What is a fold flat ramp?

Dual-fold wheelchair car ramps

If you’re looking for a wheelchair accessble vehicle, either your first one or if you’re updating an existing one you can generally expect to find a standard ramp in the rear (or a lift on some of the larger vehicles) which will drop down to allow the wheelchair user to board the accessible vehicle easily.

There are a few variations of wheelchair ramps, although they obviously all serve the same purpose, you may find that some have a single hinge, some may have a dual hinge (bi-fold) and some may drop down from the floor of the vehicle rather than fold over.

Single Hinge Ramp

Bi-Fold Ramp

Fold Flat Ramp in Place

Some models of wheelchair accessible vehicles also have a ramp with an additional feature allowing it to fold flat into the vehicle. These are called fold-flat (or dual-fold) ramp.

How do dual-fold or fold-flat ramps work and what do they do?

A fold flat ramp will allow the ramp to be folded backwards back into the vehicle. Once folded back into the vehicle it will typically lie flat across the cut away floor to create a floor or parcel shelf.

A fold flat ramp..

• Folds back INTO the vehicle
• Creates a flat surface or parcel shelf
• Can only be used when a wheelchair isn’t on-board
• Is also a regular ramp allow wheelchair boarding

See below for a demonstration.

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/VOEqTRsPXIY” title=”What is a fold flat ramp” description=”Fold flat ramps can be found in certain WAVs and create a flat surface.” upload_date=”2022-08-11″ thumbnail=”https://i3.ytimg.com/vi/VOEqTRsPXIY/maxresdefault.jpg” /]

Fold flat ramps can only be used when a wheelchair is not onboard, and they are ideal if you are using this WAV as a family car or vehicle where a wheelchair passenger may not be onboard all the time.