I own a jeep. I've always owned jeeps. From the old 70s CJ models to the newer, way more comfy (or so my wife tells me) cherokees. I don't know why I do, but I've always loved them.
Recently while driving my jeep through the outback of Australia, I hit a kangaroo. I was only meandering along at the time so I didn't damage the jeep, (and the kangaroo bounded away with little more than a fright) but it really got me thinking about bullbar protection. If I was going any faster, I could have seriously damaged my 4X4 to the extent that I was stuck, waiting for another offroad buff to get me out of trouble.
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?
Talking about protection generally, I find it strange how many bullbar exponents out there point out that when you are travelling at 150kms/h, no matter what you hit, its going to be fatal to the object and probably the vehicle. Personally I think such arguments are ridiculous as they suggest all collissions are at excessive speeds and dismiss the relative safety performance of the products at lower speeds. But just to make it clear to everyone, when we are comparing these products along safety lines, we are comparing performance at the fatal margin. This means we are comparing safety performance at the point where an impact will kill a pedestrian, or buckle your chassis to the extent that your vehicle is written off.
The difference in performance of the two products comes about due to the relative rigidity which is a result of their make up. In a nutshell, bullbars are designed to be solid, rigid and inflexible. The immovable object protecting your car. Smartbars are designed to absorb, cushion and decelerate the forces of an impact. There are many independent studies on the two, all showing the same thing. The simple fact is that smartbars work better to protect everyone. Do some research, the facts are clear and available.
To put this point in perspective though, into words you can feel, smartbars are made out of similar materials that they make those big wheelie bins from. Imagine you fell over in the street and smacked your head into a big iron postal box. It would hurt right? Now compare the same fall if your head hit the middle of one of those big wheelie bins. The bin would cushion the impact somewhat and the damage to your forehead would not nearly be so bad. (Or painful for that matter) That's the way the smartbars work.
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.
This is a simple presentation of the facts which I've found in my research, when looking at viable frontal protection products for my jeep. As always, do your own research and make the best decisions you can. I'm sure if you do do some research and make your decision on the facts rather than someone elses "tuff man" image, the decision won't be that hard at all.
More Information:
Smartbar or
bullbars, Damian Papworth researched the facts while preparing for his next trip.
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