Lincoln May Revive Rear “Suicide Doors” on New Continental

Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln unit plans to use rear-hinged rear doors on upcoming versions of its Continental sedan.

Company officials showed dealers a photo of a Continental featuring the controversial rear doors over the weekend at the National Automobile Dealers Assn. meeting in Las Vegas. Unnamed dealer sources told Automotive News that production plans for the vehicle are in the works. Lincoln declined to comment.

Nicknamed “suicide doors” by critics due to safety concerns, rear-hinged rear doors date back to horse-drawn carriages and were a common feature on cars from the 1930s through the 1960s. The design makes access to the rear seats easier. But it also can result in rear passengers who are not wearing seatbelts to be ejected from the vehicle during an accident.

Rear-hinged doors continue to be popular on concept cars, but only a handful of production models offer the feature. Among the recent production vehicles using the design are the BMW i3 electric car, Honda Element crossover vehicle, Mazda RX-8 sports car, Saturn SC and Ion QuadCoupe, Toyota FJ Cruiser SUV and several extended-cab pickup trucks.

In modern production vehicles, the rear doors can’t be opened until one of the front doors is first opened to prevent them from opening inadvertently during an accident.