Why are they called Suicide Doors

Why are they called suicide doors? My '34 C1 has them and I think I know the reason for the name but would like to know the real reason.

 

They are called suicide door because if you open the door while moving the door fly's open and if you have hold of the door handle you get chucked out on the street, ask my brother Paul he did twice before he was banded from sitting near the door

Hi,

I have thought it was because with forward hinges if you are getting out of the vehicle and a passing vehicle clips the door it is likely to get torn away and forward of the vehicle. With a rear hinge the door is going be thrown back into you.

A couple of good articles on the subject.
www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/why...called-suicide-doors

www.motortrend.com/features/suicide-doors-history-name/

Terry

Mk IV Jaguar front door took my shin out numerous times if you didn't stand far enough forward after getting out. Twice in one day and you felt like committing suicide!   

I reckon when you hop out a normal door you actually turn towards the traffic a bit, so there's more chance of seeing something coming

Suicide doors, your backs to the traffic the whole time

Paul

Moesker ordered a Franna Crane with suicide doors ,bloody stupid ,and operating it on a busy road was a nightmare.......they are very hard to get back into your seat ,you cant hold the top edge like a normal door .....I wanted to take the damn door right off ,but the site boss wouldnt allow it...........anyhoo <i was sick of the jobsite ,and one day I had to go through traffic barriers ......no help of course .......and while I had the barriers moved Mr Magoo drove his car in through the gap and out onto the railway line .............Moesker made a big show of firing me in front of the site boss ,the idea being the union would get me back to work next day .....Im ,Naaah ,stuff it .....Ive had the place ....you drive it ........and the very next day ,the crane was tipped upside down .

Only a couple / few years ago (quite recently) an elderly lady died while trying to re-close a suicide door going down Cunningham's Gap. The wind caught it and she was pulled out. (That's how it was reported).

Jarrod.

Silly as it sounds there are still modern cars out here with suicide doors.

The Mazda RX8 springs to mind as does Rolls Royce for the last 20 years.

Talk about extremes.

77louie400 wrote:

They are called suicide door because if you open the door while moving the door fly's open and if you have hold of the door handle you get chucked out on the street, ask my brother Paul he did twice before he was banded from sitting near the door

This has been my experience since driving the ute, seems I learn all my lessons the hard way!
Thanks for the replies guys.

Zuffen wrote:

Silly as it sounds there are still modern cars out here with suicide doors.

The Mazda RX8 springs to mind as does Rolls Royce for the last 20 years.

Talk about extremes.

A lot of the "Extra cab"  utes have them too - even the F250s.  However in a lot of the modern versions the suicide doors are for the back seat and will not open unless the front door is open.  The vehicles concerned usually don;t have a separate B pillar - the B pillar is built into the rear door. The thing is they tend to have pokey back seats and the lack of B pillar gives the rear seat passengers room to get in.  A member of my vintage machinery club has an F250 with them. He offers to drive every time we go somewhere but the back seat passengers have their chins resting on their knees and don't have a choice about it