Jammed "Gull Wing" Doors

[rmoore]

A question came up from a fire officer about what would we do when we encounter a jammed door on a vehicle, only to find that it is a Gull Wing door. These doors, made famous in the '80s with the DeLorean, could still be encountered at a crash scene.

After researching how these doors are normally designed, I came up with a plan that I would use if and when I am confronted with a jammed door. Working with them will be like working with a jammed liftgate on an SUV or forcing open a hatchback of a vehicle. Since I have not been able to contact any instructor or rescuer who has worked a DeLorean entrapment, this is the best guess I can come up with.

The gull-wing door on the Delorean for example would act very similar to a lift gate on a normal vehicle. Just think of the door as a liftgate and work accordingly. The Nader pin-type latch is along both sides of the door; front edge and rear edge. There are two Nader pins; one on the A-pillar and one on the B-pillar, similar to that of a regular lift gate or hatchback with dual latches. That means that the bottom of the gull wing door is not really attached to the body of the vehicle at all. It just sits there. So, just like a liftgate on an SUV or minivan that has dual side latches, we could force the bottom of the door up to stress the latches. As the door deforms, we either continue our prying or have our partner cut the latches when they are sufficiently exposed.

The dual hinges of these gull wing doors are secured to a strong roofrail but so are hinges on liftgates and hatchbacks. What we do with liftgate hinges or hatchback hinges is open the hatchback or liftgate and then just cut through each hinges. That same protocol would work for gull wing door removal. If the hinges were not able to be cut through, then the roofrail would be weak enough to make pie cuts and take the hinges, bolts, and a chunk of roofrail with it.

In the images below, you can see the safety latch on the ends of the door and in the bottom photo, you can see the safety latch secured to the A-pillar (and B-pillar) of the car.