next generation of car doors?

[pilottj]

thought folks might find this interesting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtkoje4-eM&feature=related

cheers
TJ

[Lionheart]

Very cool concept PilotTJ,

Thanks for the heads up.



Bill

[HouseHobbit]

I want One!!
Too Cool..
LOL..

[Piglet]

All fun and games until the motor fails! Or if you park on irregular terrain...

[OBIO]

Those doors would make even my 1996 Chevy Corsica 4 door look cool. Too bad they would cost 100 times what the rest of the car was worth new.

OBIO

[TARPSBird]

Very clever concept, and a legit company, but the doors in the demo video look like CGI animation to me. I'd like to see the doors demonstrated in front of an audience at a car show or somewhere other than their video.

[pilottj]

Very clever concept, and a legit company, but the doors in the demo video look like CGI animation to me. I'd like to see the doors demonstrated in front of an audience at a car show or somewhere other than their video.

lol yeah at first they look like CGI, but here is an amatuer home video of one :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79exomeInpA

[Cazzie]

Where are the window and door controls? What, no side pockets? Where are you going to put the speakers?

Conceptual gimmicky! Bah Humbug. The only plus would be that some goof would be putting parking lot dinks in your vehicle.

Caz

[kilo delta]

So much for side impact protection!

[Dain Arns]

Be okay if your car is going to be used in a strictly urban, low speed setting.
Most common type of accident is a rear-end collision.

But, removing the "B" post means losing structural support for the roof in the event of a roll over accident, which statistically is the most common type of vehicle accident for rural areas.
Fall asleep or get distracted, wheel off road, over correct, sideways slide...
Saw it time and time again. Still #1 type of accident in my state, anyway.
That roof is going to be level with the top of the door, unless you install a roll bar.

But I do like the concept...

[Snuffy]

Cool concept, however ...

Yep, any kind of a "bender" and yer screwed.

[Skittles]

This looks a bit like the solution to a problem that never existed.

One of the comments on the video raises a good point. If the car is in an accident which deforms the body in any way, you are not going to be able to open that door. at least with a conventional door if you can get the latch open the rest generally opens.

[TARPSBird]

lol yeah at first they look like CGI, but here is an amatuer home video of one :)

OK, the door looks real in that video. :) Thanks for the link.

[Brian_Gladden]

This looks a bit like the solution to a problem that never existed.

One of the comments on the video raises a good point. If the car is in an accident which deforms the body in any way, you are not going to be able to open that door. at least with a conventional door if you can get the latch open the rest generally opens.

And speaking as a former EMT and Firefighter... There's no dang place to get a purchase with the 'Jaws' if they do get in a wreck.

Not to mention the fact that the demo vehicle hasn't been made by the Ford Motor Co. in over ten years. Lincoln hasn't made the Mk VII since 98 (and I'd kill for a decent shape one)


Brian

[Zoren]

This wouldn't last one winter here in Canada. I don't know how many times my windows froze up making it not possible to roll down and this is even after driving for awhile. It sucks to drive-up to a drive thru and have to open the door part way.

I can see one cold morning opening the door and the window does go into the door and you break the glass trying to get over it into your car.

[Lionheart]

Concerning opening it in a crash; they might have a upper pin-eject that releases it from the track so you simply 'pull the release' and then push the door straight out and it would simply fall out on the road, which would be easier then opening it.

The Lamborghini Countach has issues on a similar concept, roll-overs. You simply reach under the dash, pull the ring near the door, the hinge pin is released, and you kick the door outward and crawl out. No problems.


The only thing I dont like is that there is no arm rest. I love door arm rests and trinket pockets and things. These doors are without. Maybe they might install some that fold into the door, or have a ridge in the floor for the door armrest to be able to move into when you open it.

This would be great in tight parking spots.



Bill

[djscoo]

On the armrest issue, in the first video you can see they just added an armrest onto the side of the seat that automatically folds up when you open the door.

[Ken Stallings]

All fun and games until the motor fails! Or if you park on irregular terrain...

I think you are right. Another issue is that your car's interior will get vastly wetter when you enter or exit during a rainstorm.

For me, this application works only under the circumstances carefully selected. These are highly refined areas with level ground and no signficant weather.

I supposed for safety you can open the door manually. But best of luck getting the door to shut manually. This means that if the motor fails, your car is illegal to drive. Even with a power window, there's nothing illegal about driving with it up or down. So, you can at least drive it to a repair shop! With this door stuck, you cannot even do that!

Also, with no middle crash beam, I strongly suspect that the safety of the door from a sideways collision is significantly degraded. The center post on a current four-door design serves very valuable collision reinforcement. And any engineer knows that if a door is longer, then it must be reinforced greatly at the widened pivot points. This would serve to make the door vastly heavier.

Frankly, I see no value in the design concept. It is a novelty in my view. The gull wing door is vastly better because at least the door raising upward serves as a rain shield, and it means the door can be designed to close and open manually.

Ken

[limjack]

Where are the window and door controls? What, no side pockets? Where are you going to put the speakers?

Conceptual gimmicky! Bah Humbug. The only plus would be that some goof would be putting parking lot dinks in your vehicle.

Caz

One more for your list Cazzie.....How am I going to know when my wife is mad at me, no way she can slam that door.

Jim

[Lionheart]

I think you are right. Another issue is that your car's interior will get vastly wetter when you enter or exit during a rainstorm.

For me, this application works only under the circumstances carefully selected. These are highly refined areas with level ground and no signficant weather.

I supposed for safety you can open the door manually. But best of luck getting the door to shut manually. This means that if the motor fails, your car is illegal to drive. Even with a power window, there's nothing illegal about driving with it up or down. So, you can at least drive it to a repair shop! With this door stuck, you cannot even do that!

Also, with no middle crash beam, I strongly suspect that the safety of the door from a sideways collision is significantly degraded. The center post on a current four-door design serves very valuable collision reinforcement. And any engineer knows that if a door is longer, then it must be reinforced greatly at the widened pivot points. This would serve to make the door vastly heavier.

Frankly, I see no value in the design concept. It is a novelty in my view. The gull wing door is vastly better because at least the door raising upward serves as a rain shield, and it means the door can be designed to close and open manually.

Ken


Not really Ken. Just like with Sunroof's, you have a crank tool you could put in a hidden or concealed socket, and bring the door up and down manually.

Some aircraft (vintage) had emergency hand cranks for RG versions of planes.


Bill