Children with disabilities across the Phoenix area are getting behind the wheel of modified toy Jeeps, rewired by local volunteers to give them a kind of independence that store-bought mobility devices often can't deliver fast enough. Magical Motors and students from Arizona State University helped design and build the adapted vehicles, which were gifted to kids with disabilities, bringing a mix of confidence, independence, and fun that organizers say is rare for families navigating a slow and costly medical system.
The giveaway, first reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, is the latest effort from Magical Motors, a Phoenix-founded nonprofit that got its start in July 2021 when then-BASIS Phoenix student Aanand Mehta teamed up with his cousin Rohan Fichadia, according to Points of Light. Fichadia had already been modifying ride-on toy cars for disabled children as an Eagle Scout project back in 2018, and Mehta was inspired to turn that idea into a broader initiative after watching his cousin transform cars on a shoestring budget.
Rewiring Pedals Into Push-Button Controls
The modifications themselves are straightforward but transformative. Volunteers reroute a toy's foot-pedal accelerator into a hand-operated button mounted on the steering wheel and add PVC pipe frame supports for stability, according to Matt's Kindness Ripples On. That rewiring lets children with lower-extremity impairments drive the vehicles themselves, and the whole build typically costs just a few hundred dollars and takes about three hours from start to finish.
That price tag stands in sharp contrast to the commercial alternative. Standard pediatric powered wheelchairs can cost more than $5,000, and ASU News discusses insurance approval. Matt's Kindness Ripples On says pediatric power wheelchairs can take several years to receive. For toddlers, those delays can eat up some of the most developmentally important years of their lives.
ASU Students Join the Build
Arizona State University students have become regular partners in this kind of hands-on work. The university's all-female Desert WAVE underwater robotics team has operated alongside the Si Se Puede Foundation to host annual Jeep Hack events, modifying and donating toy Jeeps to local children with physical disabilities, according to RoboNation, and the group has paired STEM outreach with builds like Mother's Day toy-soldering sessions.
In May 2025, a separate group of 28 ASU students in the Health Care Innovation Design Challenge engineered a functional motorized training wheelchair for kids ages 4 to 7, built for under $500 using a $199 ride-on bumper car frame and a $44 booster seat, the same ASU News report states. That challenge was co-partnered with the Mobility Independence Foundation to help children practice driving ahead of wheelchair driver exams. Then this past February, ASU designated faculty members as Charter Professors to back initiatives adapting Power Wheels ride-on toys for infants with mobility challenges, according to ASU News. That report notes roughly 500,000 children nationwide are diagnosed with mobility challenges at birth and typically can't obtain a power wheelchair before age 2.
Mobility Access Challenges
Matt's Kindness Ripples On cites an estimate that 1 in 6 children in the United States have a developmental disability. Access to adaptive mobility devices can also be delayed.
Building a Local Network of Partners
Magical Motors has held a build event with the Si Se Puede Foundation.
For families in the Phoenix area waiting on insurance paperwork, a rewired toy Jeep can offer a child a way to control their own movement.
