Rear hinged back doors?

FutureBoy

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I really F'n hope not. This is one of my pet peeves about my F150. It's horrible. Look at were the driver's seat belt is. It's on the back door. Stop to let a passenger out and you, as the driver, have to unbuckle your seatbelt and open your own door before the rear door will open. Want to put groceries in the back seat, you just have to push the cart to the front of the truck, open your door, open the back door, close the front door, pull the cart back...it's stupid. This is of course if someone is parked next to you. If nobody is next to you it's not as much of an issue. The concept works a little better if the rear door opens 180 degree flat against the back panel, or something close to that, but the Ford rear doors do not do this. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. I will not buy another truck built like this.
Back in the day (like horse and buggy days) carriage doors tended to have the hinges at the rear because it is much easier to get in and out of the vehicles if the door is completely out of the way. When the first automobiles came along, they tended to have rear-hinged doors also for the same reason. And of course, this is back before any significant safety equipment existed. In time though these doors came to be seen as dangerous because as cars got faster, the wind blowing past the door could supposedly rip the door off if it were to become unlatched. And this is before seatbelts so the person riding in that seat could potentially be thrown out of the car in this scenario. So it seems that the industry "fix" to this issue was to make doors that hinged at the front. Safety issue averted.

But front-hinged doors are more difficult to exit and enter. So companies started to get a bit creative with rear-hinged doors. They designed all sorts of ways to prevent the door from being opened while the car is in motion. I've seen a number of methods used. You mention the front seatbelt being sourced in the front pillar of the rear door. Some vehicles have rear-hinged doors only for the back seats and the rear door cannot be opened till the front door is opened first. The problem with all these schemes is that they are purposefully being engineered to address a perceived problem (doors getting blown open unintentionally) by making the use of the door more difficult in day-to-day life. In effect, the "fix" for getting rear-hinged doors is actually more of a pain than just having front-hinged doors. So if given the chance to have front-hinged doors that work intuitively or rear-hinged doors with crazy safety schemes, many people just choose front-hinged doors. A lot of people want rear-hinged doors but when they see the hoops they have to jump through to use them the choice is to get front-hinged doors.

So here is my preference. Ideally, we would find an intuitive fix for rear-hinged doors and then all 4 side doors of the CT would be rear-hinged. It would be cool. It would be easier to use. And it would definitely make a statement. It would also take some serious getting used to by the public who at this point just doesn't see the need. If the fix is going to involve anything annoying about how the doors get used, then I just want all 4 doors to be front-hinged. Any other solution or partial solution is probably just worthless.
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FutureBoy

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The article says: "the Tesla is less about work and more about making a statement." if you believe that then you can believe a lot of things that they say, one of them being about the "rear-hinged" doors. Me, I say they are full of shit, partly because, to me, the CT is perhaps the most work-worthy vehicle ever built, and I don't trust anything that comes after that statement.
I would agree that the Cybertruck is about making a statement. And that statement is:

Get to work and switch over to EVs. You think EVs are whimpy? Let me show you the best work truck the world has ever seen. It's electric, beats any other work truck on any and all specs, will blow your mind in usefulness. It will rock crawl with the best, race on par with trophy trucks, and still show up at black-tie affairs looking like the hottest ticket in town. It will protect you in the apocalypse, thwart hungry bears, and drive you home while your family sleeps safely in comfort. Oh, and if you need to get something done at the job site, you can run your air or electric tools off the truck.
 

MEDICALJMP

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The author of this article makes a lot of suppositions and misstatements. Frankly, the author doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Let me list them:

“ While Tesla cars and SUVs are understated in their own way, there will be no mistaking a Cybertruck for anything else. While there is some functionality to the cargo area, the Tesla is less about work and more about making a statement.‘

Less about work? Really? This thing Is all about work. From the dent resistant stainless steel body to the electrical outlets and air compressor, 6.5 foot bed, this is a work truck. It looks funky but it’s about the work.

“ Tesla also touts the ruggedness of its 3 mm thick steel body and claims the glass will be bulletproof.”

Tesla has never claimed the glass to be bulletproof. They claim the 3 mm thick stainless steel body is resistant to 9 mm bullets at a distance of 10 m. The glass is called “armor glass“ and they show images of trailer hitches and wrenches bouncing off it, but they never showed the glass being shot with bullets bouncing off. This is a total misstatement and fabrication indicating this author knows nothing.

“ The cab on the Tesla Cybertruck features rear-hinged back doors that open up to seating for six.”

As has been previously stated, it wasn’t on the prototype so where is this guy getting this information? I think he’s just blowing smoke out of his butt.

The author glows about Rivian in every counterpoint of the Cybetruck. When he talks about ground clearance he only states what the Rivian R1T has offer, which is lower than the Cybertruck. He never mentions that the Cybertruck is able to adjust the suspension height lower and higher than the R1T. Nor that it adjusts based on road and speed considerations.

“ Cybertruck may attract enthusiasts or extreme sports types rather than those looking for practicality.‘

if you’re looking at practicality the cyber truck is hands-down better than its competition.

It’s clear this author does not like the looks of the CT. That’s OK. It is a radical design. Many of us want that practicality and the radical design simply grew on me and others. Some loved the design immediately because it was so radical.

I’ve shown that the author has made many misstatements. Do not take this as being what will be. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The doors will be hinged at the front, all of them.
 
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Throwcomputer

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Simple enough to note the author doesn't even mention the ct specs in counter point to the rivian specs. They mention only the most basic ct specs but expound upon minor specs of the rivian without even passing mention of the better complimentary specs on the ct. I call it Paid advertisement.
 


fritter63

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BUT it buys 3% shrink longitudinally to eliminate a redundant B-pillar.
Only if you assume that. length wasn't needed by the cab, which is most probably is (the front seats usually extend beside the b-pillar.
 

JBee

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Back in the day (like horse and buggy days) carriage doors tended to have the hinges at the rear because it is much easier to get in and out of the vehicles if the door is completely out of the way. When the first automobiles came along, they tended to have rear-hinged doors also for the same reason. And of course, this is back before any significant safety equipment existed. In time though these doors came to be seen as dangerous because as cars got faster, the wind blowing past the door could supposedly rip the door off if it were to become unlatched. And this is before seatbelts so the person riding in that seat could potentially be thrown out of the car in this scenario. So it seems that the industry "fix" to this issue was to make doors that hinged at the front. Safety issue averted.

But front-hinged doors are more difficult to exit and enter. So companies started to get a bit creative with rear-hinged doors. They designed all sorts of ways to prevent the door from being opened while the car is in motion. I've seen a number of methods used. You mention the front seatbelt being sourced in the front pillar of the rear door. Some vehicles have rear-hinged doors only for the back seats and the rear door cannot be opened till the front door is opened first. The problem with all these schemes is that they are purposefully being engineered to address a perceived problem (doors getting blown open unintentionally) by making the use of the door more difficult in day-to-day life. In effect, the "fix" for getting rear-hinged doors is actually more of a pain than just having front-hinged doors. So if given the chance to have front-hinged doors that work intuitively or rear-hinged doors with crazy safety schemes, many people just choose front-hinged doors. A lot of people want rear-hinged doors but when they see the hoops they have to jump through to use them the choice is to get front-hinged doors.

So here is my preference. Ideally, we would find an intuitive fix for rear-hinged doors and then all 4 side doors of the CT would be rear-hinged. It would be cool. It would be easier to use. And it would definitely make a statement. It would also take some serious getting used to by the public who at this point just doesn't see the need. If the fix is going to involve anything annoying about how the doors get used, then I just want all 4 doors to be front-hinged. Any other solution or partial solution is probably just worthless.
I don't like suicide doors. EM has alreay said it will be the same as the prototype. I really just can't see a swap rear hinge doors.

But if there was an alternative design that I would be ok with that would be a rotating door (like a lambo) or a sliding door. Either works for tight parking and gets the doors out the way. But will we see it? Nup.
 
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tmeyer3

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I don't like suicide doors. EM has alreay said it will be the same as the prototype. I really just can't see a swap rear hinge doors.

But if there was an alternative design that I would be ok with that would be a rotating door (like a lambo) or a sliding door. Either works for tight parking and gets the doors out the way. But will we see it? Nup.
Haha a sliding door, like a van side door? That'd be the first truck ever with that.
 

CybertruckAgent

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https://www.kbb.com/comparison/tesla-cybertruck-vs-rivian-r1t-comparison/

Either I've missed a big announcement, this journalist is just wrong, or kbb accidentally leaked something! This article mentions that Cybertruck rear doors will be rear hinged.

Thoughts?

Image is from a quick Google image search of "rear hinged doors".

DSC_0272.png
This is common on “quad cab” or “access cab” configurations of trucks. The body on frame architecture and smaller opening allows for a deletion of the B pillar. I highly doubt cybertruck will get this because They’ve only shown CT crew cab configuration, you never see rear hinged crew cabs, my suspicion is the ergonomics of full sized suicide doors are not ideal for parking egress and crew cabs need B pillars for rigidity. CT will especially need the most rigidity because “the body is the frame”.
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