Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle 101: Know Your Emergency Backup Feature

It's an unbelievably overwhelming feeling when something goes wrong with your vehicle. You never realize just how much you rely on your automotive transportation until it's taken from you.

For many, if a car won't start or a tire goes flat, your plans aren't completely de-railed. Often, you can call a friend or a neighbor to take you to school, or work, or the doctors. Maybe you have another family car you can borrow. Maybe you have public transportation. Regardless, often your life isn't put on hold when your vehicle isn't working. 

But for our customers, it's not that easy. If an accessible vehicle won't start, you often can't call up a friend for a ride home. It takes more planning to figure out what to do with your wheelchair when you can't roll it up into your neighbor's or family member's vehicle and are unable to transfer. And, if you miss something important like a doctor's appointment, the consequences could be even more serious.

Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Manual Override System

Manual override buttons are located within easy reach of either a wheelchair user or another vehicle passenger. These ensure a ramp can be deployed or stowed, the door opened or closed and the kneel engaged or returned to driving position easily with the push of a button.

At BraunAbility, we make sure safeguards are in place to protect our customers from being down and out. Our wheelchair accessible vehicles have side doors that operate just like they did when they came from the manufacturer. This means you can open and close the door by pulling on the handle and sliding it open manually. Vans with foldout ramps also have electrical overrides that will raise the ramp and operate the kneeling feature of the van even if the vehicle doesn't start. If you are inside the vehicle in the event of a failure to start, open the door and push the ramp out manually to exit. 


Even our accessible vehicle lifts have a variety of emergency back-up systems so you can operate them in the event of a power failure. Your dealer will train you on how to work these systems before you take the product home.

When you buy a BraunAbility product, you aren't just buying a van or a lift. You're buying your freedom. Our job is to make sure that freedom is never compromised. You can rest easy knowing that if the worst happens, we've thought ahead to make sure you are safe and secure.

If you forget the training from your dealer or the information in this blog, our dealer network offers 24/7 emergency roadside assistance so you can call on them when you need help the most. No matter where you are in the country, BraunAbility dealers are ready and trained to support you whenever and wherever you need it.

When your accessible vehicle won't start, your problems can be solved within an hour too, thanks to BraunAbility-engineered emergency back-up systems, our dealer network, and by putting your trust in the BraunAbility name.


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