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| [[Image:Suicide door.jpg|thumb|250px|Rear suicide door on a 1967 [[Ford Thunderbird]]]] | | #REDIRECT [[Suicide Door]] |
| [[Image:Fiat Multipla 600.jpg|thumb|250px|Front suicide door on a [[Fiat Multipla|Fiat Multipla 600]]]]
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| '''Suicide doors''' are [[automobile]] doors that are hinged on the trailing edge, the edge closer to the rear of the vehicle. The term reflects a perceived increased danger of the door falling open if it becomes unlatched while the car is moving. Because of the obviously negative connotations, the term is avoided in major [[automobile]] manufacturers' promotional literature, although it is familiar to many English-speakers and often used openly in the custom-car trade.
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| In addition, the door arrangement instills other negative perceptions. While the vehicle is parked, such a door would hide an entering or exiting passenger from the view of passing cars. Furthermore, the result of the door actually being hit would likely be more catastrophic, since the door would be slammed shut onto the passenger even if merely nicked at the outside edge. A door hinged at the front, in contrast, would be pushed away from the passenger and possibly torn off entirely.
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| An arrangement where only the rear doors on a four door vehicle open in this fashion is sometimes called "kidnapping doors", presumably because it would make it easier to drag a victim into the car.
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| Such doors were commonly seen on cars manufactured in the first half of the 20th century. Post-World War II examples are almost universally the rear doors of four-door cars.
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| The most well-known use of suicide doors on post-World War II [[automobile]]s was the glamorous [[Lincoln Continental]] [[sedan]] from 1961 through 1969, and even more dramatically, on the unique [[Lincoln Continental]] 4-door [[convertible]] from 1961 through 1967 (the last 4-door [[convertible]] built in United States.) Since the 4-door [[Lincoln]] [[convertible]] did not have a center "B" pillar, the rear door glass was designed to electrically retract a few inches when the rear doors were opened in order for the weatherstripping to clear the front door glass. This meant that if the battery was dead, the only way out of the back seat was to crawl over the front seat.
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| For a time, the last true, independently opening suicide doors were fitted on the [[Ford Thunderbird]] 4-door sedan from 1967 through 1971, after which their use ceased due to [[car safety|safety concerns]]. More recently, rear suicide doors that cannot be opened until the regular front doors are opened have been appearing on a number of vehicles, including extended cab [[trucks|pickup trucks]] and the [[Mazda RX-8]]. Nevertheless, in 2003, true independent suicide doors reappeared, this time on the new [[Rolls Royce Phantom]]. The [[Spyker D12]], officially presented in 2006, also has suicide doors.
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| [[category:Automobiles]]
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| [[category:Convertibles]]
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| [[category:Sedans]]
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