Trunk (car)

Designs

The trunk or luggage compartment is most often located at the rear of the vehicle. Early designs included an exterior rack mounted on the rear of the vehicle to which it was possible to attach a real luggage trunk. Later designs integrated the storage area into the vehicle's body and evolved to provide a streamlined appearance. The main storage compartment is normally provided at the end of the vehicle opposite to which the engine is located.

Some mid-engined or electric cars have luggage compartments both in the front and in the rear of the vehicle. Examples include the Volkswagen Type 3, Porsche 914, Porsche Boxster, Toyota MR2, and Tesla Model S. (Tesla calls their front trunk a "frunk".) The mid-engined Fiat X1/9 also has two storage compartments, although the rear one is small, easily accessible, and practically cuboid in shape.

Rear-engined cars (such as the Volkswagen Beetle, Tucker 48, and the Porsche 911) have the trunk situated in front of the passenger compartment.

Sometimes during the design life of the vehicle the lid may be restyled to increase the size or improve the practicality and usefulness of the trunk's shape. Examples of this include the Beetle redesign to the 1970s 'Super Beetle' and the pre-war and 1950s post war Citroën Traction Avant.

The door or opening of a trunk may be hinged at the top, side, or bottom.

If the door is hinged at the bottom it is termed a tailgate, particularly in America. A bottom opening door is common on a station wagon, pickup truck, or sport utility vehicle (SUV). Traditional U.S. station wagons included a roll down window. Because of the potential for carbon-monoxide fumes, the tailgate window on station wagons should be closed whenever the engine is running. Tailgates may contain accessories like a "pocket" for storage purposes. Traditional station wagon and pickup tailgates can also serve as a mount for a workbench. A 3-way tailgate is hinged at the side and bottom so it can be opened sideways like a car door, or downwards like a truck tailgate. The window can be opened to load small items. The door and hinge mechanisms of the 3-way tailgate are designed with special handle(s) for opening in the selected direction. In the late 1970s, it was the most common station wagon tailgate arrangement.

If the door is hinged at the top it is termed a hatch, and is used on a hatchback.

The trunk lid (in the U.S. automotive industry sometimes also called decklid or deck lid) is the cover allows access to the main storage or luggage compartment. Hinges allow the lid to be raised. Devices such as a manually positioned prop rod can keep the panel up in the open position. Counterbalancing torsion or other spring(s) can also used to help elevate and hold open the trunk lid. On cars with their trunk in the rear, lids sometimes incorporate a center mounted third brake light. A rear lid may also have a decorative air spoiler. On many modern cars, the trunk lids can be unlocked with the car's key fob.

Design history

Locks

The locking of the trunk may be achieved together with the passenger compartment.

Some cars include a function to remotely open the trunk. This may be achieved through a variety of means:

Etymology

The usage of the word "trunk" comes from it being the word for a large travelling chest, as such trunks were often attached to the back of the vehicle before the development of integrated storage compartments in the 1930s; while the usage of the word "boot" comes from the word for a built-in compartment on a horse-drawn coach (originally used as a seat for the coachman and later for storage). The usage of the word "dickie" comes from the British word for a rumble seat, as such seats were often used for luggage before cars had integrated storage.

In France, from 1900 onwards, the luggage maker Moynat became the indisputable market leader in automobile luggage, for which the house developed a number of patented products including the rear-attached limousine trunk with custom fitted suitcases. In 1928 came the side or lateral sliding trunk, a mechanism that foreshadowed the development of integrated trunks in vehicles from the 1930s onwards.

Classification

Open compartments are those found in station wagons and SUVs, while closed compartments have a trunk lid and are typically found in saloon (sedan) or coupé bodies. Closed compartments are separated from the passenger compartment by rigid body elements or seats, and are generally trimmed in simple materials, whereas many station wagons are trimmed with better looking materials as the space is an extension of the passenger compartment. In order to hide the compartment content of station wagons or hatchbacks from thieves or sunlight, a cover may be fitted. On hatchbacks this often has the form of a rigid parcel shelf or a flexible sheet with hooks on the corners, while station wagons and many SUVs have a roller blind in a removable cassette.

To give the space more flexibility, many cars have foldable rear seats, which can increase the size of the trunk when needed.

Active safety by luggage retention

The trunk space can contribute to the active and passive safety of the vehicle. Active safety may be promoted in vehicles that are partially loaded. Here the use of lashing eyes to restrain luggage can prevent or reduce damage to the vehicle and its occupants in severe manoeuvres. In driving while cornering 'in-extremis', the prevention of sudden weight transfer due to poorly loaded luggage can be enough to prevent the vehicle losing grip, and potentially avoiding thereby an accident; active safety.

Passive safety by luggage retention

If a crash should occur, lashing eyes can reduce the severity of outcome of the accident by keeping the luggage in the loadspace compartment and thereby preventing projectiles from harming correctly restrained passengers in the passenger compartment. These lashing features may be in the form of fixed or foldable loops, or in the case of certain European vehicles combine sliding loops in a rail system to allow optimal positioning of the lashing eyes. At the same time this eases the integration of accessories for loadspace management; dividers, bike carriers, etc. into the interior of the vehicle, a principle that has been applied in cargo vans and air transport for many years.

Barrier nets/grids

In vehicles with open luggage compartments, some are fitted with metal grids or guards to retain loose items in case of collision, or to simply create a bulkhead between the load in the trunk – for example animals – separated from the otherwise unprotected passenger space.

Another solution for items that have not been restrained is the loadspace barrier net. These may be directly attached to the body structure or, in vehicles with loadspace cover cassettes, as a combined loadspace cover and barrier net. The net confining luggage to the loadspace in case of emergency braking and minor traffic collisions. These nets have the advantage over metal guards that they can be rolled-up when not in use, taking up much less space than a comparable guard. A guard may however be tailored for an even tighter fit to the body interior contours than a roll-away net.

Inside trunk release

Children – and sometimes adults who climb in to work on the vehicle – trapped in trunks can die of suffocation or heat stroke. Once in the trunk, they may not be able to get out, even if they entered through the interior, because many rear seats only release to the trunk from inside the passenger area. Beginning with the 2002 models, a glow-in-the-dark inside trunk release is required on all vehicles with conventional trunks sold in the United States. Hatchbacks, wagons, vans and SUVs are exempt from this requirement because it is assumed a trapped person can kick out any cargo cover to gain access to the main interior and passenger doors.

Riding in the trunk

Riding in the trunk is dangerous and illegal. Teenagers in the U.S. may attempt to avoid laws which prohibit new car drivers from driving with passengers by riding in the trunk.

Additional functions

Beyond carrying luggage, the trunk of most passenger vehicles commonly contains various other components often behind the trimmed surfaces of the interior. These components may be accessed by the customer or the service personnel through (in some cases lockable) hatches in the trim, or by removing carpet and support boards etc. Typical components:

Some vehicles offer configurable cargo conveniences such as a shelf or board. They often serve various purposes. The multiposition rear shelf on the Chrysler PT Cruiser can be used as a table for a picnic, a second cargo layer, or a security screen. The Citroën C3 has a foldable segmented false floorboard that compartmentalises the cargo area, makes loading easier, and evens out the load floor when the back of the rear seat is folded down.