What Happened to the 3-Door Saturn?
Try as they might, Saturn (or any other auto maker for that matter) could really get the whole 3rd Door access to become overly popular. Maybe that’s because it’s known as the “suicide door.” Antique automobiles up through 1960’s era Lincoln Continentals used the backward swinging design, and more modern pickup trucks feature a small suicide door in extended cab models. Two of Saturn’s coupes, its S-Series and Ion, featured this additional access point. But it never really picked up with consumers.
The name suicide door “reflects the increased danger of the door falling open if it becomes unlatched while the car is moving. The potential risk is obvious: when driving at high speed, the fast moving air around the car creates an area of low pressure, which acts as an outward force on the door, trying to open it.” – (thanks Wikipedia)
Saturn first introduced a driver-side third door for easy entry on their 1999 SC coupe. Its latch is on the inside panel, making it impossible to open (on purpose or accidentally) without opening the front door first. Many S-Series vehicles remained in the top 5 most stolen cars during their model run.
In 2003 the S-Series was replaced by an all new Ion, based off an Opel design. Ion’s coupe featured suicide doors on both sides of the vehicle. Saturn Ion had a decent sales rate at first, and was up for a redesign in 2008. However, in 2007 owners GM decided to discontinue their Ion and move onto the Astra. The time for suicide/3-door coupes has come and gone again. Perhaps one day some car company will take up the fight for unique door design again.
Feb 20th, 2009 at 10:29 am
[...] both four door sedan, 5 door wagon and two door coupe. Other version included a two door coupe with suicide doors. S-Series kept on trucking with a good sales percentages until production ended in 2002, and was [...]