Primary Controls
Steering
If you steer one handed, you may need a steering ball or spinner fitted to the steering wheel. They come in several shapes and sizes; most cost between £30 and £110.
Steering wheel grips from Alfred Bekker
Changing gear
Changing gear is likely to be easier with automatic transmission. If you cannot use a mechanical gear selector, there are systems which electrically set the gear for you, but these can be costly.
Some cars have manual gears that you change without using the clutch. Pushbutton clutches are mounted on the gear stick (around £1,800).
Other types work automatically as soon as the gear stick is moved. If you drive an adapted manual car but your driving licence is for automatic vehicles only, you must make sure the clutch pedal is removed.
Push button gear selector, from Adaptacar
Accelerating and braking
Bryg Ayd flip up pedal
Pedals can be power assisted to reduce the effort needed to use them, or they can be made to work with little movement. If only your right leg is affected, an option is to have an automatic car and a flip up left foot accelerator fitted on the left side of the brake pedal; around £350. Either this or the original accelerator should be flipped up when not in use. You will need training to drive this way.
Hand controls
Different types of system can be fitted on an automatic car. They can be powered.
- Combined controls for acceleration and braking. Typically steering column mounted - you push to brake and pull to accelerate, around £350.
- Separate controls for the accelerator and brake give you more choice and combinations that mean less effort.
Parking brake
Bolt on mechanical attachments take the effort out of using the handbrake; most cost from £70. An alternative is an electric brake worked by pushbutton; from around £750 and up.
next page: Secondary controls