New ATM Machine ADA Standards

A new law affecting ATM machines has passed under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and went into effect on March 15, 2012. The new ATM machine ADA standards required full compliance by the deadline date of March 15, 2012.

If you are an ATM Operator, an ATM company or a retail merchant operating one or many ATM machines, these new requirements will affect every active terminal in your ATM portfolio or retail location.

Today I’m going to tell what you need to know about these upcoming changes and how it will impact your business.

Starting on March 15, 2012 customers with disabilities should find using an ATM easier than ever before. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with this new ADA requirement your ATMs must be in compliance by March 15th.

Some ATM machines may require that you make enhancements to the way your customers physically access and interact with your ATM machines. Some of the new design standards and requirements include:

Height and Reach:
The reach requirement will change from a height of 54″ to 48″ to the top working button. This will help to ensure customers can easily access the input controls of the ATM. The exception to this change is drive thru ATMs.

Clear floor space:
The area in front of the machine needs to equal 48″ x 48″ (16 square feet).

Accessible route:
One unobstructed side of the clear floor space must adjoin an accessible route or another clear floor space leading up to the ATM and connecting to the clear floor space in front of the ATM. This is for wheel chair accessibility.

Voice Guidance:
All ATMs must be speech enabled to service visually impaired customers. This may require a 3.5mm female jack be accessible for head phones.

Display Screen:
Visibility from 40″ above the center of the floor in front of the ATM, characters on the screen must be in San Sarif font. A minimum of 3/16″ high and must contrast with their background.

Braille Instructions:

Braille Instructions to initiate the aforementioned voice guidance feature must also be provided.

Function Keys:
Function keys must be designed to contrast visually from their background surfaces.

Input device:
Input device controls must be tactically discernible, meaning the key surfaces must be raised above the surrounding surfaces.

Numeric Keypads:
Keypads must be arranged in an ascending or descending layout. The enter key should be marked with a raised circle, the clear key with a raised left arrow, and the cancel key should be marked with a raised X. The add value key should be marked with a raised plus sign and the decrease value key should be marked with a raised minus sign.

These laws will be applied to all lobby and walk up thru-the-wall ATMs. There will be no safe harbor granted for existing units and no grandfathering of currently deployed machines.. While there are many ATM operators and banks taking a “wait and see” attitude this could potentially be a costly proposition as any ATMs that don’t meet ADA standards by the 2012 deadline could result in a civil penalty of up to $55,000 for a first offense and double that amount for subsequent offenses.

ATMDepot suggests you take this opportunity to inventory your existing ATMs and record the manufacturer, model number, and year manufactured. It would also be wise to note each terminals software and speech capabilities.

If you need help, we suggest you check with your respective vendors for more details regarding upgradability and cost. ATMDepot is able to offer several upgrade kits and exceptional pricing on new replacement ATMs in cases where you need to upgrade or replace entire machines (generally older ATM models) in order to be compliant.

Be especially careful of used or previously refurbished ATM machines at this time as there are a lot of non-compliant machines on the market that cannot be setup. Make sure the ATM you plan to purchase, especially if it’s used or refurbished, is already completely upgraded or compliant with new ADA standards. All new machines shipped from ATM manufacturers today come fully ADA compliant.

You can find more information about the ADA standards for 2012 at ada.gov

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