Gull-wing doors

[pavelcherepan]

I remember Mr. Clarkson made a mention of this in Top Gear a couple seasons back, but anyway - how do you get out of a car with gull-wing doors if it's rolled over and ended on its roof? I haven't found information about it, but I can't really imagine that engineers have disregarded such a glaring safety hazard.

[John Cuthber]

Good question.

The same point has been raised for another type of door.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissor_doors#Disadvantages

[Greg H.]

You blow the explosive bolts. (Assuming you own a Mercedes SLS AMG). Video here

 

Turns out that, at least in the United States, it's federally mandated that the doors have to be operational in the event of a roll over crash.

[pavelcherepan]

You blow the explosive bolts. (Assuming you own a Mercedes SLS AMG). Video here

 

I wonder how much damage does this do to the door itself? You'd probably need to replace a door afterwards, which is a bit pricey.

 

 

Turns out that, at least in the United States, it's federally mandated that the doors have to be operational in the event of a roll over crash.

 

A legislation that makes perfect sense?! No way!

[swansont]

 

I wonder how much damage does this do to the door itself? You'd probably need to replace a door afterwards, which is a bit pricey.

 

You've rolled your car. There's going to be some body work necessary. That's already a given.

 

Turns out that, at least in the United States, it's federally mandated that the doors have to be operational in the event of a roll over crash.

 

Any idea which standard that is? I don't see anything it would fall under on this list

[Spyman]

I remember Mr. Clarkson made a mention of this in Top Gear a couple seasons back, but anyway - how do you get out of a car with gull-wing doors if it's rolled over and ended on its roof? I haven't found information about it, but I can't really imagine that engineers have disregarded such a glaring safety hazard.

How likely is it that a normal car has the doors stuck due to deformation of the roof and why is such safety hazard of less concern?

[Phi for All]

How likely is it that a normal car has the doors stuck due to deformation of the roof and why is such safety hazard of less concern?

 

I was wondering the same thing. I can see where a normal car would be more likely to end up on roof or tires than on either door in the event of a rollover, but what keeps the doors free just because it's not on its side? Or is jammed doors a low-percentage event that we only think we hear happening a lot?

[Spyman]

I don't have any statistics but considering that we train rescue personnel and have specialised tools for vehicle extrication, I would think that a lot of lives are dependent of successful removal from car wrecks. Even if the car don't roll over there can easily be structural damage in a violent crash that causes the doors to get stuck and a victim can still be trapped although the doors can be opened.

 

"Extrication includes patient assessment, treatment and removal of the patient from vehicle. Some departments only carry with them minimal tools such as one set of jaws of life and are only capable of simply "popping" a door off and then must step away to allow the medical rescuers in or to allow a more dedicated heavy rescue team in who has more equipment. Extrication units are supposed to not only have many different kinds of extrication tools, but medical equipment, oxygen, and backboards as well. Extrication is the entire process from fire protection, power unit disengagement, vehicle security, patient security and treatment, removal of vehicle from patient, removal of patient, and transfer to ambulance. Extrication is not just simply popping a door off."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_extrication

[Phi for All]

removal of vehicle from patient,

 

Ouch. That's very interesting though. An extrication unit in a major city would probably be able to tell us if gull-wing doors are more of a problem than conventional doors, or if it even matters by the time they're called in.

 

Doors and door frames need to match up. I don't see the gull wing doors as any different from conventional car doors in that respect. All of them are going to be difficult to deal with in a rollover that deforms the door frames.

[Greg H.]

 

You've rolled your car. There's going to be some body work necessary. That's already a given.

 

Any idea which standard that is? I don't see anything it would fall under on this list

Actually, no. It was mentioned in the article I found the video in, which is here: Link

But they didn't give any specifics.