How did it start?

[Bob Hubbard]

How did the term"suicide doors" come too be".
It seems like a God awful name to tack on to a luxury vehicle.
I could see it being associated with a Pinto(the original K-BOOM car of the early sixties), or for that matter any piece of crap being driven that is in such bad repair, it would be suicide to drive it, but to tack that monicer on a Continental never made sense too me.
I wonder who was behind this brainstorm.
I think owners of these models should re-think the name and come up with something more befitting the status of the car.
A couple of ideas:
"Dual entry system".
"Phaeton"
"Quad Entry"
I am sure there are many, many other names that could have been used , which is why I still wonder how "suicide" was the final choice.
Bob.

[Lugnut]

I believe the term goes back into the 1920's or 1930's when there were many brands of vehicles sporting "Suicide Doors." The nature of door hinges and latching mechanisms in the times were not exactly engineering marvels and the result was doors would sometimes open on their own in a sharp turn. Subsequently at times ejecting an unsuspecting individual right out of the car.

The name was appropriate for the times as it became considered "Suicide" to sit next to the door.

[W. Higgins]

I've experienced that in a '48 Bentley wood bodied wagon. I was in the back seat and the passengers door flung open in a turn. The passenger instinctively reached out for the door, the driver freaked and slamed on the brakes causing the passenger and I to fly forward. It was a two door car, so the front seat was hinged for rear access and pivoted upward with my feet getting under it. The car suddenly came to a halt and the front passenger lunged back in the seat and smashed my feet. What an arrangement. Half a mile later we ran out of gas. Cursed machine.

[toddallen]

If a faulty latch would unlatch, a door is not shut, or a kid would open the inside door handle of a car in motion on a regular car, the fast air movement would work against opening the door, and subsequently help keep the door closed.

If the same thing were to happen on a moving car in a suicide door, the fast wind would catch and fling open the door, and if you were holding the handle- take you with it. That is why the slab sides have door ajar lights on the rear doors only.

[jsanford]

Rather than doing this all over again, just read this extensive thread on the topic http://www.thelincolnforum.net/phpbb/vi ... php?t=6223

Jeremy

[TonyC]

Just one more post to close the loop on that term:

Where the suicide doors of the '60s Lincolns are concerned, it's a minor issue unless a car is not equipped with power locks. The doors cannot come open by themselves, as the latches are dual-catch, just like the door latches built to this day. It's impossible for the wind or a sharp turn to open one, but not impossible for someone in the back to accidentally open.

Now, if the car has power locks and the owner uses them, that possibility is greatly reduced, because the person in the back has to unlock the door and then open it, which cannot be done by accident. Anyone who would go to that effort deserves to die .

For a while, Lincoln tried to make the doors suicide-proof with an optional rolling lock mechanism tied into the vacuum system. When it worked, it accomplished the mission. The problem was that the valve mechanism on the transmission was plagued with trouble--usually keeping the doors locked even after the car was turned off, making it an exhausting effort to get out--so it was discontinued.

If someone revived the suicide hinging on today's Lincolns, with the electronic auto-lock and the kiddie-proof feature, the term would be totally obsolete.

---Tony