Installed: Mach-E Hand Controls for Accessibility / Disabled Person

I saw a post on here a while ago about one type of hand controls that were installed in a Mach-E and wanted to add to the topic for anyone who might have questions about accessibility in the MME.
My wife needs these to allow her to drive, and was finally able to drive it for the first time yesterday!

Full setup

Closeup of spinner knob. This is removable so it doesn’t impede my driving.

The break/accelerator lever. This is a push forward to stop and a pull to accelerate. The break is mechanical and the accelerator is electronic.

The on/off button. I opted to have it installed under the headlight controls to keep them from drilling into the trim near the wheel.

The button illuminated to show that the hand controls are active. When starting the car, they are off by default.

Brand: Suregrip Featherlite
Time to install: Professionally installed in 1 day

Happy to answer any other questions anyone may have!

One of the trucks I learned to drive in was owned by a friend of the family who had been in a severe motorcycle accident and had lost most control over half of his body. He had a spinner knob. About once a year I think about getting one just because I found it gave me so much more control on our 5-mile dirt road at unreasonably high speeds.

Did the installation of the electronic accelerator require an upfitters / OBD-2 module, or were they able to tap directly into the accelerator pedal?

I would be interested to hear about your wife's experience driving over time.

SpaceEVDriver said:

One of the trucks I learned to drive in was owned by a friend of the family who had been in a severe motorcycle accident and had lost most control over half of his body. He had a spinner knob. About once a year I think about getting one just because I found it gave me so much more control on our 5-mile dirt road at unreasonably high speeds.

Did the installation of the electronic accelerator require an upfitters / OBD-2 module, or were they able to tap directly into the accelerator pedal?

I would be interested to hear about your wife's experience driving over time.

Click to expand...

They were able to tap directly into the accelerator pedal. I heard, but not sure if it’s true, that ford is making it easier in the 2021 vehicles and beyond to install hand controls by providing installers with a harness prefitted. Again, not sure how true that is as that seems like it would be an extra cost that I don’t know if ford could justify that, but a nice thought to say the least.

I’ll try to keep this thread updated with her experiences as we go!

Wingsnut39 said:

They were able to tap directly into the accelerator pedal. I heard, but not sure if it’s true, that ford is making it easier in the 2021 vehicles and beyond to install hand controls by providing installers with a harness prefitted. Again, not sure how true that is as that seems like it would be an extra cost that I don’t know if ford could justify that, but a nice thought to say the least.

I’ll try to keep this thread updated with her experiences as we go!

Click to expand...

Ford did recently (last several years?) release a big upgrade for upfitters, including for adaptive technology, that allows commercial customers to provide custom solutions by tapping into the CAN bus directly and a simplified programming interface.

You may already be aware, but just in case: Ford offers up to $1000 for adaptive equipment reimbursement.

SpaceEVDriver said:

Ford did recently (last several years?) release a big upgrade for upfitters, including for adaptive technology, that allows commercial customers to provide custom solutions by tapping into the CAN bus directly and a simplified programming interface.

You may already be aware, but just in case: Ford offers up to $1000 for adaptive equipment reimbursement.

Click to expand...

I’ve heard about it, but I’m not quite sure how to go about getting it. Trying to research that at the moment.

Wingsnut39 said:

I’ve heard about it, but I’m not quite sure how to go about getting it. Trying to research that at the moment.

Click to expand...

https://www.ford.com/accessibility/ford-accessibility-reimbursement/

SpaceEVDriver said:

https://www.ford.com/accessibility/ford-accessibility-reimbursement/

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Appreciate that! I just sent an email to our installer to add our VIN to their invoice as well as our dealer to find out who we need to submit the documents to!

Nice to hear good stories these days

I see.... so the spinner is advisable since one hand is typically on the throttle/brake all the time...

Can you provide links/costs for the system ?

dtbaker61 said:

I see.... so the spinner is advisable since one hand is typically on the throttle/brake all the time...

Can you provide links/costs for the system ?

Click to expand...

Hi dtbaker61,

Correct, one hand on the wheel, one on the throttle/break. The hand controlling the throttle is also responsible for turn signals.

Here is the link to the system itself:
https://www.suregrip-handcontrols.com/pushright

All of their steering wheel accessories are here:
https://www.suregrip-handcontrols.com/steeringwheelattach

I don’t remember the exact cost and would need to dig out the receipts but I believe the professional install came out to somewhere around $2k to $2.5k. We also submitted for the accessible reimbursement from Ford which gave us back $1k.