The invention relates to cell death inducing chimeric antigen receptors (D-CAR). In particular, the present invention relates to cell death inducing chimeric antigen receptors which comprise at least one death domain in their endodomain, including cell death inducing chimeric antigen receptors comprising within their death domains modifications which attenuate the self-association and/or binding to pro-apoptotic or pro-necrotic adaptor proteins, such as FADD or TRADD. Moreover, the present invention relates to an engineered immune cell expressing at its surface a cell death inducing CAR of the present invention and, optionally, an activating chimeric antigen receptor, wherein the extracellular ligand-binding domains of the cell death inducing CAR and the activating CAR bind to different antigens. The engineered immune cell may furthermore comprise at least one edited (e.g., inactivated) gene selected from TCR genes, immune check point genes, genes involved in drug resistance, and combinations thereof.