ADA elevator car size checker
Checks an elevator car's inside dimensions and door width against the 2010 ADA Standards: passenger elevators (407.4.1), LULA elevators (408.4.1) and private residence elevators (409.3 and 409.4.1).
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Result
- Meets ADA car size
- yes
- Configuration met
- Centered door: 80 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door
- Clear floor area (width × depth to return)
- 28.33 ft²
Not engineering advice; a licensed professional checks every result. Not a substitute for a licensed engineer, the manufacturer's data or the authority having jurisdiction; confirm the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted. The ADA minimums were read from the federal text of the 2010 ADA Standards on 2026-10-01; no licensed-copy check is pending for this calculator. Terms of use and estimate disclaimer.
Drawing
Working
- Your car, compared in inchesdoor 42 in, side to side 80 in, back wall to front return 51 in, back wall to door 54 in= 28.33 ft² clear floor (width × depth to return, rounded down)
- Resultmeets: Centered door: 80 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door= Meets the ADA car size minimums
Working is shown in the units each formula is written in; the result figures above follow the unit switch. A numeric input is taken to 15 significant digits before it is used (1033.2293579541322 kg is used as 1033.22935795413 kg); every echo of it shows that value, and a computed figure substituted into the working is quoted to 15 significant digits as well.
Code checks
- PASSCentered door: 80 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.1 and Table 407.4.1. meets every minimum in this row
- FAILSide (off-centered) door: 68 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.1 and Table 407.4.1. needs a side door
- FAILAny door location: 54 in wide, 80 in to front return, 80 in to door2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.1 and Table 407.4.1. to return 51 in vs 80 in min; to door 54 in vs 80 in min
- FAILAny door location: 60 in wide, 60 in to front return, 60 in to door2010 ADA Standards, 407.4.1 and Table 407.4.1. to return 51 in vs 60 in min; to door 54 in vs 60 in min
Notes
- Table 407.4.1 also permits other car configurations that give a turning space complying with 304 with the door closed; this checker does not test turning space.
Method
What is checked
For a passenger elevator, Table 407.4.1 gives four permitted car shapes. A car complies when it meets every minimum in at least one of them: the door clear width, the inside width side to side, the depth from the back wall to the front return, and the depth from the back wall to the inside face of the door. Two shapes depend on where the door is (centered, or side and off-centered); the other two allow any door location.
The table permits a tolerance of minus 5/8 inch on the 36 inch door widths. Existing cars may instead use the exception in 407.4.1: at least 16 square feet of clear floor, 54 inches deep and 36 inches wide. That exception relaxes the car size only; the door must still give the 32 inch clear width of 404.2.3, which 407.3.6 allows for existing elevators.
A limited-use, limited-application (LULA) car needs 42 inches of clear width, 54 inches of clear depth and a 32 inch door at the narrow end, or 51 by 51 inches with a 36 inch door. A private residence car needs a clear floor space of at least 36 by 48 inches (409.4.1) with its door at the narrow end (409.3.2), so with the door in the front wall the car is at least 36 inches wide and 48 inches deep; its doors must comply with 404 (409.3), which sets a 32 inch clear width (404.2.3).
How the comparison is made
The inch and millimetre figures the standards print are not exact equivalents (36 in is printed 915 mm, not 914.4 mm), so this calculator uses one system at a time. You choose one: with inch values, each millimetre input is divided by 25.4 and compared with the inch minimum; with millimetre values, each input is compared with the printed millimetre minimum. The comparison is exact, with no rounding allowance beyond the table's own 5/8 inch (16 mm) door tolerance. The result names the first permitted configuration your car meets, and the list of checks shows each one with the dimension that falls short.
Inputs that cannot describe a real car are refused rather than checked: a door wider than the car, or, for a passenger car, a door face closer to the back wall than the front return.
Limits of this checker
It checks car size and door width only. The ADA has further elevator rules for call buttons, signals, car controls, floor surfaces, door timing and the platform to hoistway clearance, and the local building code and elevator code apply as well.
Formulas
Inches from millimetres
x_in = x_mm / 25.4
Compliance
pass when every minimum of at least one permitted configuration is met
Code basis: clause and edition
| Standard | Edition | Clause | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design | 2010 | 407.4.1 and Table 407.4.1 | Passenger elevator car dimensions and door clear width |
| 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design | 2010 | 408.4.1 | LULA elevator car dimensions and doors |
| 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design | 2010 | 409.3, 409.3.2 and 409.4.1 | Private residence elevator doors (to 404.2.3), door at the narrow end, and inside dimensions |
Rules are restated in our own words and computed for your inputs; no table or text from a standard is reproduced. The adopted edition varies by jurisdiction, so confirm the one your authority having jurisdiction enforces.
Inputs
| Input | Unit | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
Elevator type elevatorType | choice | passenger, lula, private-residence | passenger |
Door location doorLocation | choice | centered, side | centered |
Door clear width doorClearWidth | millimetres (mm) | 500 to 2500 | 1066.8 |
Inside car, side to side carWidth | millimetres (mm) | 600 to 4000 | 2032 |
Inside car, back wall to front return depthToReturn | millimetres (mm) | 600 to 4000 | 1295.4 |
Inside car, back wall to inside face of door depthToDoor | millimetres (mm) | 600 to 4000 | 1371.6 |
Existing elevator existing | choice | no, yes | no |
Measure against system | choice | inch, metric | inch |
Worked examples
Each example below is a test the calculator must pass before it ships. The expected values were worked out by a separate implementation.
| Example | Expected result (each in its declared unit) |
|---|---|
| Centered door car at the 407 inch minimums (42 in door, 80 by 51 by 54 in) | compliant: yes, governing: Centered door: 80 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door, clearFloorArea: 2.632 m² |
| Same car measured against the printed millimetre values | compliant: yes, governing: Centered door: 80 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door, clearFloorArea: 2.628 m² |
| Side door car with a 35.5 in door (inside the 5/8 in tolerance) | compliant: yes, governing: Side (off-centered) door: 68 in wide, 51 in to front return, 54 in to door, clearFloorArea: 2.237 m² |
| Side door car one inch too narrow (67 in) | compliant: no, governing: none, clearFloorArea: 2.204 m² |
| LULA car 42 in by 54 in with a 32 in door | compliant: yes, governing: LULA car (408.4.1), clearFloorArea: 1.463 m² |
| Private residence car 36 in by 48 in | compliant: yes, governing: Private residence car (409.3 and 409.4.1), clearFloorArea: 1.114 m² |
For AI agents
This calculator is also the MCP tool ada_elevator_car_size at https://elevatorcalc.com/api/mcp, using the same function as this page. See how to connect, the llms.txt file, or the JSON catalogue.
Not engineering advice; a licensed professional checks every result. Not a substitute for a licensed engineer, the manufacturer's data or the authority having jurisdiction; confirm the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted. See the terms of use and estimate disclaimer.