Vehicles of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
Index
Fiat Doblo Dynamic
Registration number RHV 383
Vehicles of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
Fiat Doblo Dynamic
Registration number RHV 383
The electric winch that drew the wheelchair into the car also gave problems later on when it developed an intermittent fault in the controller. Unfortunately, the controller was sealed and could not be repaired and the whole system was non-standard so the manufacturer could not be identified to get a replacement.
Malcolm's wife Brenda became wheelchair bound in 2022 and it was no longer possible for her to get into the car. Malcolm searched for a wheelchair adapted vehicle and found one near Alton in Hampshire. Malcolm did not really kmow what to look for in such a vehicle, but it was urgent to obtain one to get Brenda out and about, so he purchased it. He was warned that it needed some petrol so he set off but it was quite a long way before he found a garage. Also, he had not discovered how to get the car into reverse gear, so he made sure that he did not get into a situation where he needed to do that.
Neither Malcolm nor Brenda ever liked the vehicle. Malcolm disliked it because it did not drive well. There was not eneough separation between the accelerator and brake pedals, so sometimes the accelerator got pressed down at the same time as the brake, especially in an emergency situation. Consequently, the engine would scream, drawing the attention of anybody near. Malcolm liked to pull away with minimum revs but the car would not respond to that, often with the engine stalling. Brenda found it very bumpy as her wheelchair did not have padded upholstry like the passenger seats. Improvements to the suspension of the vehicle were investigated, but none were possible. There were a number of other niggling faults, some introduced by a previous owner making non-standard alterations to the electric windows.
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