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Explore the Best Type of Vehicle for a Wheelchair Ramp
Many people in America either provide care to someone in a wheelchair or are using the wheelchair. A wide array of physical disabilities and mobility issues make wheelchairs very necessary in the world today. Wheelchair users may be short-term or long-term. Short-term users need wheelchairs for a given period because of some temporary condition that requires the use of a wheelchair. However, being in a wheelchair is not a sentence to remain grounded and never travel.
Medical content reviewed by Dr Eric Jackson-Scott MD, Chief Medical Officer 
To easily alight and get off a vehicle, wheelchair users use unique equipment known as a wheelchair ramp. It is a very vital tool that has helped millions of Americans access different cars. Many wheelchair users usually find it hard to get a new vehicle or purchase a wheelchair ramp for their vehicle. They have a series of questions such as:
• How will I choose a ramp for my vehicle?
• What type of vehicle is ideal for the installation of a wheelchair ramp?
• What does a wheelchair ramp mean, and how can it help me in a wheelchair?
• What type of vehicle has the ease of wheelchair ramp installation?
• How will I know the best wheelchair ramps to purchase?
What is meant by a wheelchair ramp?
It is an inclined ramp that enables wheelchair users to move from the ground to a raised floor. These ramps come in diverse forms. Wheelchair users can easily access pavements and buildings using concrete wheelchair ramps. Some wheelchair rams are fitted in vehicles to allow these people to access them. For example, in the United States, most buses have wheelchair ramps for the disabled.
These ramps used in vehicles like vans, SUVs, and cars can be made of aluminum, steel, or wood, and can the owner can remove it when it is not in use.
How is a wheelchair ramp used to make vehicles accessible?
These ramps help the disabled who are confined in wheelchairs get on the vehicle. They provide an avenue where the wheelchair rolls on to get to the truck. Most of the cars with wheelchair ramps have a lower floor to decrease the distance moved by the wheelchair. Usually, the wheelchair ramp will fold or hinge inwards when no one is using it.
How do I choose a wheelchair ramp?
The wheelchair ramp you select will depend on what dimensions your wheelchair has and its size. You will also look at the type of vehicle you have and its entrance size. The other crucial thing you have to look at is whether you will walk the ramp behind the wheelchair or roll up the wheelchair ramp. Ultimately that determines the length of the ramp.
If you decide to roll up the ramp in the wheelchair, it must have one foot of ramp in every inch. If you choose to go for the ramp where you will walk behind your wheelchair, it must have one foot of ramp every three inches.
What type of vehicle is best suited to a wheelchair ramp?
There is no one specific answer to this question. These ramps are applicable in many vehicles like SUVs, trucks, cars, vans, and buses. Smaller cars are not ideal for wheelchair ramps due to their size. They are also too low and might not have sufficient space even to store the ramp.
However, these big vehicles will quickly install wheelchair ramp-like buses and trucks. They have enough space to store the ramp and to open it down because of the ground clearance.
What cars can take a wheelchair?
People using manual wheelchairs can fold and transport them easily. People whose wheelchairs cannot fold will have to look for a vehicle that is big enough. However, if you need to know the ideal wheelchair-accessible cars for rigid wheelchairs, they include trucks, vans, minivans, and SUVs. Including those holding a DMV handicapped placard.
What are the best wheelchair ramps for cars, vans, and SUVs?
There are three typical wheelchair ramps for SUVs, vans, and cars. They include:
• Permanently fitted ramps on the vehicles' frame - These ramps are fitted during the initial assembly of the car or as an adaptation. The ramps fold sideways into the van or the truck. Permanently fitted ramps come in in-floor, rear-entry, side-entry, or fold-out ramps.
• Multifold ramps – the wheelchair ramps allow rear-door entry to SUVs, vans, and trucks. These ramps are stable and relatively easy to stow.
• Suitcase ramps – these ramps are perfect for low to moderate vehicle floors. They are lightweight and portable and pretty easy to use with SUVs, trucks, and vans.
