Wheelchair Safety when Riding in a Car
Can you guess what could be wrong with this picture?
- Notice how the occupant safety belt goes around and over the wheelchair frame as well as wheelchair rear wheel. You can see the gap between the belt and the occupant's body. It's not snug around the hips so the occupant can "submarine" under the belt or it will cut into her abdomen in a vehicle crash (literally not figuratively, blood, guts and all). Because it is not snug, she isn't well restrained so she will move and whiplash more in a crash. Since the safety belt is going around the wheelchair frame and wheelchair rear wheel, they're more prone to break in a vehicle crash. The belt will repeatedly wrap around the wheelchair frame and the webbing could become damaged, causing failure in a crash. Also the forces exerted on the belt will be more concentrated which could again lead to failure.
- If the occupant is able to walk or transfer with assistance, then they should be secured in a vehicle's OEM seat. A person shouldn't be riding in their minivan in their wheelchair unless they cannot or it is unsafe to transfer. Consult with a driver rehabilitation specialist to make that determination. The vehicle's OEM seat is crash tested and meets all federal safety standards. A person will be much safer riding in a standard vehicle seat. Just look at the manual wheelchair's seatback and compare it to the OEM seat backs and how thick they are and you should realize that there really is no comparison in safety between the two choices. See how the OEM seat has a headrest and the manual wheelchair does not. Try to imagine the occupant's head movement in a severe braking situation or even a minor accident, not to mention a full crash. So if the woman pictured is elderly and uses the wheelchair because they walk slowly, tire easily over medium to long distances, or are prone to loosing their balance and falling, then with the aid of an attendant, they should be able to transfer into a vehicle's OEM passenger seat (all those nice empty seats in the back).
- Also just a guess, but related to number 2 above, is that it's highly unlikely that a manual chair is ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant to withstand the forces in a vehicle crash. They do exist but there just aren't that many out there. You can watch crash videos on the web where a non ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant manual wheelchair falls apart in a sled test. It's the first video.
Some points to remember:
- Your wheelchair is not a NHTSA crash tested vehicle seat
- Your wheelchair is not a NHTSA crash tested vehicle seat
-
Your wheelchair is not a NHTSA crash tested vehicle seat
Why am I repeating myself? Because that obvious fact is either not understood or is forgotten by many in the accessible van industry and is almost certainly not understand by many wheelchair users. I don't think there is conspiracy out there, it's just something that most people people either don't think about or just accept. I also think it’s a case where people have been involved with accessible vans for so long; they assume you know what they do. But I strongly feel that the consumer should have all the information to make an informed decision and this includes talking about wheelchair safety. Maybe a little bit of the industry's reluctance to talk about the subject is also that dealers and vendors are trying to sell you something and talking about crashes and what the body goes through in a vehicle crash is not good salesmanship. When one company’s slogan asks you to "Imagine the Possibilities", I’m sure a bloody vehicle crash is not what they’re talking about. Although the law allows someone to be seated in their wheelchair in a motor vehicle, NHTSA has never put out a definition of what a wheelchair is much less what is a “safe” wheelchair to ride in. Technically speaking you could ride around in one of those antique wooden wheelchairs you sometimes see in wheelchair provider demo rooms. So let’s look at your vehicle’s original seats. They are manufactured to meet crash test requirements. The materials used in the construction of the seat have to meet certain other federal requirements. The headrest itself has to meet certain other federal requirements. The seatbelts also have to meet even more federal requirements. Lots of requirements, huh? There also might be state requirements as well. All these requirements are found in federal laws that NHTSA is tasked with enforcing. All these requirements keep our cars and the driving public relatively safe. That’s important because vehicle crashes involve not just you and your car but others on the rode. Maybe you have different feelings on this matter, but I don’t want to drive my car with my kids on the same rode as an uncertified car you built in your garage. I personally like these requirements but of course when it comes to wheelchairs these requirements are noticeably missing. So what are we to do? This is where we have to put on our thinking caps a bit. But first, go and find your wheelchair manual in that hall closet or spare room. Dust it off and read it. Notice that part that says “We the wheelchair manufacture do not think that it is safe to ride in a car sitting in this wheelchair. We absolve ourselves of any responsibility (legal, financial, etc.) from your not heeding our warning!” Of course it will be in better legalese but you get the point. All wheelchair manuals have this type of language in them and most users never realize it.
Should people not ride in wheelchairs because they are not crash tested? No, NO, and NO! The whole point of the 49CFR595 Make Inoperative Exemption is to allow people with disabilities to be able to use vehicles like the general public. We shouldn’t lock ourselves in a closet because the world is a dangerous place. At the same time, IF you must ride in a car from a wheelchair, you should use a wheelchair that is as safe as possible AND only if it is absolutely required. You shouldn't be riding in your vehicle in your wheelchair unless you cannot transfer to a vehicle's OEM seat. And you should educate yourself and and caregivers on the safe way to properly restrain both the wheelchair and the wheelchair occupant.
ANSI/RESNA WC-19: A Voluntary Standard for Wheelchair Safety
So let’s talk about ANSI/RESNA WC-19, http://www.rercwts.org/WC19.html. WC-19 is a voluntary industry standard for designing and manufacturing a wheelchair that will be used as a seat in a motor vehicle. A WC-19 wheelchair has:
- At least four permanently labeled securement points that can withstand the forces of a 30 mph, 20 g impact.
- Specific securement point geometry that will accept a securement strap end fitting hook.
- Has clear path of travel for allowing proper placement of vehicle mounted occupant safety restraints next to the body,
- Anchor points for an optional wheelchair anchored pelvic safety belt, that is designed to withstand a 30 mph, 20 g impact, and,
- A standard interface on the pelvic belt to connect to a vehicle-anchored shoulder belt.
After the wheelchair tiedowns and occupant restraint systems (WTORS) became standardized with the release of SAE J2249, the wheelchair became the weakest link in ensuring the safety of wheelchair occupants. A WC-19 wheelchair is the best option if you’re looking at sitting from your wheelchair while in a vehicle. But here are some problems with WC-19 that you should be aware of:
- Most clients will not be able to obtain a WC-19 compliant wheelchair. The wheelchair has to be manufactured WC-19 compliant. This is not a retrograde option. Utilizing an elevator or tilt system will often prevent the chair from being made ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant.
- Just because a wheelchair is listed on the WC-19 compliant list kept by the RERCWTS, DOES NOT in fact mean that your wheelchair, even if it is the same model as the one on the list, is ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant. Think of the compliance list as meaning the wheelchair has the POTENTIAL of being ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant. A wheelchair can only be made ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant at manufacture. If you do not order it to be so made and if it is in fact not made that way, there is no field fix to make it ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant after the fact. There are many reasons why a manufacturer cannot make a chair ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant regardless of what is ordered. Please make sure that you know what you are ordering and most especially what you are actually getting.
- Wheelchair manufacturers seem to know little about WC-19 compliance. I’m sure someone in their organizations is very knowledgeable on the subject, but that’s not the person you’ll have the first, second, and third opportunity to talk to on the phone. I’ve seen wheelchairs mislabeled as WC-19 compliant when they weren’t. I’ve been told a chair was WC-19 compliant, then told it wasn’t, then told it was, only to find out from looking at the bill of materials that it clearly wasn’t.
- The manufactures of the electric restraints (EZ Lock, Sure Lock, etc.) do not claim to work with WC-19 compliant wheelchairs. That’s in the fine print. The reason is simple. The testing standard for electric restraints is SAE J2249/ISO 10542. That standard calls out for the occupant restraints to be anchored to the floor; but ANSI/RESNA WC-19 calls for the occupant restraints to be anchored to the wheelchair itself. In fact, having the occupant restraints anchored to the wheelchair is one of the most important points of the ANSI/RESNA WC-19 standard because it tries to ensure that the occupant restraints will be properly installed and located. In a WC-19 compliant wheelchair, therefore, all of the crash forces (occupant and wheelchair) are transferred to the wheelchair. All those forces would in turn be transferred directly to the electric restraint. But the SAE J2249/ISO 10542 standard only requires the electric restraint to be able to withstand the crash forces from the wheelchair itself. The occupant forces would be largely taken up by the floor anchored occupant restraints. The occupant restraint forces are not small and if you run through the physics that ends up being quite a large additional force for the electric restraint to handle if ANSI/RESNA WC-19 design criteria was used. So if you have a WC-19 wheelchair and plan to sit in it while it is secured to an electric restraint, the occupant restraints will need to be anchored to the vehicle. This essentially voids one of the biggest benefits to WC-19 compliance, the wheelchair mounted automotive lap belt and shoulder belt attachment point. This can be a big deal because it is hard to get vehicle anchored occupant restraints at the proper geometry and position which again is one of the main points of ANSI/RESNA WC-19 to begin with. Note: Something else to know with the SAE J2249/ISO 10542 crash test standard is that it only requires a "surrogate" wheelchair to be tested and it must weigh 187lbs. A crash test dummy weighing 168lbs is also used. I don't know about your experience, but there seem to me to be a whole lot of wheelchairs that weigh more than 187lbs and there are a whole lot of wheelchair users who weigh much more than 168lbs. Some electric restraint manufacturers will test with actual wheelchairs and not just test a "surrogate wheelchair" however the dummy still only weighs 168lbs. Keep in mind a 100lb weight difference translates into an additional 2,000lb force in a 30mph/20g crash test. Something is going to have to restrain that additional 2,000lbs.
- Not all manufacturers attempt to make their wheelchairs ANSI/RESNA WC-19 compliant. Permobil does not make a WC-19 compliant wheelchair. But Permobil makes very good chairs that I would certainly recommend one for someone who was required to sit in a wheelchair in a vehicle (assuming of course it's the overall best chair for all of the person's needs).
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