Car adaptation for children

Woman smiling at child sitting in a wheelchair

Naturally, there's a seat for the kids in the adapted car. There are all sorts of solutions, from helping the child stay safely seated or to spare the parents backs from heavy lifting.

 
Child car seat

Car seats for children

For the youngest children, there are custom made inserts to help make the ride as comfortable as possible. These are typically moulded to the child's body to make a perfect fit.

For older children, there are fully adaptable seats that can follow the child's growth and needs. A good child seat should provide comfort, posture, pressure relief as well as safety.

 

Posture belts

Another aspect of the seat is body position. One way of ensuring a good body position is to use posture belts. These assist the child in effortlessly maintaining a good posture. Which in turn is vital in achieving proper belt geometry and make the safety belt work as intended. 

Please note that a posture belt can never replace a safety belt but are always used in combination with a safety belt.

Girl sitting in a car with a posture belt strapped on
 

Getting in and out of the car

Helping a child getting in and out of the car often amounts to heavy lifting in very unfavourable positions. There is no reason for you as a parent to break your back when there are so many solutions available. A Seat Lift, for example, enables you to provide ergonomically correct assistance when transferring from wheelchair to car seat on the outside of the vehicle. The Seat Lift will then do all the lifting to get the child inside of the car.  

Man assisting a child into a turnign seat
 
Baby sitting in a car looking into a mirror

Mirrors and surveillance

In order for you as a parent to keep an eye on your child, there are a number of monitoring solutions. Lights, mirrors as well as cameras and monitors can be of great assistance.

 

Riding in reverse 

The common advice from most countries authorities is to have small children, usually under the age of 4, to ride facing backwards. The reason for this is crash safety and the extra protection acquired from riding in reverse. Making accommodations for this in the adaptation is usually not a problem but to be on the safe side, talk to your vehicle adaptation professional before buying any child seats or carriers.

Sign up and learn more!

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest articles on car adaptation for disabilities.

  Sign up here