How would it be if the side door of a truck bed could open and close either as a sliding door or a swinging door depending on your needs?
Hyundai and Kia have developed the innovative ‘Seamless Swing & Sliding Door Technology’ for chassis cab vehicles, allowing for more efficient use of cargo space.
This unique technology designed by Hyundai and Kia enables users to choose a convenient method of opening the side doors of the chassis cab cargo bed, whether by swinging or sliding, making it easy to load and unload goods according to their needs.
Currently, most small trucks on the market only offer bi-fold side doors, which means that for larger items, drivers have to rely on the rear door to unload, making the process cumbersome.
Additionally, the side doors traditionally move structurally inward due to height differences at the front and rear, resulting in wasted interior cargo space equivalent to the thickness of the door.
Hyundai and Kia’s ‘Seamless Swing & Sliding Door Technology’ aims to overcome these limitations and maximize customer convenience.
The design allows for both sliding and swinging doors on the two side openings, so users can typically open them as sliding doors and switch to swinging doors when loading or unloading larger items.
The sliding mechanism features a design similar to the side doors of the Kia Carnival, where the doors move outward, thus minimizing internal space loss. With the unprecedented flat design of the front and rear doors, the water resistance has also been significantly improved.
To enable this technology, Hyundai and Kia have equipped the side of the cargo bed with both hinges for swinging and guide rails for sliding.
By lifting the swing handle upwards, the connection between the guide rail and the door is released, allowing the door to open in a folding manner. Meanwhile, pulling the sliding handle when the swing handle is horizontal releases the fastening at the swing hinge, enabling the door to slide open along the guide rail.
Hyundai and Kia conducted user feedback sessions with actual users, such as delivery drivers, to develop a chassis cab cargo bed door that is convenient from the customer’s perspective.
The internal survey feedback indicated that the most essential factor when selecting a chassis cab was the convenience of loading and unloading, and the most significant inconvenience reported with the cargo bed doors was the limited types of doors available.
Once the ‘Seamless Swing & Sliding Door Technology’ is commercialized, it is expected to vastly improve convenience for delivery drivers and can be adaptable in various forthcoming purpose-based mobility solutions.
A representative from Hyundai-Kia stated, “The cargo bed door technology we unveiled reflects the opinions and needs of delivery drivers, enabling a more convenient delivery service that represents next-generation technology. We will continue to strive to provide better value to customers through customer-oriented tech development in future mobility chains.”
Recently, Hyundai-Kia has completed filing a patent for the ‘Seamless Swing & Sliding Door Technology’ and plans to review mass production after durability and performance testing.
By Sang-Jin Lee daedusj@autodiary.kr