Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Power-operated doors

4.—(1) A power-operated door fitted to a minibus shall—

(a) incorporate transparent panels so as to enable a person immediately inside the door to see a person immediately outside the door;

(b) be capable of being operated by a mechanism controlled by the driver of the vehicle when in the driving seat;

(c) be capable, in the event of an emergency or a failure of the supply of power for the operation of the door, of being opened from both inside and outside the vehicle by controls which—

(i) over-ride all other controls.

(ii) are placed on, or adjacent to, the door, and

(iii) are accompanied by markings which clearly indicate their position and method of operation and state that they may not be used by passengers except in an emergency.

(d) have a soft edge so that a trapped finger is unlikely to be injured; and

(e) be controlled by a mechanism by virtue of which if the door, when closing, meets a resistance exceeding 150 Newtons, either

• the door will cease to close and begin to open, or

• the closing force will cease and the door will become capable of being opened manually.

(2) A minibus shall not be equipped with a system for the storage or transmission of energy in respect of the opening or closing of a door which, either in normal operation or if the system fails, is capable of adversely affecting the operation of the vehicle’s braking system.