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Tesla had problems with its Falcon Wing doors — but crazy car doors have a long history
Tesla
Tesla’s Falcon Wing doors are among the most recognizable features found on any car on the market today. No other SUV, let alone mass-production vehicle, is fitted with doors that are quite as interesting and packed with technology as the Falcon Wings. Not only are they they electronic — they’re packed with a variety of sensors that can detect how much room there is around the car to prevent dings and dents.
From the get-go, people recognized that there would be engineering challenges associated with putting together doors as complex as those found the X. As it turns out, Tesla did indeed encounter for than a few problems getting these smart doors to work properly.
According to a lawsuit filed by the automaker in Federal court this week, Tesla ran into numerous challenges including a planned hydraulic actuation system that overheated, leaked fluid and drooped. In fact, Tesla had to completely scrap the hydraulic system and design an electric one just four months prior to the roll out of the production cars.
In a press conference at the launch of the Model X, CEO Elon Musk admitted that the some of the SUV’s tech features — such as the doors — proved to be an absolutely nightmare to put into production.
But Tesla isn’t the first company to come face-to-face with a an unconventional door system. From the Lincoln Continental’s “suicide doors” to the DeLorean’s “gullwings,” the automotive history books are bedecked with funky door designs.
The most common doors these days are the swingout and the sliding designs. With the exception of a few exotics, virtually every car in the world today use these two formats. So why not others? Well they’re unconventional for a reason. The aesthetic beauty of designs such as the gullwing belie their practical shortcomings.
Upswing doors tend to have a higher propensity for leaking and a higher center gravity, which make the car less stable around corners. Furthermore, getting out of a car with gullwing doors if the vehicle rolls over on its roof is particularly tricky. Mercedes had to resort to using explosive bolts on the door hinges that trigger if the car rolls over.
Eccentricities aside, upswinging doors tend to be part some of the most exquisitely designed cars in the world.
Here’s a collection of some of the more memorable door designs.
The Falcon Wing doors on the Tesla Model X are one of the electric crossover’s most distinct features. The doors are controlled by a series of electric actuators and have the first ultrasonic sensors that can see through metal.
Unlike other upswinging door designs, the Falcon Wings are double-hinged, which gives them an added level of dexterity.
Due to the Model X’s sizable battery pack mounted under the passenger cabin, the heavy Falcon Wing doors do not destabilize the crossover in corners.
Aside from the Model X, most of the other cars to feature unconventional doors tend be much more exotic.
The first car anyone thinks of when it comes to crazy doors would be the Lamborghini Countach and its upswinging scissor doors. It’s a design that has lived on for more than 40 years.
Following to the Countach was the Diablo.
Then the Murcielago and …
… finally the Aventador. The design has become such a major part of the company’s legacy that they have become colloquially referred to as Lamborghini Doors.
BMW joined in on the fun with its hybrid i8 sports car.
Ferrari adopted upswinging doors on its Enzo hypercar and …
… again for the hybrid LaFerrari.
But these days, no one has more scissor doors in their lineup than McLaren. In fact, pretty much every car the company has ever produced has featured this door.
Everything from the legendary F1 hypercar to …
… the entry-level 540C.
Other McLarens to feature the design include the 650 …
… 675LT and …
… the P1 hybrid hypercar ( Seen here in GTR guise).
With the SLR, Mercedes and McLaren teamed up to make car with scissor doors.
Its a design Mercedes also deployed in its CLK-GTR roadgoing race car.
Although the SLR had scissor doors, it was really an homage to …
… this car. The iconic Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
In fact, the the 300SL has become known simply as the “Gullwing.”
Following the SLR, Mercedes produced a true gullwinged successor to the 300SL — the SLS AMG.
During the 1960s and 70s, Mercedes used a series of gullwing experimental prototypes called the C111 to test out a variety of engine technologies, ranging from Diesel to Wankel Rotary engines.
During the 80s, DeLorean made the gullwing cools once more.
Today, the gullwing legacy continues with this car.
The Pagani Huayra.
Other interesting designs include the Dihedral Synchro Helix doors on the Koenigsegg Regera mega-car.
And the rearward-hinged upswinging doors on the mulit-million dollar Lykan Hypersport.
For its Z1 sports cars, BMW chose to take doors in a different direction. Instead of opening up or out …
… The Z1′s doors dropped into the car.
On a more conventional note, the classic Lincoln Continental helped keep the suicide doors in the public consciousness. So what are suicide doors?
These are suicide doors. They are a set of doors — one front-hinged and one rear-hinged— that open out. These days, suicide doors are most prominently displayed on some high-end exotics, such as the Rolls-Royce Ghost and …
…. Rolls-Royce Phantom.
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