page_title: Suicide door
section_title: Modern use
hierarchical_section_title: Suicide door / Modern use
caption_attribution_description: Opel Meriva - first and only car in the MPV class to have rear-hinged rear doors, which Opel call 'FlexDoors'.
context_page_description: A suicide door is the slang term for 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 perceived as being less safe than a front-hinged door.
  Initially standard on many models, later they became popularized in the custom car trade. The term "suicide" is avoided by major automobile manufacturers in favor of alternatives such as coach doors, flexdoors, freestyle doors, rear access doors, and rear-hinged doors.
context_section_description: Due to increasing safety concerns, the last mass-produced car model with independently opening suicide doors sold in the United States was the Ford Thunderbird four-door sedan from 1967 to 1971. Similarly, the last mass-produced pickup truck with such doors was the Toyota Tundra from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, the new Rolls-Royce Phantom (sold in the United Kingdom) reintroduced independent suicide doors in luxury vehicle applications. Other luxury models with classic suicide doors include the Spyker D8 and the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe four-seat convertible. However, the most recent mass-produced model with such doors may be the Opel Meriva.
  In recent years, rear-hinged rear doors that cannot be opened until the front doors are opened have appeared on a number of vehicles, including extended-cab pickup trucks, the Saturn SC, the Saturn Ion Quad Coupe, the Honda Element, the Toyota FJ Cruiser, the BMW i3, the Mazda RX-8 and Mazda MX-30. Such doors are more properly referred to as clamshell doors.
  Rear passenger suicide doors had long been used on Austin FX4 hackney carriages. Their successors, the TX1 TX2 and TX4, lacked them. In 2018 LEVC introduced the TXe which has rear passenger suicide doors.
  Several concept cars have featured suicide doors, such as the Lincoln C, a hatchback with no B-pillar and rear suicide doors, or the Carbon Motors Corporation E7, a police car with rear suicide doors designed to aid officers getting handcuffed passengers in and out of the back seat. The Kia Naimo, an electric concept car, also has rear suicide doors.
  Other car manufacturers which have produced models with suicide doors include Citroën, Lancia,  Opel, Panhard, Rover, Saab, Saturn, Škoda, and Volkswagen.
  Lincoln has announced that 80 limited-edition 2019 Continentals will be made with suicide doors, marking the Continental's 80th anniversary. "A limited number of additional Continental Coach Door Edition sedans will be available for the 2020 model year, too..."
caption: 2010 Opel Meriva
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