Secondary safety of car adaptations for disabled motorists

Secondary safety--a car's ability to protect its occupants from injury during a crash--is an area of rapid development in vehicle design which is largely consumer-led. Car adaptations for disabled motorists may reduce secondary safety by presenting hard objects on which people may injure themselves, or by interfering with existing safety systems or modifying the impact zones of the car itself. This paper outlines the principles of secondary safety and presents the results of a qualitative survey comprising secondary safety assessment of 33 vehicles adapted for disabled motorists, suggesting ways in which this might be improved.