Filling In a Wheelchair Test Request Form Without Rework

The short answer: three fields account for most rejected request forms

Test request forms rarely come back because a parameter was typed in wrong. Almost every time it is because three fields were left vague: product definition, target market, and sample condition. Until those three are settled, the lab cannot decide which parts of the ISO 7176 series the item list should be built from, whether the GB/T 18029 series has to be layered on, or whether the programme follows the EN 12184 or the EN 12183 route — and the quotation and the schedule stay open.

Here is a comparison table to scan before you start filling anything in. It heads off most of the rework.

Product definition: category, drive method, environment of use — none of them optional

The word "wheelchair" on its own carries almost no information. The first thing the lab does with a new request is establish which class of assistive product it is, and from there which technical route applies. If the category is unclear, that step stalls.

Written properly, the entry covers three things at once: which class it belongs to (manual, powered, powered scooter, walking aid and so on), how it is driven and operated (user-propelled, attendant-propelled, powered control, type of control device), and where it is used (indoor, indoor and outdoor, whether outdoor road surfaces are involved). Those three between them set how wide or narrow the item list ends up.

The emphasis shifts a lot between categories. Electric wheelchair testing has to cover power and control content; manual wheelchairs weight structural strength and handling more heavily; powered scooters have their own conventions for stability and whole-product performance; and walker and crutch testing follows an entirely different technical route. Confirming which class your product falls into before you fill in the form saves a round trip.

There is one case that gets entered incorrectly again and again: a product that exists in two forms — one that can be pushed manually and also fitted with a power unit, for instance, or a manual chair with power assist. For products like these you cannot pick one form and enter only that. Write both forms down, and note whether they are sold under the same model designation and whether the power unit ships with the product. If the second form is left off, the lab builds the item list for a single form, and when the customer asks for data on the other form later there is nothing in the report to give them.

Target market: it sets the route, and it sets the width of the quotation

Writing "export" in the target market box is the same as leaving it blank. Faced with that word, the lab has two options: quote against the broader scope, in which case the price goes up, or quote narrowly and then, when you mention a further market later, add tests and add report work. Neither is a good deal.

Written properly, the markets are listed one by one. Broadly speaking: products for the domestic market sit on the GB/T 18029 series route; powered wheelchairs and powered scooters for the EU market correspond to EN 12184 and manual wheelchairs to EN 12183; and the ISO 7176 series is the shared technical basis underneath all of these routes, which is why many items can be combined across routes. Whether they can be combined, and how far, depends on whether you have described the markets clearly. The correspondences are set out in the standards and test items overview.

One point worth stating plainly here: a laboratory's accreditation mark only attests that the laboratory holds the corresponding technical competence within its accredited scope, and does not constitute a commitment as to the market access outcome in any target market. Naming the target markets on the request form is what makes the item list accurate; it does not make any single report equivalent to a market access decision. Access also involves registration, technical documentation, declarations of conformity and the rest of that chain, and the test report is one link in it.

Model and configuration family: write it down now rather than adding it later

An incomplete configuration family is one of the usual reasons a further submission has to be opened. Under one base model, differences in seat width and seat depth, in the control device, in the battery, or in the footplate arrangement can each land in a different treatment.

The way to fill it in: enter the base model first, then list the derivative configurations one by one, marking the difference points between each configuration and the base model. The more specific the difference points, the easier it is for the lab to judge which configurations the base model can cover and which have to be handled separately. If you cannot articulate the differences yourself, send the configuration list together with the bill-of-material comparison and let the lab make the coverage judgement — that step costs nothing and is far cheaper than adding tests afterwards.

If the design changes partway through the programme or after the product is in production, the logic is different again: that falls under change assessment, where the retest scope depends on which path the change lands in. We will not open that up here.

Client, producer, manufacturer: whose name goes on the report

Get this box wrong and the letterhead has to be corrected after the report is issued, which means reissuing it, and all the time already spent is lost.

The working rule: the letterhead reflects the party responsible for the product, not the party paying the invoice. Where a trading company places the order and a factory builds the product, client and producer go in separate boxes. For contract-manufactured products, write down both the brand owner and the actual manufacturer. For products built at more than one site, the production address is the site actually in production. Before filling it in, ask one question: who is going to read this report, and whose name do they expect to see on it? That answer is the basis for the entry.

Samples and accessories: lock them down on the request form

Do not write "one sample" in the sample box. State the unit count, the sample serial numbers, the sample condition (engineering prototype or production condition), the batteries and chargers supplied with it, the optional accessories supplied with it, and the physical instructions and marking. Destructive items have their own arithmetic for unit count; our overall sample submission expectations are set out in the testing services overview.

Sample condition deserves particular emphasis: engineering prototypes and production parts often differ in fastening method, material batch and assembly consistency. Conclusions drawn on an engineering prototype may be judged, in a customer audit or a later verification, not to represent the production product. If a prototype really is all you can supply for a first look, mark the request form as a pre-check exercise, so the intended use of the report is bounded from the outset and nobody ends up presenting exploratory data for a formal purpose.

Pre-submission checklist

Product category, drive method and environment of use all entered; target markets listed individually; base model and derivative configurations listed with difference points marked; client, producer and manufacturer entered in separate boxes and consistent with the business licence; sample count, serial numbers, condition and accessories written out in full; report language and number of copies confirmed; commercial contact and technical contact entered separately, with the technical contact able to answer questions about the product.

Meet those seven and the form will generally not be sent back. One further note: do not leave only a sales contact in the contact box. Once the programme starts, the lab will most likely raise queries about sample condition, configuration differences and accessories, and information relayed through a salesperson tends to lose fidelity. Giving the technical contact's details directly saves a great deal of back and forth.

Ask us to review your request form first

Send us the product documentation and the target markets and we can review the request information before you formally place the order, settling the item list, the sample requirements and the schedule in one pass, so that nothing has to be changed once the samples arrive. SUNGO Mobility Testing Lab is the dedicated wheelchair and mobility aid testing lab within the group, accredited by CNAS, CMA and IAS (USA), with laboratories in Shanghai and Hefei. Technical enquiries: +86 132 4819 8029, or request a quote.