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How did Mazda get away with using suicide doors on the RX8 if they're illegal under EU regulations?
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Presumably because they can't be opened unless the front doors are opened first.
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You refer to the Mazda, how about PUGs new 1007 - apaprently those sliding doors can be 'slid back' whislt driving, allbeit at a slow pace before they 'auto-lock', but it begs the question how on earth did that get through type approval? :P
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Since when has the ability to open doors whilst on the move been unusual? I have had the ability to do this in every car I've owned doing whatever speed I wish (my sister even fell out of a car once after she decided to play with the handle on a family friend's Austin Vanden Plas whilst we went around a corner!) - why should the Pug 1007 be any different?
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Well with conventional doors, they are usually pushed in by the aerodynamic forces anyhow, so to try and open your door at any great speed would require a great effort. The incident you allude to was down to curiosity moreso than anything else - I apaprnetly did that once in a Hillman Avenger when I was a lad.
The point is that this style of door is radically different and oppsed to the norm which we are told (for one reason) due to safety. So if it is all about safety then we're just (politely) lamenting how these older designs are making a come back (as with the RX8) and innocative designs (as for the PUG). Thats all :)
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Speaking of Hillman Avengers and suicide doors I remember doing something pretty suicidal when I was knee high to a grasshopper. (Car in garage) My Mum got into the drivers seat. I got something out of the back of the car and went across the garage with it......leaving back door open. Mum drove car out of garage not realising the back door was still open. Needless to say, with the garage door being a standard width the car emerged but the back door didn't.It was pulled forward by the garage doorpost, leaving a very interesting crease in the middle of it.
To make matters worse, the week before my folks had agreed a trade in price for the (spotless) Avenger against a brand new Hillman Hunter.
Suicide for me might not have been such a bad idea!
Graeme
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How did Mazda get away with using suicide doors on the RX8 if they're illegal under EU regulations?
Go on then, which regulation bans them?
If one does, then maybe we can work out why the RX8 is allowed to be sold.
Martin
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I'm with martin, I'm pretty sure there is no specific rule not allowing them.
Ther is also the new Roll Royce, the rear doors are suicide and don't need the front door open to open them.
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BMW had to get special dispensation to sell the new Rolls Royce with suicide doors from the EU. Without the EU agreeing that the safety mechanisms stop the doors opening on the move, they couldn't sell them.
At least I recall reading this in the motoring press a few years ago.
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On the subject of sliding doors- I remember Bedford newspaper delivery vans ,CE type? ,being driven around with the doors open pre-seatbelt days.
Don't know if they lost many drivers.
Seem to remember that sliding doors were unpopular as they would jam shut if they got dented.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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I saw a van being driven with its driver's door open only the other day. I can't say what kind it was, but it was modern, not an old Bedford.
And why "suicide"? How many instances of suicide have there ever been using these doors? Compared say, with the number of people throwing themselves under "suicide" trains, or jumping off "suicide" tower blocks? Have they been banned?
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Compared say, with the number of people throwing themselves under "suicide" trains, or jumping off "suicide" tower blocks? Have they been banned?
Slam doors have been banned on new trains, and the old stock may have been phased out entirely. Only allowed electrically-controlled sliding doors now.
Dunno if there was much of a prob with suicides, but there was a spate of hoodlums chucking people out of the train doors, and with folks falling out when they opened the door as the train was slowing.
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I think the suicide door bit came about as if the door wasn't shut properly then when driving the wind would catch it and swing it open causing considerable damage to the door. The door basically killed itself due to its design.
Yeah, I know its a stretch.
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I always thought the name suicide door came from the fact that when parked on the correct side of the road and opening the door, the door itself would
1) block your view of oncoming traffic
2) If hit by a car, be forced into you, rather than ripped away.
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Slam doors have been banned on new trains, and the old stock may have been phased out entirely. Only allowed electrically-controlled sliding doors now.
Agree that new stock is all electrically controlled doors but the good old 125s are still going strong with slam doors. OK they have a locking system as well now but this cant selectively unlock certain doors to allow for short platforms
StarGazer
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Presumably the RR doesn't have handles on the inside as one's driver opens the door for you.
Chris M
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Close. The rear quarterlight windows have buttons on to electically open the doors.
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Adam
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There is a phenomenon which may be outside the experience of most people nowadays. When a door opens while a vehicle is in motion a driver reflex comes into play whereby he jams the brakes on; at that point the inertia of a rear hinged door throws it shut, whereas a front hinged door flies forwards, breaks the restraint strap, and considerable damage is caused to the vehicle; on the near side it may also collect the odd lamppost, parked car, cyclist, or whatever. I have been the driver or a passenger in several such events.
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"I have been the driver or a passenger in several such events"
??????
Do you have a serious drink problem Tomo?
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"Do you have a serious drink problem Tomo?"
Yes, the price is a disgrace!
Reverting to car door events, latches were not all so secure as they are now and, particularly if someone left a door half latched, a pothole could spring it free - many roads were worse than they are now, believe it or not. And with a car load of chronics (students enjoying an extended University career) anything could happen!
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