Forester wheelchair lift?

[photo2001]

I have a 2000 Forester. I may have to get a power wheelchair or

scooter. If there is anyone that uses a power chair and has a lift

installed in a Forester, I would greatly appreciate if you could tell

me what model chair and lift you are using.

Thanks,

Kevin

[pinister]

hi kevin

your question touched me. i have a forester and my girlfriend uses a wheelchair.

i don't have a lift in my forester (i am the lift) but i'd like to give you some ideas.

here, in israel, there are 2 kinds of lifts (both for foldable wheelchairs).

the first one, which is located on the roof, pulls the wheelchair by a chain, or mechanic arm. putting a lift like this on a high vehical, prevents it entering some underground parking lots.

the second one is a robot, located in the trunk. the trunk's door is being opened automatically, and the robot, which have some arms and about 3 motors, reaches the driver's door, and takes the wheelchair on a special socket.

this robot is expensive, and there is no trunk left.

if you need more information i can ask some specialists here and write you back.

i guess most of the models available in israel and even more are available in the states.

regards

pini

[photo2001]

Hi Pini,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I've started to do some internet research and see that there are

many types of chairs and lifts available. I have never needed

a chair before, but the building I live in has made some new rules

that make it almost impossible for anyone who has a problem

walking, as I do, to get in and out of the building. I think this is

illegal, and am looking into that also.

I doubt that I could afford the robot type of lift you mention. I

will be doing more research and let you know what I discover.

Thank you again for your kind offer of help.

Kevin

 

 

 

hi kevin

your question touched me. i have a forester and my girlfriend uses a wheelchair.

i don't have a lift in my forester (i am the lift) but i'd like to give you some ideas.

here, in israel, there are 2 kinds of lifts (both for foldable wheelchairs).

the first one, which is located on the roof, pulls the wheelchair by a chain, or mechanic arm. putting a lift like this on a high vehical, prevents it entering some underground parking lots.

the second one is a robot, located in the trunk. the trunk's door is being opened automatically, and the robot, which have some arms and about 3 motors, reaches the driver's door, and takes the wheelchair on a special socket.

this robot is expensive, and there is no trunk left.

if you need more information i can ask some specialists here and write you back.

i guess most of the models available in israel and even more are available in the states.

regards

pini

[pinister]

hi kevin

it seems that i didn't get the whole thing.

did you mean a lift that is built in the car to lift a wheelchair? if so, what is the connection to the building rules?

or you ment something that includes the building too?

about the cost: i don't know what are your rights as an american citizen, but here, in israel, if you are recognized as a handicap who needs a wheelchair, 95% of the expense is being paid by the social security.

pini

[photo2001]

Hi Pini,

 

I live in a highrise building. There are door people who always helped people who need help getting from the elevator to their car. The board of the building sent a memo around last week that the door people will no longer be allowed to help people in and out of the building for insurance reasons. That is why I am looking at getting a power chair and a lift to put it in and out of my car. However, I believe that what the board of my building is against

federal laws because the entrance to this building is not handicapped accessible. Otherwise they will have to retrofit the whole building and that would be very expensive.

If I do have to get a chair, I will probably be able to get government assistance to pay for it.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

 

hi kevin

it seems that i didn't get the whole thing.

did you mean a lift that is built in the car to lift a wheelchair? if so, what is the connection to the building rules?

or you ment something that includes the building too?

about the cost: i don't know what are your rights as an american citizen, but here, in israel, if you are recognized as a handicap who needs a wheelchair, 95% of the expense is being paid by the social security.

pini

[refary]

Check this link...

http://www.pridemobility.com/

[Scoobywagon]

I've built a few wheelchair equipped vehicles. I don't know the nature of your disability, but it sounds like you CAN walk, even if it is difficult.

 

I believe that, with a Forester, your best bet is going to be to get the lightest chair you can and put a hitch-mounted carrier on the back of the car. If you go this route, you're likely to need to do some suspension upgrades in the rear. This will require you to load the chair on to the carrier, tie it down and then go get in the car. This is the least expensive solution.

 

The problem is that the roofline in a Forester is not high enough to accommodate most powered wheel chairs. In some other vehicles, you can get around that by lowering the floor inside the vehicle. You can't do that in the Forester, though, because your rear diff is in the way. You could convert to FWD, but that just seems kinda silly. If you were going to do that, I'd encourage you to look into acquiring a Scion xB from RampVan. They lower the floor in the whole vehicle, and you enter and exit IN THE CHAIR from the (HEAVILY modifiead) back hatch.

 

There is the roof-top type lift that Pinister mentioned. However, here those are expensive, prone to breakage, hard to work on, don't work with powered chairs particularly well and, oh yeah...ugly as sin.

[refary]

Thanks I have some people looking in to it. I car is paid for beef up s uspension upgrades in the rear what ever they need to do so I can drag power chair with me. Just want to be little freer.