Why are suicide doors called suicide doors?

For the same reason that a right turn at a cross roads in front of traffic also turning right from the other direction, is called a suicide turn - because your forward view is obscured. The suicide door opens at the front, discouraging the backward view of the traffic passing by. read more

Q. Recently, a few friends and I were talking about the old Lincoln Continentals with the passenger doors that opened opposite each other. In other words, the rear doors were hinged at the back and opened backwards while the front doors opened normally. My friend said the rear doors were called suicide doors. read more

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 widely perceived as being unsafe. read more