diff --git a/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_driver.php
index 2e6589b..eb9a8f5 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_driver.php
@@ -43,19 +43,19 @@
 	public $dbdriver = 'sqlite3';
 
 	// The character used for escaping
-	public $_escape_char = '"';
+	protected $_escape_char = '"';
 
 	// clause and character used for LIKE escape sequences
-	public $_like_escape_str = ' ESCAPE \'%s\' ';
-	public $_like_escape_chr = '!';
+	protected $_like_escape_str = ' ESCAPE \'%s\' ';
+	protected $_like_escape_chr = '!';
 
 	/**
 	 * The syntax to count rows is slightly different across different
 	 * database engines, so this string appears in each driver and is
 	 * used for the count_all() and count_all_results() functions.
 	 */
-	public $_count_string = 'SELECT COUNT(*) AS ';
-	public $_random_keyword = ' RANDOM()';
+	protected $_count_string = 'SELECT COUNT(*) AS ';
+	protected $_random_keyword = ' RANDOM()';
 
 	/**
 	 * Non-persistent database connection
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@
 	 * @param	string
 	 * @return	string
 	 */
-	protected function _escape_identifiers($item)
+	public function _escape_identifiers($item)
 	{
 		if ($this->_escape_char == '')
 		{
diff --git a/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_forge.php b/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_forge.php
index a949701..6398e48 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_forge.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/sqlite3/sqlite3_forge.php
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@
 			{
 				$attributes = array_change_key_case($attributes, CASE_UPPER);
 
-				$sql .= "\n\t".$this->db->_protect_identifiers($field)
+				$sql .= "\n\t".$this->db->protect_identifiers($field)
 					.' '.$attributes['TYPE']
 					.(array_key_exists('CONSTRAINT', $attributes) ? '('.$attributes['CONSTRAINT'].')' : '')
 					.((array_key_exists('UNSIGNED', $attributes) && $attributes['UNSIGNED'] === TRUE) ? ' UNSIGNED' : '')
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@
 
 		if (count($primary_keys) > 0)
 		{
-			$primary_keys = $this->db->_protect_identifiers($primary_keys);
+			$primary_keys = $this->db->protect_identifiers($primary_keys);
 			$sql .= ",\n\tPRIMARY KEY (".implode(', ', $primary_keys).')';
 		}
 
@@ -139,11 +139,11 @@
 			{
 				if (is_array($key))
 				{
-					$key = $this->db->_protect_identifiers($key);
+					$key = $this->db->protect_identifiers($key);
 				}
 				else
 				{
-					$key = array($this->db->_protect_identifiers($key));
+					$key = array($this->db->protect_identifiers($key));
 				}
 
 				$sql .= ",\n\tUNIQUE (".implode(', ', $key).')';
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 
-		return 'ALTER TABLE '.$this->db->_protect_identifiers($table).' '.$alter_type.' '.$this->db->_protect_identifiers($column_name)
+		return 'ALTER TABLE '.$this->db->protect_identifiers($table).' '.$alter_type.' '.$this->db->protect_identifiers($column_name)
 			.' '.$column_definition
 			.($default_value != '' ? ' DEFAULT '.$default_value : '')
 			// If NOT NULL is specified, the field must have a DEFAULT value other than NULL
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@
 	 */
 	public function _rename_table($table_name, $new_table_name)
 	{
-		return 'ALTER TABLE '.$this->db->_protect_identifiers($table_name).' RENAME TO '.$this->db->_protect_identifiers($new_table_name);
+		return 'ALTER TABLE '.$this->db->protect_identifiers($table_name).' RENAME TO '.$this->db->protect_identifiers($new_table_name);
 	}
 }