What Are the Benefits of Suicide Doors?
They improve access: rear-hinged “suicide” doors create a wider, more natural opening for getting in and out—especially to back seats and for loading bulky items—and they deliver distinctive, upscale styling. Originally associated with safety concerns on early cars, modern implementations add robust latches, interlocks, and stronger side structures to preserve the access advantage without the old risks.
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What Are Suicide Doors?
Suicide doors are doors hinged at the rear rather than the front. Also called coach doors or rear-hinged doors, they were common on early automobiles and carriages, faded due to safety issues, and have reappeared in modern vehicles—from luxury sedans to pickups—in carefully engineered forms. The nickname stems from early designs that could fly open into the airstream, increasing the risk of occupant ejection; contemporary systems mitigate this with advanced latching and structural design.
Key Benefits
Automakers that use rear-hinged doors cite practical and experiential gains. The benefits are most noticeable on vehicles where rear-seat access is otherwise compromised (compact coupes, extended-cab pickups) or where passenger experience is paramount (luxury sedans and SUVs).
- Easier ingress and egress to the rear seats: The trailing hinge lets the door open away from the occupant, creating a natural, forward-facing step-out and step-in motion that feels less contorted than with a front-hinged rear door.
- Wider opening when paired with the front door: On designs that allow both doors to open together—and especially on pillarless or semi-pillarless layouts—the contiguous aperture makes it far simpler to maneuver adults, child seats, or bulky items.
- Better loading and child-seat installation: With the front-seat backrest no longer blocking the entry path in the same way, strapping children into rear seats or fitting rear-facing carriers is quicker and less awkward.
- Graceful curbside exit for chauffeured passengers: Luxury brands highlight that rear-hinged rear doors let occupants step out facing forward, with the open door shielding them from traffic spray and offering easier assistance from attendants.
- Space efficiency on compact bodies: Short, rear-hinged “half-doors” (as on some coupes and extended-cab pickups) improve rear access without requiring a long, heavy single door that would be unwieldy in tight parking spaces.
- Design distinction and brand identity: The visual drama of opposing doors signals heritage and craftsmanship, helping luxury and niche models stand out in a homogenous market.
- Potential mobility advantages: When combined with swiveling or sliding seats, the large, unobstructed opening can make lateral transfers easier for some passengers with limited mobility.
Taken together, these advantages explain why rear-hinged doors persist in specific segments: they solve a real access problem while also delivering a premium experience and strong visual differentiation.
Drawbacks and How Modern Cars Address Them
The same geometry that improves access also created hazards on early cars, and the layout brings packaging and cost challenges. Today’s designs counter these issues with electronics and structural engineering, but trade-offs remain.
- Historical safety risk if a door opens at speed: A rear-hinged door can catch airflow and swing wider, historically increasing ejection risk.
- Door interdependence and convenience: Many designs require the front door to open before the rear door can open, which can be inconvenient for independent rear passengers.
- Structural complexity: Eliminating or reconfiguring the B-pillar, or splitting it across the doors, complicates side-impact protection and body rigidity.
- Parking practicality: Gaining the full wide opening may require opening both doors, which can be harder in narrow spaces.
- Cost, weight, and sealing: Additional latch points, reinforcements, and weather sealing add parts, engineering time, and mass.
These factors help explain why suicide doors are rare in mass-market family cars despite their access benefits.
Modern safety and convenience mitigations
To preserve the access benefits while addressing safety and usability, current models incorporate dedicated hardware and body engineering.
- Interlocks and speed-sensitive locks: Electronic latches and logic prevent rear-hinged doors from opening at speed; some designs require the front door to be opened first, reducing accidental opening risk.
- Stronger latches and hinges: Multi-point latching and reinforced strikers resist wind loads and help keep doors closed in crashes.
- Engineered side structures: Solutions include hidden or split B-pillars built into the doors, or strong passenger cells (e.g., carbon fiber-reinforced structures) to maintain side-impact performance.
- Extended airbag coverage and sensors: Curtain and side airbags, plus robust door-ajar monitoring, maintain occupant protection and give clear warnings if a latch isn’t secure.
- Power-assist closing: Soft-close mechanisms ensure a full latch engagement without slamming, improving both safety and refinement.
These measures don’t eliminate every compromise, but they significantly reduce the core historical risks while keeping the usability advantages intact.
Where You’ll See Them Today
Rear-hinged doors remain targeted rather than mainstream. Luxury marques such as Rolls-Royce (Phantom, Ghost, Cullinan) use full-size coach doors to emphasize ease of egress and theater. Limited-run models like the Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition revived the layout for its ceremonial feel. In smaller vehicles, Mazda’s RX-8 and MX-30 employed short, rear-hinged “freestyle” doors for back-seat access, while extended-cab pickups such as the Ford F-150 SuperCab (and some midsize SuperCab/SuperCab-style trucks in various markets) use rear-hinged rear doors to open up a compact cab. Earlier EVs like the BMW i3 also demonstrated the concept with a reinforced passenger cell and interlocked rear doors.
Summary
The benefit of suicide doors is straightforward: they make entry, exit, and loading easier—especially to the rear seats—while delivering distinctive style and a premium, ceremonial experience. Modern engineering addresses the safety shortcomings that gave the layout its ominous nickname, but structural complexity, cost, and some practicality trade-offs keep rear-hinged doors as a niche, purpose-driven choice rather than a universal one.
What’s the point of suicide doors?
And 30s most cars back then did not have seat belts. So if you were to open your door while moving you would literally. Just roll out of your car. And that would happen actually on accident.
Are suicide doors better?
Benefits and Advantages of Suicide Doors
One of the primary benefits is the unique and stylish appearance they provide, setting the vehicle apart from others on the road. Additionally, suicide doors offer improved accessibility, making it easier to enter and exit the vehicle, particularly in tight spaces.
What is the main benefit of revolving doors?
Applications of revolving doors
They cannot be slammed, reduce street noise, and provide access in high-density areas. Additionally, they enhance energy efficiency by preventing air from escaping through the door. These advantages make revolving doors popular in hospitals, hotels, schools, and other public buildings.
Why are suicide doors not used anymore?
‘Suicide’ doors largely disappeared due to previously mentioned structural integrity issues resulting from having no B-Pillar which an increasing focus on safety and crash testing in the latter part of the last century would have driven.