The suicide doors were actually already practical ...
05/21/2020
They were more or less banned because you could fall out of the car if you opened them unintentionally while driving. And that was usually fatal.
When not in use, however, the so-called suicide doors, as we can see in the photo of the Fiat 500B, were quite convincing. This is because getting into the car is easier with the door opening to the rear and the opening door would probably also be less dangerous for any cyclists approaching. Opening the door when you are sitting in the car also seems to require less force and getting out of the car is no problem anyway.
Today, rear-opening doors are extremely rare, with the exception of the rear door of the former Mini Clubman, the rear doors of the Mazda RX8 and the driver/passenger doors of the new Rolls-Royce Cabriolet. Of course, they are all secured in such a way that they cannot open unintentionally. And that was probably not so easy in the past ...
