This will be a relatable truth to anyone who’s ever made the mistake of looking at their own years-old social media posts, but life is all about improvement. Things we once did, opinions we once held, and yes, words we once used may no longer hold water or be looked upon favorably today. But as long as we recognize the error in our ways and correct ourselves going forward, it’s fine. That’s life.
With all that in mind, I come before you today to formally point out one car-related colloquialism that should probably be retired for reasons that are obvious once you’ve actually thought about it for more than two seconds: “suicide doors.” Even if you’re not a car expert, you probably know the term. It refers to the doors on a car that open the opposite way they usually do—insides facing forward, not back—but their common name needlessly invokes a very morbid and very real mental health issue.
According to J.D. Power, the term was popularized by Ralph Nader in his 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed: The Dangers of the American Automobile. That style of door was a lot more popular back then, but cars were also getting faster, making them actual safety hazards—hence the alarmist but mostly well-meaning moniker.
Modern car doors rarely swing this way, but when they do, we have technology like latches and locks that keep them in place, so the danger Nader was trying to convey is no longer relevant. And as Jason eloquently points out in Slack, the name was never even factually that accurate. “They were never really suicide, logically, because they got the name because the wind would catch them and they’d fly open; so it was more of a manslaughter door.”
Instead, I think we should borrow from the world of interior design (and refrigerators), where there is indeed a very simple name for a pair of doors that open like the ones on the car above: French doors. After all, if Whirlpool can figure out how to make its opposing-hinged products sound classy, Ferrari probably deserves the same dignity.
Topshot: Lincoln
As a kid who got to go to a number of car shows, I actually learned the term “suicide doors” as doors that opened backwards well before I had any idea what the term suicide meant. Had no idea it was originally a Naderism.
Just rebrand them slightly to “Sooie-side” doors and come up with a story about how farmers back in the day used to yell “Sooie sooie sooie” to call their hogs and how it was easier to see said animals coming towards the vehicle if the side-doors opened from the rear.
I think they should be called “Banana Peels” for obvious reasons.
My FIAT 500 has these doors and people often refer to it as “controvento”. I always called them rear-hinge or coach doors.
Had the car for dozens of years, and had the door unintentionally swing upon once. There is a small cloth strap that prevents the door from swinging into the rear quarter panel which worked but I replaced as the force stretched it out. I was not going fast at all but the force and speed was frightening…the car also has no seat belts, thankfully I didn’t have a passenger.
Roods
Huh. Didn’t know Nader coined the term. I grew up thinking the name was accurate because of my father’s stories about his sketchy Lloyd he drove in rural Indiana in the 1960s.
He got it cheap because the starter was out, and some other stuff. It came with a complete parts manual in German. He found pictures of the missing parts, copied the parts numbers, and mailed an inquiry to the factory in Germany. Amazingly, they eventually mailed him the parts COD. Ah, simpler times.
In the meantime, he either had to park on hills, or push start the car. Push starting a car with rear-opening doors gives teeth to the moniker “suicide doors.”
(I just looked up Lloyd, and it may be relevant that a common German phrase at the time was, “Wer den Tod nicht scheut, fährt Lloyd” (“He who is not afraid of death, drives a Lloyd”).
Apparently, my father was dating the woman who would become my mother at the time. He would pick her up at the telephone exchange (she was an operator) in the Lloyd. She’d steer while he pushed. I’m probably lucky to have been conceived.
Another story: when Dad first got the Lloyd running, he took it for a quick test run. He was spotted by the sheriff with no plates in the car. Dad tried to outrun the sheriff… uphill, in a 2-cylinder, 2-stroke car, and turning down a side road. He was busted, but the sheriff was quite familiar with my father’s mechanical mayhem and just issued a warning.
Everything is being hijacked. As mentioned the newly ordained owners suite although I kind of like that one. The OK sign with your hand along with the thumbs up. Rainbows and now what do I call the suicide knob on my lawn tractor? Mr. easy steer?
That’s easy – the steering wheel knob has another old nickname: the necker knob. It allowed you to steer with one hand while you draped the other arm around your sweetheart, who was of course snuggled up to you on the bench seat. Don’t try this on your lawnmower.
The minister’s suite? That’s what ordained means. Owner’s suite is becoming the popular term.
I’m no native speaker, but won’t “reverse doors” work?
In any case, I’m hlad this site isn’t dependent on social media in any way, otherwise we would be dancing around the topic calling them “s*****e doors” or “[unalive] doors”/”[self-harm] doors”
An astute observation Rafael! 🙂 Unalive doors indeed! 😀
I’m fine w/’reverse’ doors, though the persnickety among us (sometimes including me) might insist that they’d also have to open inwards to truly earn that moniker.
Thanks! And thanks for the new word, I was sure it was a typo, but it is real nad (maybe) related to a similar word in Portuguese, “pernóstico”, with similar meaning and unknown etymology!