LDV People mover Range

From the sounds of things, you need a vehicle that can accommodate the wheelchair as an actual seat in the car rather than having the chair folded and stored for the journey. With that in mind, a van or people-mover is by far the best best bet and the news is good, because there are plenty of choices. For a while there, people were converting Ford Falcon station-wagons for this task, but since the Falcon is no longer made, vans have become the new default vehicle to convert. Which makes plenty of sense.

There are specialist firms around that will carry out whatever conversion you require and tailor-make the ramps, lock-down points and grab-rails you need to make it work for you. Switched on companies will sit down with you and discuss your precise requirements and engineer something bespoke if necessary.

At the moment, the list of car choices is pretty long and includes the new Hyundai Staria, VW Caddy, LDV G10, VW Caravelle, Renault Kangoo, Renault Trafic, Hyundai iLoad, Mercedes-Benz V-Class, Toyota HiAce and, in case you need something really big, even the Toyota Coaster. Some of these companies are also registered as NDIS suppliers.

But don’t rule out a second-hand vehicle, either. There are websites around listing used wheelchair-accessible cars for sale. Some will be ex-taxis, but others can be relatively low-kilometre cars that might just have the exact layout you were looking for.

This is possibly a fault with the smart key which not only physically unlocks the car, but also disables the immobiliser and allows the car to start. Have you somehow managed to lock the keys in the car at any stage and retrieved them with the spare key? If so, try the spare key to see if that will now start the car.

I’m told that locking the keys inside the car and opening it with the spare key, will wipe the electronic coding on the first key, meaning that it will no longer unlock all the electronic security measures. You can take the key to a dealership and have it recoded. Perhaps it’s just that the key has failed electronically for no good reason and needs either a new battery or a new key module. Generally speaking, messages like `No VID Found’ suggest that the key is not talking to the car’s body computer. Often it’s the key, but sometimes it can be the body computer itself.

There are so few of these things on the road even now, that it’s difficult to find patterns within the LDV’s reliability record. But a few things have emerged with enough frequency to call them trends. Those start with the electronics and, specifically, the body computer. Some owners have found that the central locking has problems (sometimes traced to a faulty drivers’ door actuator) while others have problems with the entertainment system.

Beyond that, shock absorbers seem to die young and some owners have reported grumbling noises and low-speed jerkiness from the driveline which has been traced back to the rear differential. Some dealers have replaced these units, only for the problem to recur sometime down the track. Overall, the LDV seems to have its problems, but many would-be buyers are prepared to allow for that based on the budget pricing of the LDV range. You get what you pay for…