Wheelchair Designs: Proprietary Integrated vs. Aftermarket Modular - Erik Kondo

There are two fundamentally different ways you can design a wheelchair.

A. PROPRIERTY INTEGRATED DESIGN: You can design and build the entire wheelchair yourself and create a proprietary integrated unit of wheelchair frame, backrest, rear wheels, casters, and accessories.

 B. AFTERMARKET MODULAR DESIGN: You can design the wheelchair frame to incorporate aftermarket parts such as backrest, rear wheels, casters, and accessories.

 A wheelchair design is a recipe. The materials the wheelchair is built from are the recipe’s ingredients. A Proprietary Integrated Design follows a secret recipe made from proprietary ingredients. An Aftermarket Modular Design follows a recipe using commonly available ingredients (parts) which may come from multiple competing sources.

A Proprietary Integrated Design allows the wheelchair Manufacturer compete control of the life cycle of the wheelchair. During the life of the wheelchair, all repairs are made by using proprietary parts and repair methods.

Currently, all dominant wheelchair manufacturers use Proprietary Integrated Designs. As a result, wheelchairs are universally expensive and time consuming to repair. The difficulty in making repairs results in premature wheelchair replacement and shortened wheelchair life cycles. It is common for entire wheelchairs to be completely scraped due to regular failure of the “Weakest Link” such as caster parts or backrest hinges.

The "Weakest Link" is a design aspect of the wheelchair whose failure will render the wheelchair unusable. The more integrated the "Weakest Link" is into the primary frame the more likely complete replacement will be required. For example, it is common for wheelchairs to have their casters designed in such a manner that corrosion of a bearing will corrode the integrated caster barrel which will greatly degrade wheelchair functionality due to excessive caster flutter. This is a foreseeable event (planned obsolescence) that is easily prevented with an Aftermarket Modular Design which would enable caster fork replacement.

Contrast this situation to other personal mobility devices such as bicycles, skateboards, scooters, skis, rollerblades, etc. All of these devices are designed to enable the use of aftermarket parts. Able-bodied consumers, unlike wheelchair users, expect their mobility devices to be easy and affordable to repair due to knowledge of the wide availability of aftermarket parts. When the “Weakest Link” fails, it is designed to be quickly replaced with an aftermarket part.

An Aftermarket Modular Design allows the wheelchair user to manage their repairs during the life cycle of the wheelchair by enabling them to choose the desired aftermarket parts and repairs as needed. The wheelchair’s useful life is greatly extended by the ability to make continuous affordable repairs.

To summarize: 

Proprietary Integrated Design benefits the wheelchair Manufacturer by enabling it to control the wheelchair’s life cycle by controlling repairs and timed replacement through the expected failure of the “Weakest Link”.

Aftermarket Modular Design benefits the wheelchair User by enabling them to control the wheelchair’s life cycle by managing repairs through the use of aftermarket parts and the replacement of the “Weakest Link”.

As you can see, wheelchair manufacturers have the financial incentive to create Proprietary Integrated Designs rather than Aftermarket Modular Designs. On the other hand, wheelchair users benefit greatly from Aftermarket Modular Designs. The power of Aftermarket Modular Designs is their ability to utilize economically produced and priced aftermarket parts that have the potential to be widely available when sufficient demand has been created (in the future).

The monopolistic practices of the Legacy Wheelchair Industry purposely prevent the entry of upstarts from creating Aftermarket Modular Designs and creating a demand for aftermarket parts. Because a company creating Aftermarket Modular Designs is inherently less profitable, they are unable to compete against marketing budgets, lobbying power, and industry dominance of the Legacy companies. 

Since wheelchair users have minimal market power and influence, the result is the status quo of wheelchair users continuously overpaying for foreseeable repairs (that take too long to accomplish) and prematurely replacing their wheelchairs due to Weakest Link failures (if they can afford the expense).