Simulations at the University of Michigan allow researchers to better understand how different chairs and lockdown systems will respond to automobile crashes.

Getting Secure Behind the Wheel


Simulations at the University of Michigan allow researchers to better understand how different chairs and lockdown systems will respond to automobile crashes.
Simulations at the University of Michigan allow researchers to better understand how different chairs and lockdown systems will respond to automobile crashes. Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Motor vehicles have two basic functions: first, to transport passengers or goods from point A to point B; second, and perhaps most important, to provide that transportation safely. In order to accomplish this, vehicle manufacturers have developed a variety of features meant to enhance passenger or driver safety. These include such items as lap belts, shoulder harnesses, headrests and air bags that deploy from all sides to cushion us in the event of a collision or crash.

All of those safety features are designed specifically for passengers and drivers who are seated in vehicle seats. In order to assure their safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration maintains a database of the results of required side and frontal crash testing of vehicles. The tests are conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to determine the extent of damages to vehicles and passengers in event of a crash. They use standardized crash test dummies to measure the impact on vehicle occupants.

Passenger safety becomes more complicated when people choose to remain seated in their mobility devices, like wheelchairs or scooters, rather than transfer to the vehicle’s seats. In order to travel safely, our devices must become part of the vehicle’s safety system; they need to remain intact and anchored securely no matter what happens to the vehicle. This is especially important for people seated in the driver’s position or as a front passenger, as airbags are often disconnected during vehicle modifications in order to avoid injury if they deploy in a crash.

There are several means of anchoring wheelchairs firmly in place during travel. These include docking systems, like those available from EZ Lock and Q’Straint. Their locking devices can withstand an impact from any direction, holding a wheelchair in place as long as the matching tie-down bolt welded to the bottom of the chair is secure. Those devices work great for people who drive by themselves, or who ride in the same location in a private vehicle, as they lock automatically when the wheelchair is positioned properly.

All-Terrain Conversions features a docking station on the lift itself to allow users to securely drive pickups like this one.
All-Terrain Conversions features a docking station on the lift itself to allow users to securely drive pickups like this one.

Companies that do conversions on lift-equipped pickups and SUVs use the docking stations in a variety of ways. All-Terrain Conversions, Mobility SVM and Ryno Mobility have models that come equipped with a docking station on the lift itself, in order to hold the wheelchair in place and even secure it in the position where it will ride in the moving vehicle. Because of the way these lift systems are designed, the driver or passenger using a wheelchair may be able to take advantage of the same safety belt and shoulder harness as would be used by an individual who is sitting in the vehicle’s seats.

Eddie Riveira, owner of Absolute Mobility Center in Woodinville, Wash., has completed several conversions that included docking devices for drivers or passengers who use manual wheelchairs. Since many power wheelchairs are already equipped with headrests, when it comes to manual chairs, he recommends the addition of a power retractable headrest that will deploy from the vehicle to prevent whiplash injuries in the event of a collision from the rear. J.R. Harding, a quad from Tallahassee,  Fla., uses one of these retracting headrests even though he is a power chair user. The headrest has built-in switches to operate turn signals and other features when he moves his head, which keeps both hands free for driving his van.

For passengers who have someone to tie down their wheelchairs, several companies make straps that provide similar security. There is a potential weak link when it comes to sitting in a mobility device during vehicle travel, however: the wheelchair itself.

The Missing Safety Link
Dolores Carron, Newington, Conn., wants more people to become aware of what she has discovered about the safety of using a wheelchair as a vehicle seat. She uses a power chair due to primary lateral sclerosis. Because of some trouble she has experienced, she learned that, unlike for wheelchairs, neither IIHS or NHTSA does testing or maintains data about the safety of those who ride in wheelchairs while traveling.

The problem she is dealing with arose because her Medicare-designated vendor for the region had advised her that she was going to receive a replacement wheelchair of a certain brand. She was measured to assure that the new chair would fit, and the purchase was also approved by a therapist and Medicare. When it was delivered months later, the chair’s power base was what she had ordered, but the seating portion of the wheelchair was from a different manufacturer.

Carron’s concerns on this subject were initiated by a warning that accompanied her new wheelchair, advising that it should not be used as a seat in a motor vehicle: “WARNING!! This wheelchair seating system in combination with the wheelchair base has NOT been crash tested and may NOT be used as a vehicle seat! Your (brand name here) Power Positioning System (in combination with the OEM wheelchair power base) has not been tested to the requirements of ISO 7176-19:2001 or ANSI/RESNA WC-19 and may not under any circumstances be used as a vehicle seat or to transport the user in a vehicle. Using a wheelchair that does not fulfill these criteria as a vehicle seat can lead to the most severe injuries and even death in the event of a traffic accident.”

Carron was understandably concerned. “Until I received this wheelchair with the warning label, I had no idea that there was testing available,” she says, “or that I might be at risk anytime I used it in a motor vehicle.” Since this was a mobility device she intended to use every day, there was no way that she would be able to leave it at home whenever she traveled in her van.

Her appeal to Medicare for their help in correcting this problem resulted in no action. The vendor did eventually offer to reimburse her for the amount he received for the wheelchair, but advised that he would not sell her another one to replace it even though the seating system had been switched without the customer’s knowledge. That series of frustrations led her to seek out the organization that was mentioned in the warning regarding her wheelchair. She learned that standards do exist for testing of wheelchairs in simulated crashes, similar to the impact studies being performed on motor vehicles.

Wheelchair Safety Testing Voluntary, Not Required
Unfortunately, unlike the NHTSA requirement for vehicle testing, there is no requirement for wheelchair manufacturers to submit their products for crash testing. Instead, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America has established a set of voluntary safety standards, known as WC18, WC19 and WC20. These standards set design and performance requirements for wheelchairs that are occupied by users traveling in motor vehicles, as well as for tiedown and restraint systems and seating systems.

Wheelchair testing dummies await their ultimate calling.
Wheelchair testing dummies await their ultimate calling. Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Wheelchairs that meet the WC19 standard are equipped with four specific attachment points for the use of a strap-type tie-down system. The wheelchair must also have a pelvic safety belt that is capable of being connected to a vehicle-anchored shoulder belt. That results in a secure connection between the vehicle and the passenger, as well as the mobility device. They are tested with crash test dummies strapped into the seat.

The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute was the designated rehabilitation engineering research center on wheelchair transportation safety for 10 years, and is now funded by other sources. That institute has the task of performance testing wheelchairs and securement systems. Miriam Manary is the senior engineering research associate at UMTRI, where she has worked since 1988. While she has seen many improvements during that time, she feels that the “head in the sand” approach to the issue of passengers seated in wheelchairs needs to end. “Wheelchair users are going to use their mobility devices for all aspects of their lives,” she says, “and travel in a motor vehicle is an important part of that. They need to travel for shopping, visiting friends and relatives, attending school, commuting to work or for medical appointments. Assuming that they will not do that travel is unrealistic.”

Convincing funding agencies and insurers to provide consumers with mobility devices that are sturdy enough for everyday tasks, including travel outside the home, certainly seems like a great place to start. Manary says she is only aware of one agency that has required the purchase of equipment that met the WC19 standard in the awarding of a bulk purchasing contract. “Veterans Affairs tried that several years ago,” she says, “but as far as I know, they only tried that one time.”

As someone who has been involved in the field of testing wheelchairs and securement devices for many years, Manary feels there are other steps that can be taken to assure that wheelchairs are safe. “Prescribers, clinicians and consumers should expect that a wheelchair will be used as a seat in a vehicle,” she states, “and [they] should let manufacturers know that they’re wanted for that purpose. This is important, particularly for children, and the requirement to provide equipment that meets the WC19 standard should become part of individual education plans.”

The status of Carron’s replacement wheelchair remains unchanged. It sits in her house, unused, but that is not only because of the warning that she received with the chair. It is also unusable because the Medicare-designated vendor equipped it with leg rests that are too long to clear the ground, so it cannot move.

Resources
• Absolute Mobility Center, 800/376-8267; www.absolutemobilitycenter.com
• All-Terrain Conversions, 855/324-3085; atconversions.com
• Electronic Mobility Controls, 207/512-8009; www.emc-digi.com/explore.cfm/powerheadrests
• EZ Lock, 888/952-5625; www.ezlock.net
• Lists of crash-tested products, 734/936-1108; wc-transportation-safety.umtri.umich.edu/crash-tested-product-lists
• Mobility SVM, 877/658-1512; www.mobilitysvm.com
• Q’Straint, 800/987-9987; www.qstraint.com/en_na/products/docking-systems
• Ryno Mobility, 800/799-4806; www.RynoMobility.com
• University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, 734/936-1108; wc-transportation-safety.umtri.umich.edu


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