Level A · WCAG 2.0
2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap
Focus can always move back out of a component using the keyboard alone.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
A cookie banner that traps focus with no reachable close button. An embedded map that swallows Tab and never gives it back.
How to fix it
Modal dialogs should hold focus and release it on Esc. Everything else should let focus pass straight through.
At a glance
- Level
- Level A — the minimum. Failing one of these usually makes something impossible rather than merely hard.
- Principle
- Operable
- Guideline
- 2.1 Keyboard Accessible
- Added in
- WCAG 2.0
- EN 301 549
- 9.2.1.2
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where our agents and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
A trap is found where the agent walks. A trap in a flow nobody asked us to test stays undetected — which is why the report names the journeys it covered.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Find out which criteria your site fails
We scan up to 100 pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, run the agent protocol on one key journey and send you the report — free, once, no strings.