Wheelchair Adapted Vehicles Yesterday And Today

In 2002, when we first came across wheelchair-adapted vehicles, they were like mini Pope Mobiles- very unsophisticated with a bumpy ride for wheelchair users who often had their heads up on the roof with no view outside – no wonder they often felt travel sick!

How things have changed. Now there are a variety of well-converted wheelchair cars to choose from, with comfortable rides for wheelchair passengers with good views out of the windows. The better conversions allow the wheelchair passenger to travel on a relatively flat surface, not perched on a slope. In addition, the wheelchair space is between the two rear seats or up front next to the driver – making it easy to chat with the driver and enjoy the ride.

The wheelchair passenger travels in crash-tested safety in a seat belt, with the wheelchair held firmly in place with four straps. Winches can be fitted to help pull manual chairs into the car, and a wide variety of automatic, manual, petrol and diesel cars are converted so that the driver can choose a make they like see just a few examples below: