DIN 75078 in practice: what wheelchair securement means for your fleet and dispatch

The full title translates as "Motor vehicles for the transport of people with reduced mobility (KMP), terms, requirements, testing". Part 1 describes vehicle characteristics and equipment, Part 2 the restraint systems used to secure both the wheelchair and its user inside the vehicle. Both parts apply to motor vehicles with no more than nine seats including the driver seat.

It does not apply to buses and coaches, where European rules take over. So if you run a twelve-seater on school transport, you cannot invoke DIN 75078 for that vehicle and will need your own justification at the bidding stage.

Just as important is what the standard does not cover. It replaces none of the rules that bite in day-to-day operation:

• Type approval and compliant installation follow the Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung (the German vehicle registration regulation), in particular Section 35a StVZO and Section 19 StVZO.
• The duty to actually fasten prescribed wheelchair and occupant restraint systems while driving sits in Section 21a(1) StVO (the German road traffic regulation) and falls on the person behind the wheel.
• Whether you need an operating licence under the Personenbeförderungsgesetz (the German passenger transport act) and a passenger transport driving permit depends on the individual case. Interpretation varies across Germany, and the local road traffic authority decides. School journeys are frequently covered by the Freistellungsverordnung (the exemption regulation).
• Occupational safety and recurring inspections follow from the Betriebssicherheitsverordnung (the German industrial safety regulation) and the accident prevention rules.
• Driver qualification and briefing are a matter for the client and the operator.

Not in its own right. In disability transport, almost always. DIN itself states the principle unambiguously.

Both cases apply here. Since 2016, Section 35a(4a) StVZO has set out requirements for wheelchair and wheelchair occupant restraint systems in passenger cars, and it expressly permits DIN 75078-2:2015-04 as an alternative to the ISO 10542-1 provisions named in the annex. Vehicles built after 2016 in which passengers travel seated in their wheelchair need four tested anchorage points per wheelchair space, the matching straps of the wheelchair restraint system, and a diagonal shoulder belt for occupant restraint. Without those, the vehicle does not comply with German road traffic law.

Then there is the evidence layer. Under Section 35a(4b) StVZO, the vehicle keeper must submit to the registration authority without delay either an expert report under Section 19(2) StVZO or proof under Section 19(3) StVZO that the wheelchair space was installed correctly. The authority then records the installation date in the registration certificate. In a dispute, that entry is precisely what shows your wheelchair securement is documented rather than merely asserted.

Contracts aside, national standards count in Germany as recognised rules of technology and therefore as the yardstick for technically diligent conduct. An expert assessing wheelchair securement after a crash measures against exactly that. Depart from it and the burden of justification is yours.

A wheelchair space consists of two separate systems. The wheelchair tiedown system (RRS) connects the wheelchair to the vehicle, the occupant restraint system (IRS) secures the person. On the vehicle side this means tested floor anchorages, usually built as floor rails, plus four tested belt retractors per wheelchair space.

DIN 75078 Part 2 describes load-node systems for this. The lap belt is not fixed to the vehicle but to adapters that the wheelchair is structurally designed to carry. That routes the restraint forces into the wheelchair tiedown system in a defined way. Testing happens in a dynamic sled test at 20 g deceleration with a test mass of 160 kilograms made up of wheelchair and dummy. The anchorage points are pulled at 24.5 kN forwards and 8.2 kN rearwards for each vehicle type.

That covers the vehicle side only. The wheelchair must also be approved for transport in a motor vehicle. Wheelchairs have been crash-tested since 2009, powered wheelchairs to EN 12184, manual wheelchairs to EN 12183. The rating plate records whether the manufacturer has approved the chair for occupied transport in a vehicle.

Part 1 of the standard distinguishes four vehicle categories. For operators this is the most practically useful section, because it determines which lots a vehicle can be considered for at all.

A fleet of pure type B vehicles simply cannot serve lots with two wheelchair users travelling at the same time, no matter how many seats are free. Specific dimensions, such as headroom above the wheelchair space, the width of the boarding area or the slip resistance of floor and steps, differ by category and by edition. Ask the body builder for those values for the actual vehicle build rather than taking them second hand.

When ordering, the certificate of conformity is the central lever. If a vehicle is ordered to DIN 75078 Parts 1 and 2, the body builder or converter confirms with it that they observed the requirements of the standard for the desired vehicle category and that the vehicle meets them. Write only "wheelchair accessible" into the order and you will have nothing in hand three years later. Name the category explicitly and put the target configuration alongside it, meaning the number of marked wheelchair spaces, of seats and of places for escorts. Equipment also includes stowage for every restraint system carried, which the standard expressly requires. The same documentation logic applies to retrofits. An anchorage rail fitted later without test evidence is worthless in a claim and carries no weight in a procurement.

The Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege (the statutory accident insurer for health and welfare services) expressly recommends that institutions use the standard to describe vehicles in their requirement specifications and to shape contracts with transport providers. That is exactly what happens, with widely varying precision:

• Blanket reference: "The vehicles shall comply with DIN 75078 Parts 1 and 2." The most common variant, and it says nothing about category or edition.
• Categorised reference: a specific vehicle category is required, usually type B2 or C, per lot and per wheelchair space demand.
• Evidence-based reference: certificate of conformity from the converter or a corresponding entry in the vehicle documents, to be submitted with the bid or before service starts.
• Tightened reference: additional requirements set by individual clients, for example combined head and back supports for rear impact.

The last variant deserves attention. There is currently no German road traffic rule on head restraints for wheelchair transport, and DIN 75078 Parts 1 and 2 do not yet describe such systems. Public authorities may go beyond the state of the art, but they have to word the requirement so bidders can cost it. A bidder question before submission costs less than a retrofit after award. Which procurement regime applies at all depends on contract value, covered in detail in EU thresholds 2026 in transport service procurement.

In dispatch, a wheelchair space is not a subset of seating capacity. It is a resource of its own with its own prerequisites, from the marked space through four tested anchorage points and the matching restraint system for chair and user to sufficient headroom and access via ramp or lift. A type A vehicle with five free seats has zero wheelchair spaces.

This usually becomes visible in a cover situation. At 6:40 a driver calls in sick, the dispatcher splits his route across two other vehicles, and one of them is a type B2 minibus with exactly one wheelchair space. Putting two wheelchair journeys on it is not tight planning. It is not permitted.

Other factors shape actual capacity. Powered wheelchairs and oversized models take up more floor area and place higher demands on the boarding aid and the restraint system than a folding chair. If the chair a passenger brings is not approved for transport according to its rating plate, the space exists only on paper. Assistants and escorts occupy regular seats and must be counted when assigning vehicles, more on that in escorts in school transport. And where a passenger can transfer to a regular vehicle seat, that is the safest place in the vehicle, provided the time needed and the staff support are built into the route schedule.

So that these rules do not depend on the tacit knowledge of individual dispatchers, vehicle category, number of wheelchair spaces, type of boarding aid and permissible wheelchair dimensions belong in the vehicle master data, with the matching attribute on the passenger record. Dispatch software can then check the assignment as a hard constraint before the route is even saved.

Restraint systems are wear parts. Webbing chafes, retractors get dirty, anchorage points bend when heavy powered wheelchairs are manoeuvred across them. That is why occupational safety law applies alongside road traffic law. Under Section 36 of DGUV Vorschrift 70, the driver must check that the operating and safety equipment works before every shift and watch for obvious defects during the shift. Under Section 57 of the same rule, the employer has vehicles inspected for roadworthy condition by a competent person as required, but at least once a year, records the result in writing and keeps it at least until the next inspection.

On top of that comes Section 14 BetrSichV for technical work equipment such as ramps and lifts, for lifts as a rule once a year. And the periodic technical inspection under Section 29 StVZO falls due every twelve months for cars used to carry passengers, including in exempt transport. A template for the daily check list is in the annex to DGUV Grundsatz 314-002.

When clients audit you, experience says this is exactly where they probe. Is there a documented daily check? Who is the competent person for the annual inspection? Are the inspection records for lift and ramp available? Can you show the certificate of conformity for every vehicle? Answer those four questions from your system and the evidence part of a contract audit is behind you.