Glossary term
lift car
The enclosure passengers ride in, hung from the drive and running on guides, carrying the controls, lighting, alarm and load-weighing gear.
What it means
The car is the box you stand in. It sits in a frame that runs on the guides, and everything a passenger touches is attached to it: the button panel, the handrail, the lighting, the alarm and the emergency phone. Under the floor there is usually a load-weighing device, and on the roof there is equipment an engineer uses for maintenance. The car is also where the rated load and the last examination notice are displayed.
Where you see it
Inside the shaft, and it is the only part of the lift that most people ever see. That makes it the best source of information when reporting a fault: the notices, the codes on the display and the sounds inside the car are all available without opening anything.
How it works
The car frame takes the load, and the car body hangs inside it on rubber mounts that keep road-like noise out. Guide shoes or rollers at the four corners of the frame ride the guide rails and hold the car steady. Under the car, the safety gear waits to grip the rails if the car ever descends too fast.
The car is connected to the rest of the lift by a travelling cable, a flat loop of conductors that carries power, signals, the alarm and the phone line down the shaft. Almost every symptom that involves the car losing lights or losing communication traces back to that cable or to its connections.
Why it matters
Because the car carries the notices, it is the first place an owner should look during a fault. The rated load, the maintenance company's number, the last service label and the lift identification number are all inside it, and an engineer's first questions will usually be answered by those four things.
Commonly confused with
The car is often called the cabin or the lift itself, and its problems are blamed on the drive. In practice much of what a passenger notices in the car — flicker, noise, a rough stop, an unresponsive button — comes from the car's own equipment, which travels with it and has its own wiring loom.
Wear, service and lifespan
Car fittings take everyday knocks: buttons, indicators, lighting, the alarm and the load-weighing gear. Service work tests the alarm and intercom, checks lighting including emergency lighting, checks the buttons and indicators, and confirms the load-weighing still detects an overload. Travelling cables flex on every trip and are inspected for chafe.
Signs to watch for
- Car lighting flickers or fails while the lift still runs.
- The panel responds to some buttons but not others.
- The ride has become rough or the car sways at speed.
- The alarm or the emergency phone does not connect.
- There is a step between the car floor and the landing.
Troubleshooting lift car
Car lights flicker as the lift travels
What it usually means: A connection in the travelling cable or car wiring
Safe check: Note whether it flickers only while moving and at which part of the travel.
A button lights but the lift ignores that floor
What it usually means: A call registered but not served, or a floor locked out
Safe check: Try the same floor from a landing call and report both results.
The alarm button produces no answer
What it usually means: Alarm or line fault, which is a stop-use condition
Safe check: Report immediately; a lift without a working alarm should not be in use.
How to report it
Say what happens inside the car, which floor buttons are affected and whether the alarm and lighting work. Alarm and emergency lighting failures move the call to the top of the list, so state those first.
Ask us about lift car on your lift
Tick anything you can see or hear from where you normally stand, add a note in your own words, and we will put it into the message below for you. Never open, force or enter any part of the lift to check.
0/800 characters. Please leave out personal details you would rather not email.
Get help by email
Tell us what your lift is doing
Send the make, model, error code and what the lift does now. We reply by email and point you to the right help.
Related terms
Definitions that usually come up alongside lift car when you are describing a fault.
- guide shoes
The sliding or rolling parts at the corners of a car frame that hold the car steady against the guide rails.
Structure
- safety gear
Mechanical jaws under the car that grip the guide rails and hold the car if it ever descends too fast.
Safety devices
- lift
A powered machine that carries people or goods between fixed levels of a building, guided by rails and controlled from landings and from inside the car.
Lift types
- lift shaft
The enclosed vertical space the car travels in, including the pit below and the headroom above.
Structure