Elderly & Handicap Car Door Assist Handle – Multifunctional Support for Easy Entry & Exit

$29.99

~~$59.99~~ $29.99

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Grip Color Red Blue

Something solid to push up on

Standing up out of a car seat is one of the hardest ordinary movements there is. You are low down, twisted sideways, and there is nothing in reach that was built to be pulled on. The door frame is too far. The seat back gives way. The door itself swings.

This is a handle you bring with you. It hooks onto a part of the car that is already there and already strong, and it puts a padded grip right where your hand wants one — so the push comes from your arm as well as your legs.

Where it goes: the door striker

Open the car door and look at the door frame, at about hip height. You will see a small U-shaped metal loop bolted to the frame. That is the striker — the piece the door latch closes around every time you shut the door. It is bolted through to the car's structure, which is exactly why this handle uses it.

The head of the handle has a deep notch cut into its underside. You drop that notch down over the striker loop and the handle sits out horizontally, ready to hold. When you are done you lift it straight off and take it with you. Nothing is screwed on, nothing is clamped, nothing is glued, and nothing is left behind on the car.

Check your own car before you order — this is not a universal fit. Open the door and look at the striker. Three things have to be true:

It is a U-shaped loop, held on by two bolts. If your car has a single plain striker bolt or post instead of a loop, there is nothing for the hook to drop into and this will not work.
There is clear space around the loop, so the hook can seat all the way down to the bottom. On some pickups and on a number of newer cars the opening is too shallow or too enclosed and the hook sits proud.
Once seated, it does not rock. Striker openings are not standardized, and a loop wider than the hook lets the handle move side to side before you have put any weight on it.

If any of those three fail on your car, this handle is not the right thing for it. Please check the actual car it is for — strikers vary between makes, trims and model years, so the badge and the year will not tell you.

What it feels like to use

The grip is a straight foam barrel with raised rings along it, so a hand that does not close tightly still has something to catch on. It is the same kind of foam used on walking-stick grips — warm to hold in cold weather, and not slippery in the wet the way bare plastic gets.

It works the same way from either side of the car, for the driver or a passenger, and it takes a second to put on and a second to take off. Most people keep it in the door pocket or the glovebox.

Two emergency tools on the same handle

This is the "multifunctional" part of the name. Both tools are physically present on the item — we confirmed each against the manufacturer's own photography before describing it here:

A window-breaking point. The polished metal bar projecting from the head narrows to a hard chisel tip, meant to be struck against a side window in an emergency.
A seatbelt cutter. The black cap at the base of the grip has a hooked jaw with a recessed blade inside it. You hook it over a jammed belt and pull.

The blade sits down inside the jaw so it is not exposed to your hand in normal use. Treat both as emergency features you hope never to need, and keep the handle where you could actually reach it from the seat.

What we cannot tell you: there is no published weight rating

The manufacturer does not publish a weight limit, load rating or test standard for this handle, and we are not going to invent one. Some listings for handles like this quote a figure. We have not been able to trace any of those figures to a real test, so we will not repeat one.

What that means in practice: treat this as an assist — something to push against while your legs and your other hand do their share — and not as a rated transfer aid you can hang your full weight from. If you need a load-tested device, that is a different product and it is worth buying one.

Before every use

A few seconds each time, and this is worth reading out to whoever the handle is for:

Look at the striker: clean, solid metal, not bent, not corroded. Give its two bolts a check now and then — they carry the load, and cyclic use can work fixings loose.
Seat the hook all the way down over the loop, then press down on the handle to test it before you trust it.
Push down on it, never pull up. Lifting is how the handle comes off, so an upward pull can take it off the striker mid-movement.
Get both feet squarely under you first, and reach for it with your stronger arm.
Keep your other hand on the seat or the door frame — not on the door itself, which swings and moves under you.
Only use it with the door standing fully open and steady, never on a slope or in wind.
Stop using it if it ever rocks, slips, creaks or looks bent.
Take it off before you close the door, and stow it in the console or door pocket — loose in the cabin it becomes a heavy object in a collision.
It is not a substitute for a fitted grab rail, a walking stick, or a person's arm. It is an extra point of contact, not a replacement for the ones you already rely on.

Specifications

Length: About 7 in (18 cm) overall — roughly the length of an adult hand from wrist to fingertip
Head: About 4 in (10 cm) across including the metal point, about 2.7 in (7 cm) deep
Grip: About 1.5 in (4 cm) across at the base cap; foam barrel with four raised rings
Material: ABS and aluminum, as specified by the manufacturer
Color: The body is black on both. Red or Blue names the color of the four rings on the grip
Fits: Cars with a U-shaped metal door striker held on by two bolts, with room for the hook to seat fully. Not universal — check yours
Fitting: None. It hooks on and lifts off. No tools, no drilling, no adhesive