There are a range of security features which are common to particular types of trucks such as seat belts on sit-down vehicles. On most stand-up vehicles there are dead-man petals also. Furthermore, some manufacturers are offering extra features like for instance speed controls that could decrease the overall speed based on load height and steering angle. For more information, there are numerous available articles on Lift Truck Safety and Loading Dock Safety.
Support and Service
A big part of lift truck selection is to make certain that you maintain access to high levels of support and service. Every year, there seems to be a wider array of new players within the forklift business. Even though they provide a good price and a decent forklift design, if they do not offer the regional or local service and support infrastructure, you have to be ready for major stress when the forklift goes down. Every model of lift truck goes down at some point and service, parts and general questions must be addressed at some point.
Generally, you would want a local repair shop or dealer with a huge supply of components for the specific model and make you are buying. Be sure to visit the dealership or the repair shop and take a look at their parts room in order to try to know how many parts they store. Make sure to inquire that if they do not have the part you need, where would it come from? With any luck, the answer would be from a regional or local distribution facility.
Additionally, try to get some ideas as to how many of those particular units are currently being used in your vicinity. This is really important for specialty trucks like turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks being used in their service area that you must assume they might not be stocking many if any parts for them. In addition, they can have very little overall experience in servicing that model as well.