Manufacturers: Manual & power wheelchairs, wheelchair seating, and wheelchair securement & occupant restraint systems

Sections on this page

Wheelchairs and Transportation Safety Standards
Crash-Testing Information for Manufacturers
Getting the Word Out about your Crash Tested Products
Currently Available Crash Tested Products

What is the current wheelchair transportation safety standard?

Review the recently accepted clinical practice position paper from the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America entitled, RESNA's Position on Wheelchairs Used as Seats in Motor Vehicles (197KB PDF)
Get the overview on wheelchairs and transportation standards on this website with links to information about the current status of WC18, 19 and 20 and the upcoming ANSI/RESNA Volume IV: Wheelchairs and Transportation.
Read the press release distributed when the standard was accepted by ANSI in June 2000.
The WC19 standard is available for purchase for $100.00 from RESNA's website.
WC19 harmonizes in large part with the ISO standard (International Standards Organization), ISO 7176-19 on transit safe wheelchairs. You can learn more about the ISO-WG6 taskgroup which developed the international standard for wheelchair transportation safety on the Standards section of this website. To the extent possible American and International standards are identical, however, in this instance there are some differences.
The ISO 7176-19 standard can be purchased from the ISO website. Go to the ISO store and search on ISO 7176-19
Would you like to participate in ongoing ANSI/RESNA standards development or standards modification?
Contact:

Douglas Hobson, PhD at the University of Pittsburgh or

Larry Schneider, PhD at the University of Michigan or

Gina Bertocci, PhD at the University of Louisville.

Crash-Testing Information for Manufacturers

Crash testing Products at UMTRI: tiedowns, occupant restraints, wheelchairs and seating products - an information document (300K PDF file)
For more information, contact: Nichole Ritchie at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

What can you do to "get the word out" that your wheelchair is crash-tested according to the WC19 standard?

If your current mobility products are compliant with the standard, let people know! Consumers, parents, therapists, suppliers and transporters are all ready to purchase transit safe products. They want it as a feature in a broad range of mobility and products.

Get your WC19 compliant seating or mobility product listed on this website! Contact us at: ruffing@pitt.edu or contact the manager of the up-to-date listing of WC19 compliant products on this website.

Consider this: Distribute the newly updated “Ride Safe” brochure along with owner's manual and warranty information.

Glossy brochures can also be requested from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute by telephone at 734-764-2171 or by e-mail: umtridocs@umich.edu

The Ride Safe Brochure is available in a PDF format that is viewable with Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded and printed on a color printer for distribution.

Refer customers to this website so they will know that you have high regard for safety and best practice in wheelchair manufacture.

If your current products are NOT compliant, meet with your design engineers to consider product modification to bring your product line into compliance.
- Download and read this an information document: Crash testing Products at UMTRI - (315K PDF file)
- If your current products are crash tested but NOT labeled, be aware that consumers and clinicians will be looking for products that are WC19 compliant. Labeling is part of the standard.

Crash Tested Wheelchairs and Seating Products:

An up-to-date list of all crash tested Wheelchair & Seating Products. Manufacturers, when another mobility product passes crash-testing for WC19 in a sled test, send an e-mail to the manager of this list.

Wheelchairs

Seating Systems

Have questions about WC19? Contact us by e-mail at nritchie@umich.edu

Have technical questions about WC19 or testing wheelchairs and seating systems? Contact Miriam Manary at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

Last Updated: 02.25.2013