Car door

Last updated
Exterior side of car door on a 1986 Ford Taurus TaurusLX.jpg
Exterior side of car door on a 1986 Ford Taurus
Opened front and rear doors on a 1957 Rambler Rebel 1957 Rambler Rebel interior.JPG
Opened front and rear doors on a 1957 Rambler Rebel

A car door is a type of door opening, typically hinged on its front edge, but sometimes attached by other mechanisms such as tracks, for entering and exiting a vehicle. Doors most often integrate side windows for visibility from inside the car and can be locked to secure the vehicle.

Contents

Car doors may be manually operated or with power assist supplied by the vehicle. Powered doors or power doors may be found on minivans, luxury vehicles, or modified cars.

General design

Open doors on a Chrysler Airflow '34 chrysler airflow doors open.JPG
Open doors on a Chrysler Airflow

Car doors are designed to facilitate ingress and egress by car passengers. [1]

Unlike other types of doors, the exterior side of the vehicle door contrasts in its design and finish from its interior side (the interior part is typically equipped with a door card (in British English) or a door panel (in American English) that has decorative and functional features.

The exterior side of the door is designed of steel or other material like the rest of the vehicle's exterior. In addition, its decorative appearance, typically colored with a design, is intended to match with the rest of the vehicle's exterior, the central purpose being to add to the overall aesthetic appeal of the vehicle exterior.

A vehicle typically has two types of doors: front doors and rear doors. Loosely related are: vehicle hoods and vehicle trunk lids. There are also doors known as a "hatch" (see "door categorization" below).

Parts

Door locks and latches

Most vehicle doors are secured closed to the vehicle body with latches that may be locked to prevent unauthorized access from the exterior. There are a variety of car door locking systems. Door locks may be manually, or automatically operated, and may be centrally or individually operated. Also, they may be operated by remote control, with the transmitter often integrated into the main vehicle access and a key for the ignition.

Additionally, rear passenger doors are frequently fitted with child safety locks to prevent children from exiting the vehicle unless the door is opened from the exterior. These are also frequently used on police cars, to prevent suspect criminals from escaping whilst in police custody.

Vehicle door latches on practically all vehicles today are usually operated by use of a handle which requires the user to pull, lift, or tug—with some force towards themselves—rather than push. There is a reason for this. As late as the 1970s, some vehicles used exposed push buttons to operate the door latch, such as certain Opel models. The unfortunate side effect of this design was that external objects which touched a vehicle during a high-speed spinout could trigger the latch; the door would pop open and centrifugal force would eject any unrestrained vehicle occupants. A death that occurred exactly that way led to the landmark legal case of Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978), in which the Supreme Court of California merged strict product liability with comparative fault. The court affirmed the right of General Motors to introduce evidence that decedent Kirk Daly flew out of his Opel not only because the door popped open, but because he was intoxicated and not wearing a seat belt—but in the same opinion, reversed and remanded for retrial because the jury had not been instructed on the then-rapidly developing doctrine of comparative fault and there was a high risk that the jury may have improperly applied the doctrine of contributory negligence to treat such inflammatory evidence of the decedent's negligence as a complete defense.

Door switch

Door switches are simple on/off mechanisms connected to the interior light (dome light), and may also be connected to a warning light, speaker, or other devices, to inform the driver when the door is not closed. The door light is standard equipment on all cars. In American cars from the 1950s-1990s, they had buzzers or "door dingers" that sounded, along with the check light, whenever any door is open.

Windows

Most vehicle doors have windows, and most of these may be opened to various extents. Most car door windows retract downwards into the body of the doors and are opened either with a manual crank, or switchable electrical motor (electric car windows other than the driver's window can usually be controlled at both the door itself and centrally by an additional control at the driver's position). In the past, certain retracting windows were operated by direct (up or down) pressure, and were held in the up position by friction instead of by an internal lift mechanism.

Other cars, particularly older US-manufactured vans, have hinged windows with a folded lever mechanism to push and hold the window out from its closed position.

Door brakes or stays

Vehicle doors often include brakes, or 'stays', that slow the door down just before it closes, and also prevent the door from opening further than its design specification. The current trend is to have a three-stage door brake.

Door brakes exist because the doors on the first vehicles were heavy, so they had to be pushed hard to make them close. Soon after, automotive manufacturers managed to construct lighter doors, but users were used to closing doors with significant force; therefore doors could become damaged. Door brakes were then introduced to slow down the door just before the door closed to prevent damage; these soon became standard.

Hatchback doors and number of doors designation

AMC Gremlin two-door with rear cargo hatch opened 1971 AMC Gremlin AMO 2015 show - all original 3of6.jpg
AMC Gremlin two-door with rear cargo hatch opened

Hatchback and estate or station wagon vehicles are typically described as 'three-door' or 'five-door' models in Europe and some other parts of the world. In the case of saloons or sedans and coupés, the boot/trunk lid is not counted as a door by definition because it is for a separate storage compartment - these cars are marketed as 'two-door' or 'four-door'. In Europe, the American-style labeling is occasionally used.[ citation needed ]

Doors that are for passenger egress are counted in North American markets. The openings used for cargo access are generally described by their function - such as hatch, tailgate, or liftgate - depending on the vehicle design. For example, a "two-door hatchback" will have two side doors for passengers and a rear opening to the cargo area. [3] Similarly, a station wagon or SUV can have four-doors since the opening to the cargo area via the rear tailgate or a hatch is not counted as a door. [4]

Passenger cars will typically have two-doors (such as coupes) or four-doors (such as sedans). [5] [6]

"Doored" or "door checked"

Some cyclists refer to colliding with an open car door as being "doored" or "door checked". [7] This usually happens when the cyclist is riding alongside a row of parallel-parked cars, and a driver suddenly opens his or her door immediately in front of the cyclist without first looking to see if it is safe to do so.

Types

There are many different types of vehicle doors, including the following:

Conventional

A conventional door, also known as a regular door is hinged at the front-facing edge of the door, and so allows the door to swing outward from the body of the car. These doors are relatively safe, in that if they are opened during forward motion of the vehicle, the wind resistance will work against the opening door, and will effectively force its closure.

Suicide

A suicide door is hinged on its trailing edge. The term "suicide door" was coined due to the potential for the door to fly open when the latch was released while the car was in motion.

Scissor

Scissor doors rotate vertically upward and are hinged at or near the end of the windshield. They are used in Lamborghinis, Alfa Romeos, and other brands.

Butterfly

Butterfly doors are similar to scissor doors, but while scissor doors move up, butterfly doors also move outwards, which makes for easier entry/exit, and saves space.

Gull-wing

Gull-wing doors are hinged on their uppermost edge, at the roof rather than the side. They are so named because, when opened, the doors evoke the image of a seagull opening its wings.

Swan

Swan doors operate in a similar way to conventional car doors, but they open at an upward angle to helps to clear curbs, especially on lower sports cars.

Sliding

Sliding doors open by sliding horizontally or vertically, whereby the door is either mounted on or suspended from a track. They are commonly used on the sides of minivans, leisure activity vehicles, light commercial vehicles, minibuses, and some buses as this allows a large opening for equipment to be loaded and unloaded without obstructing access.

Canopy

A canopy door sits on top of a car and lifts up in some way, to provide access for passengers. It is similar to an aircraft canopy. There are no set standards to canopies, so they can be hinged at the front, side or back - although hinging at the front is most common. Canopy doors are rarely used on production cars, but are frequently used on the 'closed' variants of Le Mans Prototype endurance race cars. They are also sometimes used on concept cars.

Disappearing

A disappearing door slides down and under the vehicle. This type makes the whole side of the passenger compartment open, and only leaves a threshold to step over to get in and out. Also called the Jatech rotary drop door, or disappearing car door. One example of a car with disappearing doors is the Lincoln Mark VIII concept car.

Vehicle regulations

Various countries have their own regulations for vehicle doors.

Global Technical Regulation No. 1, Door locks, is one of the few global regulations. Various countries are members of these regulations, for instance, Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, Russia, and the United States. China and India are not members. [8]

Another international doors regulation is regulation #11: door latches and door retention components. Application of this requirement is done for instance by the European Union, Russia, Japan, New Zealand and Egypt.

There are also national regulations:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Station wagon</span> Auto body-style with its roof extended rearward

A station wagon or estate car is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatchback</span> Car body configuration with a rear door

A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coupe</span> Car body style

A coupe or coupé is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honda Accord</span> Japanese mid-size car

The Honda Accord, also known as the Honda Inspire in Japan and China for certain generations, is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, best known for its four-door sedan variant, which has been one of the best-selling cars in the United States since 1989. The Accord nameplate has been applied to a variety of vehicles worldwide, including coupes, station wagons, hatchbacks and a Honda Crosstour crossover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide door</span> Automobile door hinged at its opposite side rather than the front

A suicide door is an automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on horse-drawn carriages, but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less safe than a front-hinged door. Being rear-hinged, if the vehicle were moving and the door opened, aerodynamic drag would force the door open, and the driver/passenger would have to lean forward and out of the vehicle to close it. As seat belts were not in common use at that time, the risk of falling out of the car and into traffic was high, hence the name "suicide door". Another reason could have been that while a door was open on a city street, a speeding car moving in the same direction as the parked car could rip a front-hinged door off the parked car but someone inside the adjacent seat, even if moving to leave the car, could not get scratched. However, with a suicide door, someone inside or partially outside the passenger compartment would get struck by the suicide door forcefully swinging back to a shut position due to the impact of the speeding car on the door.

A child safety lock is a special-purpose lock for cabinets, drawers, bottles, etc. that is designed to help prevent children from getting at any dangerous things or contents. Young children are naturally curious about their surroundings and will always explore, but as they may be unaware of dangerous substances or situations, the results can be fatal. Numerous cases of poisoning have resulted from eating brightly colored pills or spilling cleaning solvents.

There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saturn S series</span> Motor vehicle

The Saturn S-series is a family of compact cars from the Saturn automobile company of General Motors. Saturn pioneered the brand-wide "no-haggle" sales technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liftback</span> Variation of hatchback with a sloping roofline between 45 and 5 degrees

A liftback is a variation of a hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline, roughly between 45 and 10 degrees, whereas traditional or archetypal hatchback designs tend to use a 45 degree to near vertical slope on the top-hinged tailgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gull-wing door</span> Car door hinged at the roof

In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and was designed by a Maxwell James Harris, first as a race car in 1952 (W194), and then as a production sports car in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toyota Sera</span> Motor vehicle

The Toyota Sera is a 3-door 2+2 hatchback coupe manufactured and marketed by Toyota from 1990 to 1996. It was only officially sold in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trunk (car)</span> Part of automobile

The trunk or boot of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. It can also be called a tailgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scissor doors</span> Type of car door

Scissor doors are automobile doors that rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at the front of the door, rather than outward as with a conventional door.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillar (car)</span> Vertical or near vertical support of a cars window area or greenhouse

The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the A, B, C and D-pillar, moving from front to rear, in profile view.

A glossary of terms relating to automotive design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quarter glass</span> Type of car window

Quarter glass on automobiles and closed carriages may be a side window in the front door or located on each side of the car just forward of the rear-facing rear window of the vehicle. Only some cars have them. In some cases, the fixed quarter glass may set in the corner or "C-pillar" of the vehicle. Quarter glass is also sometimes called a valence window.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toyota Corolla (E120)</span> Motor vehicle

The Toyota Corolla (E120/E130) is the ninth generation of compact cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate. In Japan, this series arrived to the market in August 2000; however, exports were typically not achieved until 2001 and 2002 depending on the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honda Civic (sixth generation)</span> Motor vehicle

The sixth-generation Honda Civic is an automobile produced by Honda from 1995 until 2000. It was introduced in 1995 with 3-door hatchback, 4-door sedan and 2-door coupe body styles, replicating its predecessor's lineup. The sixth-generation Civic offered two new 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engines and a new continuously variable transmission (CVT) on the HX model. The coupe and sedan are 2.3 in (58 mm) longer and the hatchback is 4.3 in (109 mm) longer than the previous-generation Civic. This was the last generation of Civic to have front double-wishbone suspension, as the succeeding seventh generation would change the front suspension to a MacPherson strut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VAM Lerma</span> Motor vehicle

The VAM Lerma is an automobile that was designed and manufactured by Vehiculos Automotores Mexicanos from 1981 to 1983. The Lerma shared parts with other vehicles by VAM's license partner American Motors (AMC) to reduce manufacturing costs. It was VAM's top-of-the-line flagship model after the discontinuation of the Classic (Matador) line in 1976. The VAM Lerma was unusual in offering a hatchback design focused at the top-end luxury market. The model was an indirect replacement of the VAM Classic and to some extent the VAM Pacer lines.

References

  1. Shippen, James. "Analysis of vehicle ingress and egress". xsens.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  2. Gold, Aaron (1 June 2020). "AMC Gremlin: A Terrible Car That Wasn't Really Terrible". MotorTrend. Retrieved 3 August 2021. Layout: 2-door, 2-4 passenger, front-engine, RWD sedan
  3. Editors of Consumer Guide (2002). Automobile Book 2002. Publications International Limited. p. 250. ISBN   9780785360766 . Retrieved 3 August 2021. Body types: 2-door coupe or 4-door sedan = a standard-body car with a separate trunk; hatchback = car with a rear liftgate; wagon = car or sport- utility vehicle with an ...
  4. Dorian, Drew (3 September 2020). "2021 Jeep Wrangler Review, Pricing, and Specs". Car and Driver. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  5. "Coupe vs. Sedan: What's the Difference?". automoblog.net. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  6. "What is a 4-Door Car?". Kelley Blue Book. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  7. "get doored (verb)". Word Spy. Archived from the original on 2010-02-19. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  8. "Economic and SOcial Council" (PDF). UNECE.org. February 28, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2024.