Pillar (car)

[1] An alphabetical convention for designating a car's pillars has developed over time, used variously by the automotive press in describing and reviewing vehicles, insurance companies in identifying damaged components, and first-responder rescue teams to facilitate communication, as when using the jaws of life to cut their way into a wreck.

Standards in the United States were introduced in phases starting in 2009 that require enclosed passenger cars to be able to support from 1.5-times to 3.0-times the vehicle's unloaded weight on its roof while maintaining headroom (survival space) for occupants.

[11] B-pillars also exist as integral elements of an automobile unibody on two-door sedans and hatchbacks, separating the front door from either fixed or movable glass of the second row of seating.

[13] Designs without a "B" pillar for roof support behind the front doors and rear side windows offer increased occupant visibility, while in turn requiring underbody strengthening to maintain structural rigidity.

"[16] The "Colonnade" mid-sized General Motors models were so named because of their pillared structure designed to meet new rollover protection standards, but marketers attempted to promote them as if they were true hardtops.

[17] By the late 1970s (1978 being the last year of pillarless hardtop cars in the U.S. domestic market), the full-size Chrysler Newport and New Yorker were the last designs with opening front and rear side windows and no B-pillar.