Mobility Atlas research: mobility-scooter-guide
Data and method for the article at mobilitatlas.com/blog/mobility-scooter-guide/
License: CC BY 4.0 (credit "Mobility Atlas")
Prepared: 10 October 2026

WHAT WAS READ
FDA MAUDE medical device reports under product code INI (mobility scooters; 21 CFR 890.3800), received 1 January 2016 to 27 August 2026 (the latest data in openFDA on 10 October 2026), downloaded through openFDA on 10 October 2026: 418 reports, 416 with text. Added: 4 reports under product code ITI (powered wheelchairs) received since 1 January 2024 whose text names a scooter. Pool: 420; 5 describe no scooter event (coded N), leaving 415.
All 22 FDA recall records for product code INI, downloaded through openFDA the same day.
Makers: the manufacturer name in each report's openFDA device record (manufacturer_d_name), grouped by name (Pride, Invacare, Wu's Tech, Lerado, FreeRider, Heartway, Merits, Prestige, Amigo, Golden, Drive); for the 4 ITI reports, the name in the report header. This is the company that filed or built the scooter, not always the brand on it.

HOW IT WAS CODED
1. A codebook (codebook.txt) was written before any report was coded. Its SHA-256 fingerprint, recorded at 2026-10-10T14:55:00Z, is fbb9e17bd0f7354a33b81d597f9ee72ee01dab964c0d60d4ef24b02cab6152cd. Any later change to the codebook would change this fingerprint.
2. The reports were split into chunks. Two coders (AI language models working separately, each in a private scratch folder, each without access to the other's answers, told to read every report and not to use keyword scripts) coded every report in every chunk against the codebook.
3. Agreement between the two coders: kind of scooter 91.9% (kappa 0.814); category 96.7% (kappa 0.96); injury 98.6% (kappa 0.963); fall 99.5% (kappa 0.99); vehicle 99.8% (kappa 0.977); retrospective filing 99.5% (kappa 0.798).
4. Every report where the coders differed was decided by the lead analyst under the written rules below (55 reports marked adjudicated). A consistency pass then re-applied the rules across the whole table and changed 16 more (marked consistency).
5. Counts in the article were produced by script from the final table, not by hand. Some sub-counts (parts, places or words named in reports) are keyword counts over the report text; the exact word patterns are listed under KEYWORD COUNTS. Different wording would give somewhat different counts.

ADJUDICATION RULES
K1: KIND: S when the word scooter, or a scooter model name, appears anywhere in the report text; U otherwise, even under product code INI; a report that calls the device a power chair and a scooter at once is U.
K2: KIND: F only when the report calls the scooter folding or travel; a model name such as Go-Go Elite Traveller alone is S.
S1: A fall with no device problem (a slip, a foot caught, falling off while removing the seat, falling off in a car park) is T, not X: T covers any fall or tip with no failed part named.
S2: Speed that changes by itself, a throttle alleged to give the same speed at every setting, wheels that spin and then grab, a scooter that jerks forward after stopping, or speed alleged to be far too high downhill is M.
S3: A seat blamed for pain or pressure sores with no part said to have broken is U.
S4: A report that says only that an incident or injury happened on the scooter, with no detail, is U.
S5: INJURY is n when the report states only an impact (hit her head, finger caught) or says the injury was not caused by the event; y when the event type is Death.
S6: FALL is y when the scooter tipped over, even twice and with no detail; n when the user stopped the tip with a foot.

KEYWORD COUNTS (Python regular expressions, matched against the upper-case report text without its header line)
FALL = {
 'turn': r"\bTURN(S|ED|ING)?\b(?!\s+(OVER|OFF|ON)\b)",
 'slope': r'SLOPE|\bHILL|INCLINE|DRIVEWAY|DECLINE|\bGRADE\b',
 'reverse': r"REVERS|BACKING (UP|OUT)|BACKED (UP|OUT)|BACK UP\b",
 'ramp': r'\bRAMP',
 'kerb': r'\bCURB|\bKERB',
 'uneven': r'GRASS|LAWN|GRAVEL|POT ?HOLE|UNEVEN',
 'store': r'\bSTORE\b|\bSHOP\b|SUPERMARKET|GROCERY|WALMART',
}
M = {
 'throttle': r'THROTTLE|LEVER|WIG.?WAG|PADDLE',
 'reverse': FALL['reverse'],
 'took_off': r'TOOK OFF|TAKE OFF|LURCH|SHOT (FORWARD|OFF)|SURGE|JUMPED (FORWARD|AHEAD)|TAKEOFF',
 'would_not_stop': r"(WOULD NOT|WOULDN'T|DID NOT|DIDN'T|COULD NOT|COULDN'T|WOULD NOT) STOP",
 'not_confirmed': r'DUPLICAT|REPLICAT|NO (DEFECT|ISSUE|PROBLEM|MALFUNCTION)S? (WAS |WERE )?(FOUND|NOTED|OBSERVED)|(FUNCTIONED|PERFORMED|OPERATED|WORKED|WORKING) (AS DESIGNED|PROPERLY|NORMALLY|AS INTENDED)',
}
FIRE = {'charging': r'CHARG', 'charger': r'CHARGER', 'battery': r'BATTER', 'wiring': r'WIRING|HARNESS|CABLE|\bWIRE'}

QUALITY NOTES (disclosed in full)
- The article went through three fact-check passes by checkers who had not written it (a full pass with a reader review, then a control pass over the changes), each recomputing numbers from the files here and reading quotes against their sources; every error found was corrected before publication.

AMOUNTS
Every report text was searched for money figures; none gives one. Prices in the article are prices shown on makers', dealers' and retailers' pages and in the Mobility Atlas catalog, listed in mobility-scooter-guide-documents.csv and the article sources.

LIMITS
- Reports are not rates. Nobody publishes how many devices of each model are in use.
- A report is an allegation or a description; the FDA says the submission of a report "itself does not necessarily demonstrate that the device caused or contributed to the adverse outcome or event."
- One maker filed most of the reports, which reflects its size and its filing, not its safety.
- The same event is sometimes filed twice (for example by a dealer and by the maker).

FILES
codebook.txt        the codebook as fingerprinted
coded_reports.csv   one row per coded report: both coders' answers, the final code, and how a disagreement was resolved (resolution, rule_applied)
report_pool.csv     the reports in the pool with product code, brand, date received and event type
The full report texts are public: search MAUDE or openFDA by report key.
mobility-scooter-guide-documents.csv  the documents and pages read, with links