# power sliding doors?



## flitters (Sep 18, 2003)

Hi,

I was wondering what people think about power sliding doors on minivans. They seem convenient but a bit scary and are another item more that will potentially need servicing.

Thank you!


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

I would NEVER buy another van without power sliding doors. Sooo handy. And they do reverse if enough pressure is applied. If your LO is in the way it may hurt them, but it won't do permanent damage, kwim? Without the power sliding, closing it manually it doesn't stop once it gets going on it's own, so that's a hazard as well.

The only feature my van doesn't have I wished we'd paid for would be the power hatch. I loathe opening the trunk!


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## mbhf (Jan 8, 2005)

I love my power sliding doors and honestly I see them as a safety feature. I had a rental with only one power sliding door and the other was manual, it was scary how fast the non-power door slammed shut on even a small incline. Power doors close at the same (slow) speed even if you are parked on an extreme downward slope. As long as you're careful, you probably won't get any pinched fingers. I have had my van for almost three years and I have only had one incident, the door did shut all the way on my son's hand and I felt awful. I was in such a rush and he was really upset about something so I just put him in the van on one side and ran around to the other to put the baby in and buckle everyone. He was either just barely 3 or not quite, so that was obviously a bad move and my fault. His hand was shut in the door for about 30 seconds, probably less, and it wasn't seriously damaged, I'm sure it was sore for a while but it looked fine (no bruising or cuts) and he didn't complain about it. I don't know if doors have improved much in the last 10 years but I remember how much force I had to use to open and close the door on my mom's minivan!

I love my power doors, they are so nice to have especially since my older two (5 and 7) still have a very hard time opening the doors, they can but it takes a lot of effort and I don't think they could open them at all if they weren't power doors so it's nice to just hit the button for them to climb in. It's also great for dropping my oldest off at school, I can just push the button and he hops out. Not to mention when it's pouring down rain and I've got my hands full with nowhere to put anything down, I can just push the button on my keys and put whatever I have down in the nice dry van.


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## MyFullHouse (Apr 23, 2010)

My van has one power door and one manual. I'm waiting for the day the MANUAL side breaks, since my kids seem to feel the need to yank the handle and slam it back!









I have had one creepy experience when the power door didn't bounce back when I was 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the vehicle. I was uncomfortably squeezed, but not hurt.

My "incident" HAS spurred me to constantly remind the kids to stand back, but it's honestly SO much safer than a free-sliding door catching their fingers at full speed!

ETA: My van is 7 years old now, and the door is one of the few things that hasn't needed servicing... yet. I do expect it will, eventually.


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

Growing up, everyone had the vans without the power doors, and those heavy manual doors got SLAMMED regularly. I can't imagine that would be safer. My brother's hand got pretty badly hurt in one once. We're getting a minivan soon, and I plan to keep the kids away from closing doors whenever possible, but I find the auto ones less scary.


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## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

We have the power sliding doors in our '06 Odyssey. They close very slowly, and there is a pretty sensitive sensor to prevent anybody from getting squished in the door. I would imagine the risk to fingers and body parts might be greater in a manual door, where more speed is required to get the door closed.

There is a switch by the steering wheel that allows me to turn the power door to a manual setting, and there is also a child door lock feature that prevents the doors from being operated from the inside. So overall, I'd say they've covered most of the bases from a safetly standpoint.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

Yes, to power doors (especially with a remote). We could also close ours manually, if need be, but I think they are worth the risk of possible repair (same with power windows - I can't imagine not having those!).


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## flitters (Sep 18, 2003)

great - thanks for all the input! it's so nice when pretty much everyone has the same opinion - makes for an easy decision.


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## Mama Mko (Jul 26, 2007)

We also love our power doors. We have an 07 Odyssey.


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## MamaPhD (Jul 30, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DahliaRW* 
I would NEVER buy another van without power sliding doors. Sooo handy. And they do reverse if enough pressure is applied. If your LO is in the way it may hurt them, but it won't do permanent damage, kwim? Without the power sliding, closing it manually it doesn't stop once it gets going on it's own, so that's a hazard as well.

The only feature my van doesn't have I wished we'd paid for would be the power hatch. I loathe opening the trunk!


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## 2sweetboysmom (Aug 1, 2006)

I love our power sliders too. '05 Odyssey.
I did have once have the starter solinoid go bad on one door at about 18months of ownership. I took it in and explained that I bought a Honda for a reason (reliability) and I expected the dealership to replace the part as defective...







They did!







Not a hint of difficulty since.


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## staceychev (Mar 5, 2005)

I don't envy my husband's minivan, but I sure do envy the power sliding doors with the remote! He's got the power hatch, too, which is great. (Oh, but he does have a Chrysler Town & Country, and we wouldn't necessarily recommend that particular vehicle... the transmission has been a PITA!)


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## amy_n_boys (Nov 2, 2006)

I don't have power sliding doors on my 05' Odyssey and I'm so afraid that if I'm even on a little downhill incline one of my kids will release the latch and get crushed in the door. I won't park on an incline if I can at all help it.


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## 2boyzmama (Jun 4, 2007)

I don't doubt that the power doors are safer than the manual doors, but we recently had two incidents with our power doors on our 09 Sienna that caused injury to our 3 year old. I am surprised at how much counter pressure it takes to engage the safety open! One of the injuries was a thumb, that is perhaps forgiveable since little ones' fingers are so small. But the other incident involved his head, and was very scary. I have called Toyota about this, asking whether the safety override level is set too high.


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2boyzmama* 
I don't doubt that the power doors are safer than the manual doors, but we recently had two incidents with our power doors on our 09 Sienna that caused injury to our 3 year old. I am surprised at how much counter pressure it takes to engage the safety open! One of the injuries was a thumb, that is perhaps forgiveable since little ones' fingers are so small. But the other incident involved his head, and was very scary. I have called Toyota about this, asking whether the safety override level is set too high.

Yes, but while it hurt and was scary, there was no permanent injury, right? That is what the feature is set to prevent.


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## eclipse (Mar 13, 2003)

I wish I had power doors on my van. I also see them as a safety feature. When we first gout our van, ds2 was only a few months old. I got him out of his car seat and put him in a carrier in a hold where his feet were hanging down out of the carrier. As I shut the sliding door of the van, he kicked his foot out in the path of the door, and there was nothing I could do to keep it from getting smashed. I have no idea how he managed not to have a broken foot from the experience, but he was hysterical for hours, and had pain and bruises that lasted weeks.


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## Evan&Anna's_Mom (Jun 12, 2003)

I have power doors on my Kia and I love them. They close slowly (sometimes annoyingly so) and they stop whenever something or someone is in the way. I love, love, love them.


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## flitters (Sep 18, 2003)

Scary about the cases where kiddos do get stuck in them, but having heard about the other scenarios (like how fast you need to slide them to close them manually, and the whole situation with inclines) I'm sold on them. Also happy to hear that the Kia ones in particular are slow.


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