Calling all Prii Gurus

My new dilemma is, I am in a wheelchair (rigid frame, not a folder). To load my chair in to the car, I have to recline the drivers seat to a degree and lean the back of the passengers seat forward. I then pull off the rear wheels of the chair and set the frame in the back seat. Now going from a 2 door 2004 BMW M3 to a 2011 Prius (with 4 doors) has 3 issues. One I can't change and hopefully the other 2 I can.

First issue is 2 door to 4 door. Doors are smaller so I have to be careful seeing as I am 6' 3" tall, I don't hit the pillar for the door. Can't do anything about this.

The reason I need the Prii Gurus is this... Second Issue - The passenger seat recline mechanism allows it to lay back all the way but it does not allow it to lean forward like a 2 door car does to allow access to the back seat. The reason I need the seat to lean farther forward is to be able to pass the frame of the wheelchair in to the back seat quicker and easier.... 1) so my girlfriend does not have to stand out in the cold or rain. 2) so I don't drag the frame of the chair against the back of the seat (which is cloth) and get it dirty or greasy. Icing on the cake (IDEALLY) would be to have one handle like the M3 which would slide the seat all the way forward and tilt the back of the seat all the way forward with one pull. I believe this would take a complete frame and seat from a 2 door car but would it match up with the mounting holes of the Prius.

Third Issue - I need hand controls to drive, for gas and brake. Now I have installed the controls on the M3 myself but there was no Knee Airbag. I want the install to be clean and unobtrusive. On the M3 there was a panel under the steering column that I just left off and the hand controls I mounted to where the steering column bolted to the car. I also want to make it as clean as possible so my girlfriends knees do not hit the hand controls. She is 5" even with short legs and has to pull the seat all the way forward. On the M3 she had to be careful not to hit her knees. Can I remove the Knee airbag with out it upsetting any OBD II stuff or cause any other issues electronically??? If not, any ideas on how to install around it.

The car should be here this week. I ordered the Prius III without a single option. It should be interesting to go from "seeing how fast I can go" to "seeing if I can get the car to go 60 miles on a gallon". The M with SMG was my dream car and hated to part with it, BUT I won't miss paying $400 a tire. The best vehicle I have owned other than my Titanium T3 Wheelchair. Maybe we will be starting a whole new line of threads. Any other Prius drivers with chairs out there? Lets talk and compare!!!

Crash - T 10 Para with a 2011 Prius III

 

Well guys I appreciate all the help, but yeah we have thought about those things. She would prefer not to have to lift the chair so she doesn't get dirty. I was hoping someone might know one of those Toyota technicians that would love a challenge such as this. Maybe they could give a hand. It is not a perfect world but I have to go through things like this when something changes. It is all about the technique. I can do it as it but I am trying to make it easier.

At 55, after 31 years of this it seems as some car company could come up with a really good wheelchair car. I have a Honda Odyssey and the passenger seat behind the driver has never been in the van. That is where I pull my chair into. Why not build a small hybrid suv with 2 sliding doors like that on a car chassis that is low to the ground. Have a hatch behind the back seats and bingo... you take out the seat behind the driver and you roll the chair right in. No taking off the wheels and big enough to go on a trip and take all your luggage (big camera bag in my case). A car like this would work for most paraplegics and some low level quads too. Maybe we could turn the Prius v into a van with those 2 sliding doors and leave the rest as it is?

Thanks you guys, this is cool bouncing these ideas around. Never had anything like this to work with.

Craig

 

I think it would be cool to take pics as it goes and post them at the process goes on. Thanks guys.

Craig

 

Thank you guys!!! I like getting all this feedback on this issue. I feel my eyes getting teary! I really do appreciate the help. It gives me ideas: although, my other half says "You and ideas are a bad combo!". I was telling her about adding on the additional batteries and for some reason all she could do was roll her eyes at me.... I don't get it? She said to me "You haven't even received the car yet and your wanting to modify it!" Maybe I shouldn't talk about the car for a while.

The only thing Dusty is if it is for safety why does a 2 door car lean farther forward? People do sit in the back seat and I was thinking that in the Gen II didn't the seats come forward a little farther? It does raise a good point though. Thanks a lot. How about that David, do the seats in your car lean farther forward? Like I said in the previous post with every new car I have to modify my technique on how I do this. Same as when I go to a different style of hand controls. I use Sure Grip on the BMWs that I have owned, which I like. They are strong and don't wear out and trust me I tried to break them by getting hard on the brakes and gas a lot. That was the problem with my M, I drove it too fast. I am thinking of making a set using the Sure Grip design but of smaller diameter and of Stainless Steel instead of Cold roll. I like the look of the Stainless. I don't need the strength of the larger units for this car. I may have to see if I can get some measurements prior to the Install of what ever hand controls may work. Sometimes the ones you want won't work. I did have a set of Wells-Enberg that used a motorcycle cable to the throttle and I had to carry around a small plunger in the car for when ever the cable broke (it did make for some interesting conversations though). I used them because that was one less bar in the leg area. My van has a different type because the Sure Grips that company tried, would stick out too far from the dash. Now that could have been a bracket issue but it also could have been the installer. The same company and installer told me my M3 could not have the Sure Grips bolted under the steering wheel. So my sister drove it home and I did it in 3 hours. I drove it back there the next day to prove it to him. He wanted to do it the easy way by putting a oversized hose clamp around the steering column and he tried to tell me that I couldn't make it move by braking hard. I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride and see if he felt the same way after. OK, I have been told I am rambling. Thanks again guys