Like Cars, Wheelchairs Need Regular Maintenance

Data reveals the value of covering twice-a-year preventive maintenance for CRT equipment

For Complex Rehabilitation Technology (CRT) users, a wheelchair breakdown isn’t just an inconvenience. It means that daily life is on hold indefinitely. While most mobility equipment is designed to last five years, many of its key components fail well before that—and the consequences of these failures can leave CRT users stranded, resulting in lost income, missed appointments, and even contributing to serious health conditions. 

For CRT users, it’s not a question of if they’re going to experience a chair failure, but rather when. Research has shown that 64% of wheelchair users experience a failure in a given six-month period. Recent research has also shed light on the scope and impact of these failures—and what the data reveals is cause for attention.

Common Parts that Don’t Go the Distance

Mobility equipment is highly customized, often comprised of thousands of components. Just like a car or home appliance, the wear and tear caused by daily use takes its toll, sometimes leading to chair failure. 

For manual wheelchairs, research has shown that some of the parts that fail most frequently include: 

• Casters,
• Tires,
• Bearings,
• Armrests, and
• Footrests. 

Power chair users face failures in all the same areas with a few additional vulnerabilities, including: 

• Electronics,
• Batteries, and
• Motors/actuators. 

Recent research has shown that on average, these parts last about two years—less than half the expected five-year lifetime of the chair. This isn’t a quality issue, but due to the wear and tear of an active life. You’d never expect your car’s tires or brakes to last the entire lifetime of the vehicle, and CRT equipment that is used day in and day out to ensure independence and mobility is no different. 

Those with More Complex Mobility Needs Face a Higher Risk of Chair Failure

More complex mobility needs result in highly customized, complex mobility equipment—which means an increased number of parts and components that could potentially fail. 

CRT equipment is highly customized, meaning a CRT user with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) needs a wheelchair that’s tailored to meet his or her individual needs, which may differ widely from those of other wheelchair users with different diagnoses. Customizations can range from custom seating systems that help with posture and pressure relief to advanced positioning like recline or tilt, alternate drive controls and more—but each addition adds to the complexity of the equipment and increases the number of components that could potentially fail. 

Research proves that point. In a 2021 study, researchers analyzed more than 6,000 caster failures across five wheelchair models, including manual and power chairs. The results? 

• Users of tilt-in-space manual chairs experienced high-risk failures twice as often as users of ultralightweight manual chairs. 
• Users of Group 3 and 4 power wheelchairs, often prescribed for CRT users with the most complex mobility needs, faced 15–26% more high-risk failures than Group 2 users. 

There Are Real Consequences to CRT Breakdowns

A 2018 study published in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that when a breakdown had immediate consequences—such as being stranded, injured, or missing work or appointments—CRT users: 

• Reported higher pain levels and poorer perceived health,
• Were about 2 times more likely to be rehospitalized, and 
• Face a higher likelihood of developing pressure sores within 12 months. 

In addition to medical complications, breakdowns can also affect income, mental health and participation in work, family and community life. 

Why Preventive Maintenance Matters

It’s impossible to engineer mobility equipment with parts that will never fail—but research has shown that if preventive maintenance were a covered benefit, we could help more CRT users avoid catastrophic failure, injury, medical complications and many other adverse consequences. 

Currently, most insurance carriers don’t cover preventive maintenance for CRT equipment, so CRT users must wait for a part to fail before they can get it repaired. Studies have shown that regular maintenance can reduce accidents, lower long-term repair costs and improve outcomes.

Mobility equipment technology continues to evolve—but insurance provisions for preventive maintenance on that equipment has not. Learn more about why preventive maintenance should be a covered benefit and how you can advocate for change. Let’s get moving together to make a difference.