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Rear suicide door on a 1967 Ford Thunderbird

Front suicide door on a Fiat Multipla 600

Lloyd LT 600 van with front suicide door

A suicide door is a car door that is 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^[1]. The risk is obvious when driving around a bend, with air flow pulling an unlatched door open, combined with poorly shaped bench seats and no seatbelts: all on cars that were a lot taller with higher seating than cars from the 50s/60s on. Because of the obviously negative connotations, the term is avoided in major automobile manufacturers' promotional literature in favor of terms like "coach doors". However, the name "suicide doors" is familiar to many English-speakers and often used openly in the custom-car trade. [1]

The door arrangement also 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. The result of the door being hit by another vehicle would likely be more catastrophic, since the door would be slammed shut onto the passenger, even if merely nicked on the outside edge. In contrast, a door hinged at the front would be pushed away from the passenger and possibly torn off entirely.

Another problem presented by conventionally hinged doors in front and suicide doors in the rear (on a four door vehicle) is a passenger traffic conflict. It is almost impossible for passengers to exit from the front and rear seats simultaneously due to the limited space between the front edge of the rear door and the rear edge of the front door.

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.

The advantage of rear hinged doors is that it makes it easier to get in or out of the vehicle. An additional advantage of rear-hinged rear doors (especially with front-hinged front doors) is that this arrangement makes it easier for a person in the front seat (for example, a chauffeur) to exit the car and get to the handle of the back door to open it for the passenger.

Such doors were not uncommon 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.

The most well-known use of suicide doors on post-World War II automobiles was the Lincoln Continental sedan from 1961 through 1969, and on the unique Lincoln Continental four-door convertible from 1961 through 1967 (the last four-door convertible built in the United States.) Since the four-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.

For a time, the last true, independently opening suicide doors on a private car were fitted on the Ford Thunderbird four-door sedan from 1967 through 1971, after which their use ceased due to 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 pickup trucks, the Saturn Ion QuadCoupe, and the Mazda RX-8. 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. The upcoming Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe four-seat convertible based on the 100EX show car has suicide front doors.

Rear passenger suicide doors have though been a constant feature of Hackney carriages otherwise known as the London Taxi Cab. They are still in use on the latest generation in current production.

Delahaye Type 135

Models of automobile that featured suicide doors include (but are not limited to):

• Austin FX4 — the classic London black cab
• Bentley State Limousine
• Citroën 2CV — early models
• Citroën Traction Avant
• Citroën H Van
• Chevrolet Master - 1935 2 Dr
• Chevrolet Master Deluxe - 1935 2 Dr
• Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton
• Chrysler Royal
• Delahaye
• Facel Vega Excellence
• Fiat Topolino
• Fiat 600, 600N 600D 1955-1965
• Ford F-150 — 1997-2003. The front doors are conventional, with suicide doors in the rear
• Ford Ranger — 2000-present. Supercab version has two rear suicide doors
• Ford Thunderbird — 1967-1971 4-door models
• Honda Element — 2003-present. Has conventional front, with suicide half doors in rear
• Lincoln Continental — 1961-1969 4-door sedans, 1961-1967 4-door convertibles
• Mazda B-Series and Mazda BT-50 — The Freestyle Cab version (based on extended cab) since 2002
• Mazda RX-8 — Has conventional front doors, with suicide half-doors in rear.
• MINI Clubman — Has conventional front doors, with one rear suicide half-door
• Panhard Dyna
• Pierce Silver Arrow
• Renault 4CV
• Rolls-Royce Phantom
• Rover P4 — Cars like the Rover 90 had conventional front doors, with suicide rear doors
• Saab (92, 93 and 95/96 early models)
• Saturn ION coupé — Has conventional front doors, with suicide half-doors in the rear.
• Saturn SC — Predecessor to ION coupe; second-generation models feature one rear suicide half-door on driver's side
• Spyker D12
• Subaru 360
• Syrena — early models
• Toyota FJ Cruiser — Conventional front doors, suicide half doors in rear
• Tucker Torpedo
• Adler 2,5 (1938)
• Bugatti Type 57 (1934)
• Bugatti T57 Aerolithe (1935)
• Bugatti Atlantic (1937)
• Buick Gold (1940) (Back door)
• Citroën Action Travant (1937 - 1953)
• DKW F7 (1936)
• DKW 1000 S (Front door) (1958 - 1961)
• EMW 340 (1951) (Front door)
• Fiat Camareno 1100 (1932)
• Fiat 508 Balilla (1936)
• Fiat 500 (1936)
• Fiat 500 Spyder Bertone 1947)
• Fiat FS (1946)
• Fiat 1200 (1955) (Front door)
• Fiat 1100 (1960) (Front door)
• Fiat AR 55 Campagnola (1963)
• Ford V8 (1932)
• Goggomobil (1955)
• Jaguar MK4 (1946) (Front door)
• Jowett Javelin (1947 – 1953)
• Mercedes-Benz 170 (1928 – 1948)
• Mercedes-Benz 200t (1934)
• Mercedes-Benz 500
• Mercedes-Benz 540 (1938)
• MG TF (1953)
• Opel Kapitän (1938) (Back door)
• Packard 110 Sedan (Back door) (1941)
• Peugeot 301 (1935)
• Peugeot 202 (1938)
• Peugeot 302 (1937)
• Peugeot 402 (1938 - 1950)
• Peugeot 402 Darlmat (1950)
• Peugeot 203 (1948 - 1960)
• Peugeot 601 (1940)
• Praga Piccolo Furgon (1938)
• Rover SF12 (Both doors rear hinged) (1946)
• Škoda 110 Cabriolet (1938)
• Škoda 2 (1950)
• Saturn SC 1999-2002
• Saturn Ion Quad Coupe 2002-2007
• Vespa 400 (1960)
• Toyota FJ Cruiser (2006 to present)
• ZAZ-965
• Zastava 750, produced under Fiat licence from 1956 to 1969, was the last European rear mounted door

Note that "suicide doors" references more than just a class of car with rear mounted door hinges. The 1960s Lincoln and Thunderbird 4-door cars with so-called "suicide doors" were quite safe, compared to early cars which coined the term "suicide doors". You must go back to the early 1930s to find popular American cars which caused numerous accidental deaths due to the door design. Ford, Plymouth, and other cars of the early 1930s offered an optional 2-door car with rear hinge, but these cars also had seats mounted forward of the door hinge, and when one of these rear-hinged door would accidentally pop open, the occupant's first reaction would be to grab the door handle, at which time they would be ejected from the car because there were no seat belts and there was nothing to lean a shoulder against. Rear-hinged doors did not disappear after this issue was recognized by car manufacturers, but the hinges were effectively relocated to move the seats further rearward in the car. When later "suicide door" cars popped a door open, the occupant would still reflexively grab at the door handle, but their shoulder would contact the vehicle body and provide safe leverage to close the door. Much later, cars would interlock the rear "suicide door" with the front door to make it impossible for the rear-hinge door to open without a deliberate opening of the front door, followed by deliberately opening the rear door. No one lost their life over the design of a 1960's era "suicide door". The term "suicide door" has natural appeal, and so it has stuck to rear-hinged doors, but the truly dangerous ones were found only in the powerful V-8 powered cars of the early 1930s. Search "Deuce Coupe" (1932 Ford Coupe) or "3-Window Coupe" to learn more about real "suicide doors". Dave Shoe, Mpls, MN.

• List of cars with unusual door designs
• Scissor doors
• Gullwing doors
• Butterfly doors