Disappearing Car Door From Jatech Provides An Interesting Alternative

By Ganesh

Updated: Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 16:34 [IST]

A door is one part of a car that has remained virtually unchanged ever since the very first motor vehicle came into existence. Sure, there are different sorts of doors, you might say. For example, gullwings doors, from the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and the SLS AMG; Scissor doors, seen in some Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars; suicide doors; sliding doors etc.,

These doors still function in the same basic way though. Doors are supported by hinges (rollers in the case of sliders) on one side and a handle on the other end to open them.

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There is, however, an alternate way. A futuristic, entirely different sort of car door that has the potential to revolutionize the way we get in and out of cars forever. It's called Retractable or ‘Disappearing' Car Door, developed by Jatech.

These doors behave more like roller shutters/roller doors, ‘disappearing' underneath the car, as demonstrated in the video below. These rotary doors can be installed in any car, in place of standard doors. You can either choose to install it in place of the front doors or, by removing the b-pillar, both the front and rear doors.

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According to Jatech, its retractable doors improve a car's strength, stiffness and reduces its weight. Other than that the obvious advantages that come as a result of the design is easy of getting in and out, even when a car is tightly parked. And also, we'll never again have to worry about another vehicle crashing into an open door in traffic.

What Jatech also claims is that its doors improve safety and make it easy for occupants to get out in the event of a crash. However, that's a claim we cannot simply believe. A crumpled car could prevent retractable doors from opening at all, making it unsafe if the vehicle is involved in a major crash. Also doubtful is the company's claim about the system reducing weight. After all, the additional motors required to operate the doors would add bulk.

May be it is due to safety concerns that Jatech ‘Disappearing' Car Door has not been adopted by manufacturers. Having said that, it's strange no custom or show cars have featured these rather cool way of getting in and out of cars. If you have come across any vehicle using these doors let us know in the comments section.