why do car makers call reverse doors "suicide doors"? and Why are they
not on more cars?

Suicide doors made exiting a car from the back seat very easy, so it
was a good sales point for buyers. Unfortunately, it also made exiting
the car at high speeds easy too. If a door came unlatched, because it
was hinged at the back the air moving past the car flung the door
open, and passengers often fell out. In crashes the door latches
tended to fail, and the backseat passenger would fly out of the
vehicle. Hence, the nickname.

Now with improvements in structural integrity, crush zones, etc you
are starting to see suicide doors in some cars and in many concept
cars.  Current suicide doors are different in that they can't be
opened unless the front door is first , thus preventing them from
opening when the vehicle is in motion (as long as the front ones are
closed!)  They allow for entry without a B pillar which can lead to
some new and exciting interior configurations...Safety considerations
will dictate wheather we see more of these.

Portions of this answer are from:

http://www.sdreader.com/php/ma_show.php?id=032102C
also see:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/images.php?imageid=46717 (images as well!)
and
http://www.answerbag.com/c_view.php/1834#q_11780

BTW...

If you find this 'answer' sufficient...please donate your extra $2.00
to the disaster relief fund of your choice!

Good Luck.

That is not Wikipedia's explanation of why they are called suicide
doors, saying that it is because a passenger stepping out could be
injured by a following car's hitting the door.

Yes..there are 'other' reasons to call them suicide doors (as
indicated in the link to urbandictionary)...but to points to wiki...

First: Wiki is NOT authoritative.
Second: If your are going to be hit by the swinging door of a suicide
door then it would seem likely that with a regular door you would be
hit directly as the position of the door and the person would be
reversed?  Not a reason to blame the door is it?

C-helper,
You've got the number of sites on your side, but they don't seem more
authoritative than Wikipedia.  I just wanted to give the alternate
opinion.
Actually, I agree with you  - one hell of a situation if the door pops
open while the car is in forward motion, blown wide open, and you try
to close it against the wind; or if it is just half locked, and you
open it a bit to slam shut ...!
Cheers, Myoarin

Myoarin-

Its a lovefest...cause I agree with you too!

I didn't meen to imply that my source were any better than Wiki...just
there is a sense out there that Wiki is fact checked.  I only wanted
to make that clear.

Aren't we free guys nice!