[DGMacK]

Hi,

Just writing to ask for some advice on behalf of my dad (who uses a left foot accelerator due to a brain haemorrhage). Apologies if this comes off as a bit of rant.  After decades of using left foot accelerators on Motability cars with no issue, his most recent adaption has been pretty poor quality.   The brand of the pedal is apparently Brig-ayd although I’m not 100%, and the fitters were AIC.

To cut a long story short – he got a twin flip pedal adaption which was rattling/not secure.  This was fixed following an RAC call out who said there was a bolt missing/loose, meaning the pedal was not secured properly. RAC guy fixed this and the adaptions company then came out afterwards to confirm it was fixed correctly.

Not long after that he reported to the garage/Motability that there was still an issue, a squeak that was getting progressively worse and the pedal was on occasion bouncing upwards when pressure was released during driving.   It was booked in for a check but a few days later my dad had an accident in a cafe car park where the pedal bounced upwards enough that it stayed in place and meant the car accelerated forward into a wall even without any foot on the accelerator pedal that was now stuck to the roof of the footwell.  Thankfully no one was hurt.

The car had to be repaired under the insurance, but when the adaptions company went to look at the pedal they’ve said its in perfect working order.  On return of the car,  I’ve taken a look and just pushing down the accelerator with my hand it has ‘broken’ again with the normal set position shifting by several inches.  Connection to the RHS pedal is also loose, so there’s a lot of play in the left hand side pedals position.

Motability have been very little help so far.  And the case manager seems to be reliant on the adaption companies report that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, despite issues having been raised multiple times.  I think in part because my dad struggles to have long phone conversations and his memory is not great due to the aforementioned head injury, he is struggling to get anywhere.  So I’m trying to help get the issue sorted – which I think really means a different brand of pedal. But motability are really resistant to this and are wanting the adaptions company, AIC, to come out again to check the pedal but my dad (and I) have lost faith that this will lead anywhere based on the them saying before that it was “in perfect working order”.

Has anyone had any issues with Brig-ayd or any other left foot accelerators before?

Has anyone had an issue with any adaptions before that they’ve managed to get changed?

Any advice on who to talk to next?

Any advice is really appreciated, thanks.

Topic

[ChrisK]

The adaption I use are electronic remote control devices so can’t comment on left foot adaptions but only advice I can give is to take the car to a different adaption installer and ask them to check it out and that’s its up to being safe to use.

I’ve done this myself in the passed when one adaption installer told me the hoist I’d ordered was no good and that I needed a more expensive one. I contact another installer a hundred miles away and not telling them why I was asking I just told them of the two hoist models and they came to the same conclusion as my local installer that the cheaper one was naff for the car it was going in. Doing this is a bit like you don’t have to have the car serviced by the dealer who supplied the car so goes with adaption installers too.

Sorry I can’t help any more than that and as far as Motability are concerned to me and other here, they seem to be lately just passing the buck to everyone else and not fighting the corner for their customers, maybe there being influenced by our wonderful government or working from home too busy watching the latest Netflix series.

 

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