ADA elevator requirements: car, doors, buttons, signals and braille

Which elevators have to comply

Section 206.6 covers elevators provided for passengers: every one of them follows section 407 (2010 ADA Standards, 206.6). Section 407 adds that they comply with the ASME A17.1 safety code as well, that they are passenger elevators as that code classifies them, and that their operation is automatic (2010 ADA Standards, 407.1). This guide summarizes section 407 only; it does not cover ASME A17.1, which the ADA Standards incorporate by reference.

• Smaller elevators. In a building allowed to use the exceptions to the multi-story rule, or allowed by section 206.7 to use a platform lift (see ADA platform lifts), a limited-use/limited-application elevator that complies with section 408 is permitted instead. In multi-story residential dwelling units, elevators that comply with section 408 or 409 are permitted too (2010 ADA Standards, 206.6, exceptions). This guide does not cover those two sections.
• Altered elevators. When an element of an existing elevator is altered, the same element is altered in every elevator programmed to respond to the same hall call control, and it complies with section 407 (2010 ADA Standards, 206.6.1).
• Mixed banks. Where existing elevators do not comply with section 407, the ones that do are marked with the International Symbol of Accessibility (2010 ADA Standards, 216.7). More in the guide to the accessibility symbol.
• Working order. Accessible features have to be kept in working order. Isolated or temporary interruptions for maintenance or repairs may be unavoidable, but failing to act promptly to fix an elevator could be a violation, the standard notes (2010 ADA Standards, advisory 407.1).

Whether a building needs an elevator at all is a separate question. A multi-story building has at least one accessible route connecting each story and mezzanine (2010 ADA Standards, 206.2.3), and an accessible route may be made of ramps, elevators or platform lifts, among other components (2010 ADA Standards, 402.2). One of the exceptions covers private buildings of fewer than three stories, or with less than 3,000 square feet (279 m²) per story, unless the building is a shopping center or mall, the professional office of a health care provider, a public transportation terminal or station, an airport passenger terminal, or another type of facility determined by the Attorney General (2010 ADA Standards, 206.2.3, exception 1). For what the ADA asks of an existing business, see ADA compliance.

Elevator doors: type, reopening and timing

The doors also have to wait long enough for someone to reach them. From the moment the hall signal shows which car is answering, the time until its doors start to close is T = D / 1.5 feet per second (D / 455 mm per second), and never less than 5 seconds. D is the distance from a point 60 inches (1525 mm) directly in front of the farthest call button that controls that car to the centerline of its hoistway door (2010 ADA Standards, 407.3.4). A car whose door is 15 feet from that point, for example, waits at least 10 seconds. For cars with in-car lanterns, the count may start when the signal is visible from that point and the audible signal sounds, and destination-oriented elevators are exempt (2010 ADA Standards, 407.3.4, exceptions).

In existing elevators, a power-operated car door that meets the general clear width rule for doors is permitted instead of the table (2010 ADA Standards, 407.3.6, exception). The general rules are in ADA door width.

Audible and visible signals: in the hall and in the car

An elevator talks to its passengers twice: in the hall, to say which car is coming and where it is going, and in the car, to say which floor it has reached. Both signals are visible and audible, so that someone who cannot see and someone who cannot hear both get the message.

Existing elevators are spared some of these: they do not need the direction-of-travel signal at the hoistway, the size and height rules for visible hall signals, or the frequency and decibel limits of the audible ones (2010 ADA Standards, 407.2.2.1, 407.2.2.2 and 407.2.2.3, exceptions). In a bank of destination-oriented elevators, each car has audible and visible means to tell it apart from the others, and the car shows its destinations on a display (2010 ADA Standards, 407.2.2.4 and 407.4.8.1.4).

For a blind passenger, the hall signal is what tells which of several cars is answering and which way it will go (2010 ADA Standards, 407.2.2.1), without having to ask someone in the lobby. The same idea runs through accessible pedestrian signals at street crossings.

The car control panel

• Height. The controls sit within one of the reach ranges (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.1). Floor buttons may be up to 54 inches (1370 mm) above the floor where a parallel approach is provided, if the panel serves more than 16 openings or the elevator is an existing one (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.1, exceptions).
• Buttons. Floor buttons are raised or flush, and at least 3/4 inch (19 mm) in their smallest dimension; existing elevators may keep recessed ones (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.2 and 407.4.6.2.1).
• Order. Numbers go in ascending order, and two or more columns of buttons read from left to right (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.2.2).
• Emergency controls. Grouped at the bottom of the panel, emergency alarm included, with their centerlines at least 35 inches (890 mm) above the floor (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.4.1 and 407.4.6.4.2).
• Lights. Each floor button has a visible indicator that shows the call is registered and goes out when the car reaches that floor (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.7.1.4).
• Keypads. A standard telephone layout, with characters centered on each key and a single raised dot on the number five, 0.118 to 0.120 inch (3–3.05 mm) across at its base (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6.3 and 407.4.7.2).
• Existing panels. Where a new car operating panel that complies is added to an existing elevator, the old panel does not have to comply (2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.6 and 407.4.7, exceptions).

Elevators in Braillito Maps

Braillito Maps is a community map where each place answers ten questions: step-free entrance or ramp, wide doorway, accessible restroom, accessible parking, tactile paving, braille signage, braille menu, audible signals, guide dogs welcome and a quiet environment. Each answer is yes, no or no data, and the place gets a score out of ten, one point for each yes.

An elevator is not a question of its own, but three of the ten are about the things this guide checks. Braille signage is whether signs or buttons can also be read by touch, and elevator buttons and jambs with braille count. Audible signals is whether alerts can be heard and not only seen, which is what the tones and the floor announcements do. And step-free entrance or ramp is whether you can get in at all.

When you add a place, mark only what you saw and leave the rest without data. A restaurant on the second floor with an elevator whose buttons carry braille, and that announces the floors, gives the next blind visitor two answers before they leave home. A shop with three steps at the door and no lift is a no for the ramp, however good the elevator inside is. To size a ramp for those steps, there is the ADA ramp calculator.

More accessibility guides

• Braille signage: which signs need braille under the ADA, how high they go, on which side of the door, and the size of the dots.
• ADA door width: 32 inches of clear width, maneuvering space, thresholds, hardware and opening force.
• ADA reach range: forward and side reach, with and without an obstruction, and where the 15 to 48 inch range applies: switches, outlets and controls.
• ADA turning space: the 60-inch turning circle, the T-shaped turn, the 30 by 48 inch clear floor space and where the ADA asks for each.
• ADA compliance: a checklist for small businesses, with the 2010 Standards section behind each item.
• Accessibility symbols: what the wheelchair symbol means, where it is required and the other access symbols.
• Accessible pedestrian signals: how the push button, the locator tone, the walk tick and the vibrating arrow tell blind pedestrians when to cross.
• ADA platform lifts: where a wheelchair lift may replace a ramp or an elevator, platform size, doors and gates, controls and use without an attendant.
• All accessibility guides