Why are they called that?

 

... ???

Do you mean suicide DOORS?

If so, then it's when the doors open the opposite way.. IE: It would open from near the front window, and the hinge would be near the back...

They're called suicide doors because if they pop open or anything while driving, the wind will probably rip them off, and you'll possibly fly out

 

Ohh some kid said its called a suicide dash cause they decapitate people in an accident, I just wondered if that was true or not.

 

you mean the passenger side with no glovebox?

wear your seatbelt

 

Haha, I find that funny!

 

cant be very well suicide if its the passenger

 

wtf? LOL. the dashes in these cars would crumple if it... atleast, that's what i think

I know old STEERING columns have bad raps because they won't collapse if you hit them... = Column flying through you

 

ya i know 50s cars can be like that... do ours collapse? workin on mine doesnt seem like it does

 

they do
look at where the bolts are for the column. the two the hold it up under the dash...

note that they're slots... if you slam into the column, it telescopes inward. if you hit it hard enough, it will break out of thoes thin pot alum blocks it bolts into and go inward more.

 

so instead of getting really hurt, you just get a lot of broken ribs? sounds good to me, but im not gonan go try it

 

The Colapsable steering column came into being in the 60's... My 67 was the first year for the current style where the tubes will fit into one another and colapse. Before that I think there was a little of movement but not much. Go way back into the 50's and the columns are fixed.

As for the Souicide dash??? I know way back when there was no seatbelts, there were some problems with a car with a glovebox coming open in an accident. Apparetly there were some accidents where children would slide forward in an accident and the glovebox would flop down, then when they would hit the box-door it took their head off.. They found some little kids heads in gloveboxes...

John

 

I never new it as the suicide dash, but me and my third gen people locally know it as a guillotine (french device for beheadings). My friend was in an accident in a Third gen TA and experienced the pain first hand.

 

to go back to the meaning of suicide doors...

from my knowledge they were called that not because of them popping open and people flyin out ( look at jeeps for example). they were called suicide doors because when people would park their cars on the street, if they opened their door without looking another car could possibly run into the door and the door would kill the person instantly.

thats just when i always heard.