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The Corbel Door Strap
  • The Corbel Door Strap
  • The Corbel Door Strap
The Corbel Door Strap
236+ Reviews
After a hip replacement · Getting out of the car

The Corbel Door Strap

The seat you can get into, and then can't get back out of.

Corbel is a handhold that goes into the steel striker loop on your door frame, so you come up on your arm and your weight goes into the body of the car — not into the door.
The details
Shipping
Cost
Free
Leaves within
24 hours
Delivery
7 to 10 business days
If it doesn't fit your car

Every car has a striker loop, and the tapered tip is made for the fact that they differ — it wedges and stops itself where it gets tight. A handful of unusual shapes aren't a fit.

There is nothing to measure and nothing to look up. Open your door, set the tip into the loop and put your weight on it standing in your own driveway. It either sets tight or it doesn't, and you'll know in about two seconds.

If it isn't right for your car, send it back and we return your money.
The 30-day money back guarantee

Take it out to the car once.

You'll know on the first trip whether standing up was easier or not, and that is the only thing worth judging it by. If it wasn't, you have thirty days to send it back for your money.

What is in the box
  • The Corbel handle One piece of machined metal, tapered tip. Nothing to assemble and nothing to install — it goes into the striker and lifts back out.
  • The Corbel door strap Free Hooks over the top of the door frame, so you have something to hold on the way in while you lower yourself onto the seat. Folds flat and lives in the door pocket beside the handle.

The ride home from the hospital, and every trip after

How it goes in, with a hip that can't take your weight yet

Three moves, all of them done sitting down, on the side they operated on. No tools, nothing to install, nothing left in the car.

Three moves
A seated woman pushing the handle's tip into the striker loop on the door frame.

Set it into the loop

Before you swing your legs out — while the new hip is still where you left it — reach across to the steel loop on the frame and push the tip in. It stops itself where it gets tight.

The same woman holding the handle and rising out of the car seat in one motion.

Stand up on it

Hold it like the grab bar they had you put in the bathroom, and come up through your arm instead of pushing off with the hip they operated on. Your weight goes into the frame of the car, not the door.

A hand lifting the handle out of the striker and placing it into the door pocket.

Take it out, put it away

It lifts straight back out and lives in your door pocket or your bag — so it's there for the drive to therapy, in whoever's car is taking you this week.

It goes into the striker — the steel loop bolted to the frame of the doorway, the one your door catches on when you shut it. Your weight goes into the frame of the car, not into the door.

Physiotherapy perspective

A physiotherapist’s view of what matters when you stand up from the car

Four practical points about support, grip and stability during the movement out of a car seat.

Physiotherapist specializing in hip and joint rehabilitation.

David Thompson

Hip & Joint Rehabilitation

“Getting out of a car asks a lot from the hips at one very specific moment: rising from the seat. Corbel gives the hand a solid, naturally positioned place to support that movement, so the upper body can help as you come to standing.”
Physiotherapist specializing in post-operative mobility.

Robert Anderson

Post-Operative Mobility

“What I like about the Corbel design is that the support is already in place before you begin to stand. You can position it while seated, establish your grip, and then use that support through the entire movement out of the car.”
Physiotherapist specializing in functional mobility.

Christopher Johnson

Hip Recovery

“For someone rebuilding confidence after hip surgery, a simple and predictable setup matters. Corbel creates an accessible handhold right beside the seat, exactly where it can be useful during the transition from sitting to standing.”
Physiotherapist specializing in hip recovery and mobility.

James Mitchell

Hip Recovery & Mobility

“The wedge-shaped tip is a thoughtful part of the Corbel design. It seats into the striker as it is inserted, creating a firm point of support before the person begins to rise from the seat.”

Asked by everyone getting out of a car on a new hip

Am I going to wreck my car door?

No. Nothing touches your door. It goes into the striker, the steel loop bolted to the frame that your door catches on when you shut it. Your weight goes into the body of the car — so you aren't choosing between the hip and the paintwork.

The steel striker loop on an open car door frame.

Where this comes fromA man asked a mechanics forum the same thing about his father. Most of them said the striker is regulated and rated for a great deal of weight, because it holds the door shut in a crash. A couple of them argued about it.

Before you order

What people ask before their first trip back

Will it damage my car door?

It never touches the door. It sits in the striker, the steel loop bolted to the frame that your door catches on when you close it, so your weight goes into the body of the car and not into a panel on hinges.

Will it fit my car?

Almost certainly. Every car has a striker loop, and the tapered tip is made for the fact that they differ — it wedges and stops itself where it gets tight instead of needing one exact size. Sedan, SUV, pickup, new or twenty years old. A handful of unusual shapes aren't a fit, so open your door, compare the loop with the close-up photographs above, and send it back if it isn't right for your car.

My surgery was a while ago. Is it too late for this to help?

No. Getting up out of a car seat is getting up out of a car seat, whether you're six weeks post-op, two years past it, or living with a hip nobody has replaced yet. Nothing about it is tied to a recovery window, and nothing stops working once you're walking well again.

Does it have to be installed? Does it stay in the car?

Neither. No tools, nothing drilled, nothing bolted on. You set it from the seat before you start moving, which is the part that matters in the first weeks after surgery, then take it out once you're up and keep it in your door pocket.

Which doors can I use it on?

Any door with a striker loop, which is all of them: driver's side, passenger side, front or back. The front passenger seat is usually the one you're told to take on the way home, and it works there too — as it does in your daughter's car, a rental or a taxi.

What if it isn't what I expected?

Shipping is free and you have thirty days to send it back for your money. Thirty days is plenty, because you will know on the first trip.

Customer stories

What people say after the first trip

From people who bought it for one thing: getting back out of the car without pushing off the hip.

Marianne T.

The ride home was the first test

My son drove me back from the hospital and I remember sitting in the passenger seat afraid to try. I put this into the loop on the frame, held it with my right hand and came up on my arm. No pushing off the seat, no hanging on the door.

Judith A.

Six weeks of drives to therapy

Three visits a week, and getting out of the car was the part I dreaded, not the exercises. This gave me something solid at the right height every single time. It lives in my door pocket and I have stopped thinking about that part of the trip.

Carol S.

Took me three tries to get the feel of it

The first time I could not find the loop by touch and got frustrated. My daughter showed me where to look and now it goes in without thinking. Four stars only because nobody warned me the first attempt would be clumsy.

Donald R.

It does not turn on me

I had a cheaper one that would rotate in the loop the second I put real weight on it, which is the worst possible moment. This one goes in and stops. That is the whole difference and it is worth the money.

Eleanor C.

My hands are the problem, not the handle

It sits firmly and the height is right. My difficulty is that my grip gives out before my arm does, so I cannot always pull myself up with it. That is my hands, not a fault of the product, but I wish I had thought about it before ordering.

Patricia L.

I stopped waiting for someone to come round

For weeks I sat there until my husband walked around to my side. Now I am out before he has shut his own door. Small thing to write down, not a small thing to live.