Motor vehicle and a door hinge mechanism therefor

A motor vehicle having an apparatus for assisting with the selection of an opening mode of a door of the motor vehicle hingedly connected to a body structure of the motor vehicle by a hinge mechanism providing both swing and scissor opening modes of door opening, wherein the apparatus comprises:

• an electronic controller;
• at least one human machine interface connected to the electronic controller to provide an indication from a user of the motor vehicle that opening of the door is required;
• and
• a sensing apparatus to provide information to the electronic controller indicative of whether there are any obstructions to the side of the motor vehicle that would interfere with swing opening of the door and whether there are any overhead obstructions that would interfere with scissor opening of the door, wherein, in response to an indication from the user of the motor vehicle that door opening is required, the electronic controller is arranged to use the information provided from the sensing apparatus to select a preferred mode of door opening;
• and
• wherein the hinge mechanism comprises a plurality of connected hinge members facilitating door opening in the swing mode where the door is rotatable about a first axis between closed and fully swung open positions and the scissor mode where the door is rotatable about a second axis arranged substantially perpendicular to the first axis between the closed position and a scissor open position, wherein the plurality of hinge members comprises first, second, third and fourth hinge members, the first hinge member is used to attach the hinge mechanism to part of the body structure of the motor vehicle, the first hinge member and the third hinge member form a first pair of hinge members, the third and fourth hinge members form a second pair of hinge members and the fourth hinge member is used to attach the hinge mechanism to the door, and wherein the second hinge member is pivotally connected to the first hinge member for rotation about the first axis and is selectively latchable to the first hinge member and the fourth hinge member to control the opening mode of the door.