BraunAbility Wheelchair Vans

Baily S. - Burnsville MN

08/17/14

The Braun In-Floor van has been a good vehicle. We were one of the first to buy one since Braun started making them. The ramp in the floor is nice for when our son is not with us. Love the vehicle so far.

Thomas H. Mankato, MN

08/24/14

This is my third Entervan and have always had good luck with them. I always purchased from Cummings Mobility. My first van was in 1996 when the new body style came out. Cummings takes the vans in on trade in for a fair value each time. I will buy another Braun when a new body style comes out. I hope they get better mpgs on the next version.

Jenny-Al...

09/02/14

After we spent a great dealer of time shopping for a vehicle for our son we decided to go with the rear entry due to the cost. Our van was used and we sent it to our dealer for a mod. So far it has been great and we have had no problems.

Denny Dahlin

09/26/14

I have been in a wheelchair for twenty years and have owned 4 Braun entervans, this new one being the best ever. Very happy with the quality and reliability, but, might be getting a Toyota next time, seen that on the show floor but stayed with the Chrysler for the price.

HeOvercomes

01/24/15

Automatic door/ramp haven't worked right since the day we bought the van. Dealer claims they can't replicate the problem. Fails to open properly for us appx 10-20% of time. Repairs have been required to kneeling system, front suspension struts, front subframe, ramp computer, ramp motors, ramp deployment switch and other Braun-provided or -modified parts of van. We've been required to kick in $700 for part of a repair while van was still under warranty. Many days out of service meaning our son doesn't get to therapy appts or we have to dead-lift him into another vehicle. To cap it all off, it appears that the Braun dealer's mechanic damaged our door when we came to him to get the door repaired or at least closed when it jammed open. Whenever we have a problem the dealer sends us to the Honda dealer who often diagnoses the problem (sometimes for a fee) and sends us back to the Braun dealer who then fixes it. Very frustrating to have to schedule 3-4 appointments for just about every problem. When the van works it's fantastic. But overall it's a reliability nightmare and the dealer support is poor to middling.

03/09/17

Called for tech support and was given the number to a local dealer. Told customer service I just needed some troubleshooting and could not afford to take it to a dealer. They told me the dealer was technical support and would give free trouble shooting over the phone. Well I called and was told " they pay ALOT for training and their mechanics and to make an appointment to bring it in". Called Braun back and was told they don't have tech support and I could download a manual.VERY disappointed. Also I have to go to this same dealer to get parts once I find out what is wrong.

Cam K.

08/28/17

I just bought of the new 2107 Ford Explorer's from Braun and have absolutely nothing but problems. I have 3,000 km on it and 2,500 km are to the shop. I am afraid to travel with it and to the point where I don't think it will ever be right. DO NOT BUY!

Disapponted

06/09/18

This is my first van purchase and only have decided to do so since I am no longer able to get in or out of cars easily. I purchased a Chrysler Pacifica with Braun conversion. Within a month, the ramp door would not close. Since then the door would not close an additional 3 times. 2 of those 3, the door fell off of the track. My local dealer installed a new track at the top but could not resolve the issue of the door closing. Their response: "We can't get it to fail, therefore we can't fix it." That's simply not acceptable. My only option going forward is that when it fails again, is to drive to them in the rain or snow and show them.

Egor

07/26/18

Braun conversions are horrible and their so called licensed dealers are nothing but scam and con artists.

pedantpete

09/06/18

Braun is rubbish. 2 vehicles with Braun lifts and both unreliable. Both not working again. How do these clowns get away with this?

Bones87

12/07/18

Hello, I've owned my 2006 Braun Entervan , Buick for 12 years. I've had many of the problems other reviewers have listed including problems with the ramp and the door. Unfortunately the biggest problem is frame frame rust damage. Brian was nice enough 5 years ago to repair some of it but I don't think they did a great job. I'm seeing the effects of Body and Frame sagging now. Unfortunately there rust proofing for undercoating made the problem worse. I think that used very cheap Steel when they made the conversion. I'm not sure I would recommend Braun

Jamie S

06/29/19

JUNK!!! Don't buy!!! We have had nothing but problems with our New BraunAbility Van and the modified parts they use for the exhaust and fuel systems. The manufacturer of the vehicle is good, just the junk that BraunAbility uses when they convert the van.

Joey

07/07/19

IF I COULD GIVE THIS VAN ZERO STARS I WOULD. We had a 2010 Honda Entervan model for eight years. What a piece of trash. Remember the Chevy Vega? The Ford Pinto? The Yugo? Paragons of reliability next to our Braun-inability minivan. Initial quality was terrible--within the first 90 days we owned it we had four serious repairs. The ramp never worked consistently for the whole time we had the thing (and isn't the ramp really the whole point of an accessible van?). Other things would fail or just fall off the van for no apparent reason. By the time we sold it every conversion part of it was covered in rust. What finally forced our hand was when the door fell off of the van on the road hundreds of miles from home. The dealerships we worked with varied from comically inept to outright deceptive. The company itself was useless to help us. Tens of thousands of dollars down the drain. I'd sooner swim laps in a manure wagon full of broken glass than buy another one of these disasters. And other people we know with these vans have similar problems. Just stay away.

SS

11/21/19

I strongly recommend NOT buying a Braunability van! Before you even consider it please read my story: We purchased a 2010 Honda Odyssey with a Braunability conversion. It has been a slowly evolving nightmare from the beginning. First off the lowered chassis that Braun has developed is a horror to handle on the road and consistently scrapes against speed bumps and irregular road surfaces. Worse The installation was not properly done from the beginning so we have had nothing but problems over the last 9 years that went from bad to worse to a nightmare and Braun would not cooperate in any way to correct the improper installment by their company. We took our van back to the dealer about a month after we bought it and were told that the electrical installation (Braunability) was the strangest they'd ever seen, but somehow they managed to 'reset' the computer and it worked again. That was short-lived and we consistently had problems with the operation of the lift throughout our 9 years of ownership. The worst happened 2 years ago when the lift ceased to operate at all and slowly the electrical system of the car began to be affected. What the dealer found 5 thousand dollars later was that there had been a leak of rain & snow water into the 'rocker' area where the conversion electrical system hooked into the Honda electrical system. Apparently Braunability had not properly sealed off the area and the constant water leaks caused the electrical system to rot out. We had to have the whole system redone at a cost of 5 thousand dollars. The car had to be completely taken apart and rewired. In the interim, the lift stopped working again 4 months after all of these repairs because the lift shifted and the dealer Bussani in Bethpage NY claim someone must have run over the lift because the lift has shifted and all the mechanics have been pulled out! There have been no accidents or any other incidents that would have caused this to happen unless when the van was reassembled the techs didn't install the unit properly and over time this problem evolved. I am deeply disappointed in the lack of support we got from Braunability on this matter. They were informed that the original conversion was a disaster but chose to not honor their reputation and do the right thing.

ALFurn

12/31/19

We purchased a dodge conversion van 2012 in January 2017. To the people who recommend against the vans, what choice do we have? We purchased a warranty to protect us from big repairs. But they would not cover our current problem because the problem is being blamed on the conversion. The ABS box and all hoses have to replaced. I am mostly frustrated because we face a huge repair bill and no one that can investigate and tell us if the dealer is being honest. My husband had not been able to leave the house since 12/13, and no telling when this will be over.

Tnt c

01/26/20

16 Dodge Caravan 10inch cut, power folding ramp. 3 years old and no conversion problems, in fact the entire vehicle has been trouble free. Working with mobility plus for a new one

NOTHAPPY

07/23/20

Purchased the 2005 Buick Terraza entervan new & had it in the shop twice before it hit 30miles for the check engine light because Braun didnt re-route the exhaust properly for the O2 sensor. Before 30,000 miles the kneel cylinder needed replaced twice at $1600 each time. Now all of the frame work Braun performed when doing the conversion is completely rusted out underneath & nobody wants to be liable to fix it. Everything GM has lasted, everything Braun has FAILED! Cheap construction for a $60k van.

DJwheels

07/23/21

2019 Honda Odyssey with side entry power ramp by Braun. I wish I were an engineer to come up with a better design for wheelchair accessible vehicles. The choices are horrible. Where to begin? Minivans are not known for being the greatest handlers on the road in unmodified format. How do you make it worse? Increase the vehicle height to lifted truck levels while lowering it to the ground like a Ferrari race car. I have damaged my vans door twice because it has the turning radius of a dump truck and the lowered height that cannot clear even the lowest of curbs. Getting in and out of tight parking spaces, even handicap accessible ones, is a nightmare. Reliability? Doors break on the regular. They are 600-1000 to repair each time they need service. I had a leak that allowed the entire subfloor where the ramp is fill up with water like an underground swimming pool. Brought in twice and still fills with water. You figure a $65k vehicle would be made a little more water resistant.

rolfli

11/01/21

We have EVAP system issues. Dealer will not work on the van because of custom fueltank.

ToyotaUser

03/11/22

My Braunability 2021 Toyota had multiple pieces of interior trim misaligned. Very sloppy fit and finish, contrary to Braunability’s quality marketing claims. To their credit, these pieces were replaced and properly re-installed. The passenger side Braunability lower door extension did not meet up with the weatherstripping, leaving a hole to the outside, with resultant road noise. Braun screwed a small piece of metal to their door extension to close up the hole. There is something wrong with the engineering design of the door opening/door extension that caused this problem, the screwed on piece of metal fixes the problem by patching it up. I guess this is the result of their “55,000 engineering design hours” that they advertise. Braunability also kindly replaced the weatherstripping which was poorly installed. So they have made a reasonable effort at correction, but buyer beware of the poor quality of their work. Now I have noticed that some of their lowered floor steel has already begun to show surface rust after 3 months of use. Appears the paint has been poorly/thinly applied. So that will be the next issue I have to deal with. I get considerable road noise through the sliding doors doors, especially on the passenger side. It is not horrible, but disappointing considering Braunability claims of “quiet drive” and “improved” Toyota door seal. Overall, not a confidence inspiring experience with my new Toyota conversion.