Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails
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Frankly I’m not sure how much I remember of the Kinja days or if it was all a fever dream, but I’ve been meaning to reboot ‘Design Details’ as a series in some way shape or form. Back then I used it as a sort of QOTD to ask your opinions on the weirdest or most unique examples of certain automotive styling cues, and I hope to continue that here albeit with a bit more of my own dissemination on the topic at hand.
Today we start with minivans, specifically the way their sliding door rails have been treated through the years. Now, this is by no means a complete historic deep dive on the topic, rather just a curated selection of examples that I want to point out. Most of my childhood took place in the back of a 2005 Odyssey, the RL3 generation of North American Odyssey, and I maintain that it was the peak of Odyssey design.
A good example of how well-considered this generation was can be seen in the treatment of the sliding door rail of Odysseys over time. On the first generation (to have sliding doors) RL1, the rail is neatly tucked under a side crease and is largely inoffensive, if still easily seen. With the RL3, Honda made the swage line deeper, giving it a thicker shadow that matches the shape of the rail in a neat bit of styling trickery. With RL5, Honda went mad and simply gashed the rail right through the rear ¾ panel making it both obvious and discordant with the overall design. By the latest generation Honda realized there was no way to make the rail work stylistically with their increasingly ornate design language so resorted to putting the rail right below the 3rd row window like most other competitors.
I’ve never been particularly convinced by the school of thought where the rail gets tucked under the 3rd row window. Sure, it hides it pretty well, but it feels like the easy way out and diminishes the height of the 3rd row window from inside, and if you have kids you no doubt understand the importance of good sightlines in preventing carsickness. (Even with the relatively large 3rd row windows of the RL3 Odyssey my younger brother refused to sit back there as he was so prone to becoming motion sick).
Look at this comparison with the Odyssey on top and the Sienna below and note the rise in beltline on the Sienna.
That’s enough about North American specific minivans, though, as there are many interesting methods tried overseas in terms of stylistically incorporating the slider rail. A prominent example would be Peugeot’s 1007, famous for its dual sliding front doors, which turned the rail into a silver beltline that included the ‘P E U G E O T’ wordmark at the rear.
This felt rather disjointed from the overall design but gave it a nice industrial quality in terms of drawing attention to the rail as a piece of hardware.
The international Odyssey finally gained sliding doors in its latest generation, but unfortunately runs the rail directly down the side creating an acute angle between it and the swage line.
It seems rare to find a vehicle that tries very hard to stylistically incorporate the rail these days, though. Either they simply cut the gash down the side with little care to its appearance or they hide it under the third row window as mentioned above. It seems the latest Kia Carnival shows a bit of consideration with the rail continuing into a side character line that originates at the upper edge of the front grille, but the radiusing is such that the character line doesn’t cast a shadow to hide the rail in the same way the RL3 Odyssey did.
The ID Buzz does something similar in using the rear light bar instead as a means of visual continuity, but it does interfere with the separation line for the two-tone somewhat.
The original buses used the trick of the RL3 by hiding the rail in the shadow of a character line.
Alright, that’s probably enough rambling from me. What are your thoughts regarding this rather humble and utilitarian element of sliding doors being dressed up to suit the posher demands of the civilian market?
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@amoore100 One of great many things the Previa did well:
It's not hidden, but it fits nicely into a black band that circles all the way around van, and doesn't cut into the window space at all.
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@facw good call. Peak-Toyota era was something to behold!
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Hiding all those airbags is becoming quite a science. I still believe that's the #1 reason for sightlines in the back row getting smaller over time (plus things like power liftgate mechanisms).
But even more than the view outward, I think the third row is inherently more vomit-provoking than the rest. You're basically sitting right on top of a long-range spring. Unless the van is full loaded, you're going to get tossed around a bit.
The 4th-gen Odyssey not only has the lower-mounted (ugly) slider rail breaking up the slab, but it also intentionally has the forward "lightning kink" in the back row windows to provide a little more openness. It does work a bit. My biggest beef, apart from aesthetics, is that the panel direct above it is plastic and has a different sheen and texture from the metal around it. At least it doesn't dent easily.
Generally just sh*treplying to things.
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@facw Previas do everything well, to this day. Absolute tanks.
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@facw wow! I totally did not notice that about the Previa, that's definitely masterful. Just another way the space egg was ahead of its time
Seems Toyota sadly took the easy way out with the next generation, just as they would with the powertrain 
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@ash78 said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
I think the third row is inherently more vomit-provoking than the rest. You're basically sitting right on top of a long-range spring
that's a good point, and the HondaVac may also be playing a role in why the current Ody's third-row window is so dismal:
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@amoore100 Yep, even though most models don't have the vacuum or third-row speakers or lots of A/V inputs or window shades, they all give up the same space because the upper trims DO have those things. Kind of a waste, IMO, but that's modern manufacturing.
I have a few cubic feet of dead space in the walls of the van right now, but I can't do anything about it.
Generally just sh*treplying to things.
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@amoore100 Great observations. I've always been partial to the VW solution, up through the Vanagon. Then they blew it with the T4, which is a general theme.
I thought the tracks on our 2nd-Gen Sienna were well executed, unobtrusive and without any appreciable impact on visibility beyond blind spots already created by the pillars. While we're in that area, the pop-out rear windows were nice, too.
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@ash78 said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
the panel direct above it is plastic and has a different sheen and texture from the metal around it. At least it doesn't dent easily.
huh, I hadn't even noticed that before, well spotted. I think the earlier vans have a bit of plastic there too as a cover over the rollers, but it doesn't go all the way up to meet the DLO as it does on the RL5
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@RallyWrench said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
@facw Previas do everything well, to this day. Absolute tanks.
Including passengers surviving accidents? Or serviceability?
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@bison78 I mean it's clearly good enough for an entire industry focused on camping/cruising through the Antipodes!
Maybe they're just too slow to get themselves into any kind of trouble
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@bison78 *tanks in the hard to kill sense.
I can't vouch for survivability, but they were deemed roadworthy when new and I don't think any worse than their contemporaries. Certainly eons ahead of Vanagons. I wouldn't expect much from any car made in the early 90's compared to the pillboxes we share the road with now, except for perhaps Volvo.
Serviceability is not that bad, just unconventional. The engine is easily accessible, as is the accessory shaft to the front. The driveline is simple. Electrics are reliable 90's Toyota, not any more of a pain in the ass than others.
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@RallyWrench said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
Serviceability is not that bad, just unconventional. The engine is easily accessible
and to be fair, this is a
flawtrait shared with countless vans, cabovers and even non-cabovers:
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@amoore100
The first two generations of Chrysler minivan hid it with a character line that ran full circle around the car.
The person reading this is a doo-doo head
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@RallyWrench said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
Certainly eons ahead of Vanagons.
I don't think that is the standard of safety you appear to think it is.
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@amoore100 Yep, as compared to other conventional vans it's no worse. I've worked on a few of these things, never felt like it was harder than any other RWD/longitudinal van with a doghouse. Any FWD/transverse van can GTFO compared to these.
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@bison78 It is not, Vanagons have no safety. But they were sold at the same time and likely cross-shopped, so I felt it a valid comparison in the same market.
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@amoore100
The current Hyundai Staria/iLoad pretty much nails both hiding the slide rail, visibility out from the third row and occupant safety. Comes with AWD too...Approaching hedges arse first...for quite some time
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I should probably also toss in a plug for the 80s Toyota Van. They at least made it chrome....to paraphrase a really good scientist....if you're gonna make your sliding rail visible, do it with some style!
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@EssExTee I like that! must have been where the Odyssey designers cribbed it from
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@foghat1981 said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
if you're gonna make your sliding rail visible, do it with some style!
hah, exactly! just like Peugeot making it all shiny on the 1007
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@SilentbutnotreallyDeadly I love the Staria, but the amount of frit on those rear windows is frankly a bit terrifying. I get that the sightlines are still good because it's just such a massive van, but it definitely betrays the car's commercial intentions. Even the new Hiace doesn't have as much frit, though it certainly makes no effort to hide the slider rail:
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@ash78 said in Design Details: Minivan Slider Rails:
I have a few cubic feet of dead space in the walls of the van right now, but I can't do anything about it.
fill it with the flesh of your enemies
2015 F150 5.0 Lariat - 1987 Supra Turbo - 2005 Civic EX
Curator - Merch Guy -
