Why do only mini vans have sliding doors?

[Lazarus52980]

I am really curious about this. I love the sliding doors for keeping kids from damaging the vehicles next to me when I park, but I would really like them on a larger van (thinking 12 passenger van). Why are they only on mini-vans?

 

[vi edit]

Unibody of minivans being built on a car frame vs. body on frame of full size being based off of trucks? Maybe there's something structural that the giant ass sliding door hinders on that style of vehicle.

 

[KeithP]

Just did a search, a sliding door is a no cost option on Ford passenger vans.

-KeithP

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Please teach your children to open doors properly.

 

[Lazarus52980]

Please teach your children to open doors properly.

My kids are fine, but my wife and I are doing foster care, and its the foster kids that I don't yet know that concern me.

 

[vi edit]

Please teach your children to open doors properly.

Even grown adults can get taken off guard by heavy winds ripping a door out their hands. Or some jackass can park so close to you that it's hardly phyiscally possible to get a door open without banging the other vehicle.

Sliding doors rock.

 

[vshah]

get scissor doors installed

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Fuck doors. Just go mini-van superleggera style

 

[Zap]

Even grown adults can get taken off guard by heavy winds ripping a door out their hands.

Had that happen to me. Windy day. I parked and was still in my car. Woman parked to the right of me in a Mercedes Benz ML320. She opened her door and the wind slammed it into my front passenger side door. Even with the wind it was avoidable because she wasn't centered in her space, but was close to my side and there was no car in the space on the other side either. :\

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Even grown adults can get taken off guard by heavy winds ripping a door out their hands. Or some jackass can park so close to you that it's hardly phyiscally possible to get a door open without banging the other vehicle.

Sliding doors rock.

Being windy is just an excuse, same thing with the car leaning to one side. I acknowledge that accidents happen, but people nowadays have zero respect for other people's property and they pass that along to the little rugrats. Pay attention to WTF you're doing and this will not happen.

My office overlooks a retail space, and at least once a week I notice some rugrat jumping out of a car and smashing the door into the next car.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

My kids are fine, but my wife and I are doing foster care, and its the foster kids that I don't yet know that concern me.

Then go park somewhere else where there's no possibility of a child damaging property while under your care.


Good on you for fostering kids, we need more decent foster parents. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[MDE]

Unibody of minivans being built on a car frame vs. body on frame of full size being based off of trucks? Maybe there's something structural that the giant ass sliding door hinders on that style of vehicle.

Chevy Astro. Truck based with a sliding door.

 

[Bignate603]

Then go park somewhere else where there's no possibility of a child damaging property while under your care.

It's not always a possibility. When parking is scarce you park where you can get a spot, even if it isn't ideal.

 

[Squisher]

Just did a search, a sliding door is a no cost option on Ford passenger vans.

-KeithP

Yeah, it looks like only Chevy doesn't offer it, but the GMC version does offer it, unless I'm reading that wrong.


I had a sliding door on my '74 Chevy van along with 3" shag carpeting on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

in the future, all city-based cars will have sliders

 

[Doppel]

Being windy is just an excuse, same thing with the car leaning to one side. I acknowledge that accidents happen, but people nowadays have zero respect for other people's property and they pass that along to the little rugrats. Pay attention to WTF you're doing and this will not happen.

My office overlooks a retail space, and at least once a week I notice some rugrat jumping out of a car and smashing the door into the next car.

Doesn't matter if wind is an excuse; with a sliding door it becomes a non-issue.

Sliding doors are not just good at avoiding hitting things. Try parking in a tight space such as a small garage and their benefit is obvious there as well.

The truth is sliding doors don't exist on a lot of cars simply because small-penised people associated them with minivans and get hot and bothered. Most SUVs now like the Explorer, Honda Pilot are really just AWD minivans except lacking rear-sliding doors. A Sienna AWD with sliding doors is a girly minivan but a FWD Highlander is a manly SUV.

 

[nace186]

Similar to the OP's questions, is there reason why there's no sliding door on hatchback?

 

[heymrdj]

I think it's because logistically difficult on a car. I mean minivans are pretty long, you have to have at least the room of the door to slide back on the car, not to mention a sidewall thick enough to hand the track and supports of the track inside. This also, of course, introduces issues with body lines on things like SUV's.

 

[dawp]

Chevy Astro. Truck based with a sliding door.

chevy astro is still a minivan.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Similar to the OP's questions, is there reason why there's no sliding door on hatchback?

You do not want the profile of the door to exceed the vehicle body - lack of structural support

 

[Zenmervolt]

Just did a search, a sliding door is a no cost option on Ford passenger vans.

-KeithP

It's a $150 option on Chevy passenger vans too. The WT ("Work Truck") line seems to come with the slider by default.

I think that the reason full-size passenger vans tend to make the sliding door optional rather than standard is because the big sliders on full-size vans can be very heavy and more difficult to deal with if you're not used to them. Since the full-size vans tend not to have power sliding doors I think they figure that most people don't want to deal with the weight of a full-size slider.

Also, since the side doors on full-size vans are double-doors, the individual side doors are much smaller than most and unless you park absurdly close to someone there should be plenty of room to open the side doors fully even without a slider.

ZV

 

[OutHouse]

first generation honda odyssey had normal doors. the thing is those first gen minivans could be called crossovers... now minivans are much bigger. i have a 2000 sienna and a 2011 sienna, parked next to each other in the driveway the size difference is huge.

 

[Zenmervolt]

first generation honda odyssey had normal doors. the thing is those first gen minivans could be called crossovers... now minivans are much bigger. i have a 2000 sienna and a 2011 sienna, parked next to each other in the driveway the size difference is huge.

The current Odyssey and Sienna are indeed much larger than the original Odyssey/Sienna, but it's important to remember that Honda was VERY late to the minivan party and the original Odyssey was TINY compared to pretty much everything else in the segment (especially the more established Chrysler models). The original Odyssey was little more than a taller version of the Accord station wagon in terms of size. Even Toyota's Sienna (like the Previa before it) was undersized compared to the Chrysler offerings. The newer models are simply Toyota and Honda realizing that the market didn't want a "compact" minivan. It's not that minivans have gotten that much bigger, but rather that Honda and Toyota abandoned their original idea of marketing "compact" minivans that were intentionally smaller than the pioneering Chrysler models.

Even the "bigger" Odyssey and Sienna are much smaller than a Chevy Express or a Ford Econoline. The 2011 Sienna is 10 inches longer than the 2000 Sienna. But the Econoline (in the _short_ version) is 16 inches longer than the "big" 2011 Sienna and the extended version is more than a full yard longer. (The Econoline is an inch wider and a full 10 inches taller than the "big" 2011 Sienna as well.) No matter how new, minivans like the Sienna and the Odyssey just plain aren't playing in the same sandbox as a true full size van.

ZV

 

[waggy]

that is one thing i loved about my old Windstar. the sliding doors on the back.

 

[sontakke]

Why? So Brad Pitt could throw out the bad guy [Ref: Mr Mrs Smith]