobile manufacturers call the doors coach doors (Rolls-Royce), flexdoors (Vauxhall), freestyle doors (Mazda), rear access doors (Saturn), clamshell doors (BMW), or simply back-hinged doors.

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