Why does the swing gate swing to the right?

[JohnnyBronco]

I dont have an answer for you other than every swing gate vehicle i have ever seen swings to the right.... jeep, lexus GX....even older CRVs and rav 4s.....not sure why it swings away from the curb, but it is annoying from time to time.

CRVs and Rav4s do not swing to curb in their home country but to OPs first utterance: Wrangler tailgates swing right, ergo Bronco tailgates swing right

If jeep tailgates were to drop down as in the original Ford design then Bronco tailgates would resemble Ranger tailgates. All we have to do is mount the spare on the bonnet Ala LR Series I-III

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[nealpark]

FJ Cruisers swing open to the left

 

[Coldsmoke]

I being left handed, feel so oppressed.

True, but look at it this way; God made a small percentage of the population as geniuses and the rest he made to be right handed.

 

[BroncocnorB]

Roll down rear windows = Airflow plus room for surfboards and 2x4's to hang out, loading groceries is the third benefit.

Sorry Bronco, you're beat three to one, here is a proper Bronco tailgate:

That wouldn't make much sense.... Most of Europe drives on the right side. The British Isles are the oddity that drive on the left side of the road in Europe.

f’ing aussies. To me not so much the steering location but it’d take me a while to get good at manual trans with left hand. And I’m a pretty good right handed guitarist

 

[irishkpo]

f’ing aussies. To me not so much the steering location but it’d take me a while to get good at manual trans with left hand. And I’m a pretty good right handed guitarist

I feel you. Driving a JDM R33 Skyline drove me crazy for about a week trying to shift with my left hand.

 

[BCKMRKR]

I feel you. Driving a JDM R33 Skyline drove me crazy for about a week trying to shift with my left hand.

Completely understand - about as long as it took me to get used the center seat in my McLaren F1...

 

[irishkpo]

Completely understand - about as long as it took me to get used the center seat in my McLaren F1...

An F1 has the shift lever on the right just like any NA left hand drive car. Other than sitting in the middle of the car I fail to see your point. A right hand drive JDM has a shifter on the left.

If that was just a flippant comment trying to imply that I was flexing about owning a Skyline. I wasn't. I didn't say My Skyline. I said it drove me crazy for a week. They aren't that uncommon up in Canada like they are in the states since you don't have to wait 25 years to import one and if you have friends who live their that you visit often to go fishing - well then you get to drive their car...

 

[timhood]

f’ing aussies. To me not so much the steering location but it’d take me a while to get good at manual trans with left hand. And I’m a pretty good right handed guitarist

When I drove a manual transmission in the UK, the hardest part was getting over my expectation that the transmission would be mirrored as well. First gear was to the far left. I never got to speed-shifting quickness and definitely prefer shifting with my right hand. Shifting with the right hand is proof that in the US, we drive on the right side of the road, and in the UK, they drive on the wrong side.

 

[AttackGuy64]

Don't know for sure, but I think my swing gate has conservative values, so there's that...

 

[AttackGuy64]

f’ing aussies. To me not so much the steering location but it’d take me a while to get good at manual trans with left hand. And I’m a pretty good right handed guitarist

Shifting with your left, I like to call it, "The Stranger". It gets more interesting if you sit on your hand until it goes numb.

 

[stickshifthappy]

True, but look at it this way; God made a small percentage of the population as geniuses and the rest he made to be right handed.

True !!

 

[cbrenthus]

Wow, I opened quite the can of worms. I have confirmed that in RHD countries, well, at least the UK, the tailgate still swings to the right. So I think most of our assumptions, such as the driver having to walk around the back to open, swinging towards the curb instead of into traffic, etc are not true. I don't think it would take much for them to have it swing to the left in RHD countries, so I guess that only thing that makes sense is that it is for right handed people.

https://www.palmerscars.co.uk/jeep/used-cars/16580907-jeep-wrangler-2.0-gme-rubicon-4dr-auto8/

Personally I would prefer a swing down tailgate, and find somewhere else for the spare.

 

[BCKMRKR]

Thanks for the research - not sure if the laws are different there, but there are a few more considerations that are either coincidental or regulated. If you were to swing left, opening to just 90 degrees blocks the driver's side tail light when the spare is attached (with the wheel extended to about the width of my Sas fenders). Believe one reason most/all hatch and lift backs are required to have stationary taillights.

At full extension, it would go about 2' farther into traffic + block the taillight. With almost all older cars being poor on offset crashes when at least part of a bumper is impacted, plus the bottom of the gate (on a stock Sas) being 32" (the base of the windshield of a current Miata), the tailgate could easily become a passenger-bisecting tool with nothing to stop or even slow it down. Not an ideal placement if you were stopped on a dark night changing a tire on the side of the road.

Or it could just be "because the hinge is on the right", the response above that is the sort of clever answer kids give to test questions that is both correct and funny...

 

[The Pope]

I understand the swing tailgates for the 4Ds so that some reach challenged people can reach things. That's not an issue with the 2D.

I wish that @fomoco would have followed the EB for the 2D with a Swing Away Tire Carrier, Drop Down Tailgate and Lift Up Rear Glass on the Hardtop.

 

[RimrockPaul]

I find it interesting that the swing gate swings to the right instead of left, and Wranglers are the same way. What I don't like is that anytime I'm parked at a curb, I'd rather it swing to the left so I don't have to walk around it to unload. Currently, the way I'm parked in my garage I also wish it swung to the left for unloading purposes but I won't put that on Ford because in my last house swinging to the right was best, that could go either way!

When I think about it, the old school swing away tire carriers also swung to the right. I'm wondering if it is a liability issue in that they think it is safer to swing that way when parked forward facing at a curb?

The design favors right handed folks. Try opening the gate with left hand.
Since most people are right handed. They won the big door prize.
Paul

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