Smartbars Vs Bullbars, A Critical Comparison
I'm a bit of a 4WD buff, I always have been. From climbing impossible mountains to cruising through the sand dunes for an ocean fishing expedition, I just love getting out there, into places unreachable by foot or road.
On a recent trip, I hit a kangaroo at a low speed. Thankfully the kangaroo bounded off with little more than a fright and there was basically no damage to the vehicle. The incident got me thinking about frontal protection though. If I were going any faster, the damage to the jeep could have been significant, leaving us stranded and putting my family in harms way.
So I called my mates at All Vehicle Accessories in Melbourne. They told me about these innovative new "plastic bullbars". Having not heard about them before and being a bit bewildered by the chat (I mean, how can plastic protect my jeep?) I decided to do some research. This is what I found out.
Frontal protection products are designed to do 3 things in a collision. They are designed to 1. Protect the passengers in the vehicle. 2. Protect the vehicle in a collision. 3. Pretect the object being struck in a collision. So that was my first point of reference. Which product did a better job in a collision, the bullbar or the smartbar?
Its pretty funny when you look around for information on the relative safety performance of bullbars and smartbars. People who love bullbars keep pointing out that at 150kms/h a collision will be fatal. So to be clear, we are not looking at the 150kms/h collission. Rather we are comparing performance of these products at speeds up to and including fatal impact, but not exceeding it. That means at speeds which are less than and equal to the point where a collision becomes fatal to the vehicle, passengers or pedestrian.
The two frontal protection devices perform differently as they have been designed to do different things. Bullbars have been designed to be the "unbreakable barrier". They are intended to form a barrier between your vehicle and the collision that nothing can get through. Smartbars on the other hand have been designed, through their hollow polymer construction, to absorb, cushion and decelerate the forces of impact. Ie. To be a "frontal airbag" if you like, albeit for your car. When you look at the independent tests, there really is no escaping it. The fact is that up to the point of fatal impact, smartbars protect your vehicle, your passengers and pedestrians better than bullbars do.
To paint a picture though of how this works, imagine the pain caused if you fell and bumped your head on a metal telephone pole. It would hurt right? Now imagine in the same fall, it was one of those big plastic wheelie bins that you hit and your head impacted in the middle of the bin where it had most give. It would not nearly be so painful. Thats how the smartbars work. The impact that smartbars absorb, is impact that is not transferred to your vehicle, you or your passengers, or the pedestrian you just hit.
Topic 2. Performance - There is no argument that smartbars are significantly lighter than bullbars. This means better performance for your vehicle. To embellish, if you install a smartbar instead of a bullbar, your vehicle will have less tyre wear, less suspension wear and safer handling, just because it is lighter. They also provide better value for money than the alternatives and are more environmentally friendly. Manufacturing smartbars produces less than 1% of the green house gasses which the manufacture of metal bullbars produce. So performance wise, smartbars are more efficient with your car, your wallet and the environment.
And I have one final point to make on the subject. I love taking the jeep out bush but I'm pretty lazy about it when I come home. I don't want to spend hours polishing, buffing or scrubbing my bullbar because its rusting a bit (especially after those ocean fishing trips) or has lost its shine. A quick wipedown with a soapy sponge is all the smartbar takes to clean. Which means I can spend my time planning the next trip.
These are the facts I've found when comparing the traditional bullbar against the newer smartbar alternative. I encourage you to do your own research when considering frontal protection, I'm sure new information about these products will come up in the future, but currently to my mind, there is no choice. I know which product my front fender will be sporting tomorrow. - 21392
On a recent trip, I hit a kangaroo at a low speed. Thankfully the kangaroo bounded off with little more than a fright and there was basically no damage to the vehicle. The incident got me thinking about frontal protection though. If I were going any faster, the damage to the jeep could have been significant, leaving us stranded and putting my family in harms way.
So I called my mates at All Vehicle Accessories in Melbourne. They told me about these innovative new "plastic bullbars". Having not heard about them before and being a bit bewildered by the chat (I mean, how can plastic protect my jeep?) I decided to do some research. This is what I found out.
Frontal protection products are designed to do 3 things in a collision. They are designed to 1. Protect the passengers in the vehicle. 2. Protect the vehicle in a collision. 3. Pretect the object being struck in a collision. So that was my first point of reference. Which product did a better job in a collision, the bullbar or the smartbar?
Its pretty funny when you look around for information on the relative safety performance of bullbars and smartbars. People who love bullbars keep pointing out that at 150kms/h a collision will be fatal. So to be clear, we are not looking at the 150kms/h collission. Rather we are comparing performance of these products at speeds up to and including fatal impact, but not exceeding it. That means at speeds which are less than and equal to the point where a collision becomes fatal to the vehicle, passengers or pedestrian.
The two frontal protection devices perform differently as they have been designed to do different things. Bullbars have been designed to be the "unbreakable barrier". They are intended to form a barrier between your vehicle and the collision that nothing can get through. Smartbars on the other hand have been designed, through their hollow polymer construction, to absorb, cushion and decelerate the forces of impact. Ie. To be a "frontal airbag" if you like, albeit for your car. When you look at the independent tests, there really is no escaping it. The fact is that up to the point of fatal impact, smartbars protect your vehicle, your passengers and pedestrians better than bullbars do.
To paint a picture though of how this works, imagine the pain caused if you fell and bumped your head on a metal telephone pole. It would hurt right? Now imagine in the same fall, it was one of those big plastic wheelie bins that you hit and your head impacted in the middle of the bin where it had most give. It would not nearly be so painful. Thats how the smartbars work. The impact that smartbars absorb, is impact that is not transferred to your vehicle, you or your passengers, or the pedestrian you just hit.
Topic 2. Performance - There is no argument that smartbars are significantly lighter than bullbars. This means better performance for your vehicle. To embellish, if you install a smartbar instead of a bullbar, your vehicle will have less tyre wear, less suspension wear and safer handling, just because it is lighter. They also provide better value for money than the alternatives and are more environmentally friendly. Manufacturing smartbars produces less than 1% of the green house gasses which the manufacture of metal bullbars produce. So performance wise, smartbars are more efficient with your car, your wallet and the environment.
And I have one final point to make on the subject. I love taking the jeep out bush but I'm pretty lazy about it when I come home. I don't want to spend hours polishing, buffing or scrubbing my bullbar because its rusting a bit (especially after those ocean fishing trips) or has lost its shine. A quick wipedown with a soapy sponge is all the smartbar takes to clean. Which means I can spend my time planning the next trip.
These are the facts I've found when comparing the traditional bullbar against the newer smartbar alternative. I encourage you to do your own research when considering frontal protection, I'm sure new information about these products will come up in the future, but currently to my mind, there is no choice. I know which product my front fender will be sporting tomorrow. - 21392
About the Author:
Looking for advice on frontal protection, Damian Papworth turned to the experts at All Vehicle Accessories
posted by X - Men @ 5:31 AM
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