My father uses a walker (good days) or a wheel chair (bad days) to get around.
My mother is planning on getting a new vehicle, and is looking for one that will be easier for Dad to get into and out of.
Preferences:
Higher seats - seats where your knees are at or over hip height are hard to get into and out of.
Lower seat (I know I know): anything that you have to climb into (tall truck or SUV) doesn’t work.
Wide front passengers door
Good hand grips / oh-jesus bars
Has anyone looked into something like this recently? I’m looking for recommendations. So far, crossovers or possibly a minivan seems the way to go.
Vehicle choice may be wider than you think.
There are a vast array of automobile-oriented mobility aids – turn-table seat cushions, grab bars of all kinds, fold-able steps, mounts for holding walkers, add-ons to seat belts, transfer boards, many ingenious devices.
Based on my experience with elderly relatives, I’d, uh, steer clear of anything high enough to be difficult to clamber into. For wheelchair days, look for something that will easy for your mother to load and unload from.
There’s a lot of advice out there on techniques for dealing with mobility issues (common among older people). If the budget runs to it, a consult with a physiotherapist could also be helpful.
In my experience: Minivan all the way. Virtually all of them have seats at a good height (I say virtually, because I’ve seen one or two - like my old Astro - that were a bit too high.) Wide side doors and back gates make it very easy to load chairs or walkers. Most models come with an automatic sliding side door, sometimes two, which is great in the event of additional mobility issues. When Grandmother had hip surgery, and when Tony had surgery on his ankle, it was so much easier to get them into the back seat of the mini van than into any other vehicle around (trucks, SUV, sedan.) Jesus straps will vary by model, of course.
Bonus: Mini vans are quite a lot easier to drive safely than many other types of vehicles. Sitting up slightly higher gives the driver a good view of the road, and all of those windows make it easier to maintain good awareness of surroundings when parking or backing or switching lanes. In addition, that short hood makes it pretty easy to park. These may be important in extending the amount of time an older driver can spend behind the wheel. My folks are getting up in age, and own a pickup truck, a sedan, and a mini van. I can tell a huge difference in the “quality” of my dad’s driving in the van vs. other vehicles.
Elderly Mom and her friends love their minivans.
Mom uses a trike walker.
Another vote for minivan here. Our minivan is by far the easiest vehicle to get my elderly mother in and out of. The front passenger seat is very easy for her to use. It’s just the right height that she can pretty much back into it and swing her feet up. There is also room on the right (passenger) side next to the center seat to stow a folded wheelchair or a folded walker. So, put her in the front seat, close the door, stick the walker or wheelchair in right behind her, close that door, and off you go.
She has significantly more difficulty getting into the center seat, and I don’t think it’s possible at all for her to get into the rear seat. She gets into my pickup truck without too much difficulty, but the seat is a bit too high. My sister’s SUV is also too high. All of my other cars are too low.
This might be a bit of a corollary to the minivan, but you might try the Ford Transit Connect. It has a similar door layout and floor/seat levels as a regular minivan like a Grand Caravan, but is smaller and gets better mileage.
I would suggest any minivan with a sliding door.
also, for non chair use, the Scion xbox is well designed for older people, great for urban parking, good mileage.
My Ford Five Hundred is a great old-people car. The seat is pretty close to butt height, depending how tall the person in question is. No need to climb up or down into or out of the car. And it’s a full size sedan, so plenty of room for passengers. IIRC, it’s got the largest trunk in its class. They only made the Five Hundred for 3 years (2005-2007), but the exact same car was rebranded as a Taurus starting in 2008. If you want something newer, try a Ford Taurus from 2008 or 2009. Not sure if the interior was preserved for 2010 and after though, the exterior changed pretty significantly at that time.
There have already been several votes for a minivan, but I love mine and don’t think it can be suggested too many times. I originally got one because it was the only used car in the area big enough to carry my dog’s crate. After a few days I noticed that the seat height was very kind to my arthritic knees. I’m driving my third one, now.
