Frontal Protection Systems

[pthomp52]

Once agin guys, thank you for all your comments. This post was definately not an Advert. We really did want to know what Motor home drivers thought about the product to decide if it were an area we should market to and place adverts in Motorhome magazines. Sorry if anyone has taken it as an ad, it was not meant to be.

With Ragrd to insurance companies, Thatcham have endorsed the product but teh insurance comapnies have not yet commented. We are working on getting them to agree in the first instance that there will be no premium hike, (if you tell them you have a bull bar they almost certainly will increase the premium) and secondly that they should consider giving a discount. No reply as yet.

With regards as having the same protection as a lorry, these bars are designed only to hang lights from. They are not fixed to the chassis.

As far as occupant safety goes, it is my experience that vehicle manufacturers spend huge amounts of money to increase thier EuroNCAP scores, Euro NCAP is a measuer of how safe the vehicle is to the occupanst in the event of a crash. Have you noticed how many have made thier cars stronger and stiffer? Actually None have.

So I can't subscribe to the stiffer is better argument I'm afraid, at least not as far as vehicles are concerned ;)

[pthomp52]

Sorry for clarification, I meant the bars on lorrys are only to hang lights from, Not ours.

[Dave Newell]

"So I can't subscribe to the stiffer is better argument I'm afraid, at least not as far as vehicles are concerned ;)"

 

I'm inclined to agree. A few months ago fifth gear showed a test crash between a Discovery and an Espace (I think) head on at 50% overlap, i.e. typical RTA. The occupants of the Espace would have suffered some quite serious injuries, the occupants of the Disco would have stood a 90% chance of being killed at the scene!!! The reason is simple, the Espace has a decent crumple zone that absorbed a huge amount of the impact whereas the Disco didn't so transferred almost all of its energy into the passenger cell causing horrific and most likely fatal injuries to the occupants.

 

D.

[Brian Kirby]

This is true.  But Clive was after around 7 tonnes, so his can afford to be rigid, because he'll just use someone else's crumple zone to absorb all his kinetic energy!  :-)

[Mel E]

As long as it isn't a pedestrian!

 

Mel E

====

[Clive]

Not stiffer Dave HEAVIER so that their crumple zone works more for you!

 

Pedestrians are best kept off the roads though, problems only arrise when they try to share the same space.

 

The other vehicles to keep away from are those where the engine is NOT mounted in the front. Some Japanese Vans and the VW transporter come to mind. In a shunt there is not a lot between your feet and the bumper in front

 

Over!

 

[Brian Kirby]

Mel E - 2007-06-15 11:48 AM As long as it isn't a pedestrian! Mel E ====

Brutal truth?  At 7 tonnes, I don't think a bit of soggy plastic will be of much help to any pedestrians who get in his way!  Come to that, I think even 3.5 tonnes takes so long to stop that a pedestrian couldn't really be bounced clear of your stopping zone!  I don't really want to think about this any more, thank you!

[Guest caraprof]

Most pedestrian/vehicle accidents happen in crowded and built-up areas where the car or lorry may be going relatively slowly. There is also braking slowdown to calculate as very often the driver will see the pedestrian and be able to brake hard but necessarily in time to avoid the collision

It must be absolutely obvious that if you hit someone with a soft plastic lattice such as these, which is also deformable and can bend backwards to absorb some of the force, their chances of survival must be greater than being hit with the hard metal of a radiator grill!

I find it a bit puzzling that contributors who are on record as stating that anything that may help safety should be embraced, can dismiss these devices so easily. If they do no extra harm in a massive, high speed collision ( and I can't see how they can do more harm) but save a few lives in the typical, slowish, high street encounter, then surely they must be welcomed?

[davenewellhome]

That's a fair point Frank but injuries to the head are the most life threatening and although the video shows simulations of head impacts on these protectors the chances of a pedestrians head impacting the protector and not the bonnet are minimal, unless of course we're going to train pedestrians to aim themselves head first at the protectors on the front of the vehicle that's about to run them over! I know that sounds facecious and I apologise for that but the facts are that only a small percentage of pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions occur where the pedestrians head contacts the top of the grille area. Anything outside of that small area is still hard metal.

 

Or is it? Many modern cars and increasingly some vans now use plastic for bonnets, bumpers, grilles, front wings etc. I'm all for safety and in general anything that increases survival chances of anybody involved in a RTA, whether driver, passenger or pedestrian is a good thing, I just remain to be convinced of the true benefits of these protectors.

 

D.

[pthomp52]

People might be interested in this regardless of your viewpoint on front bars.

http://www.youclaim.co.uk/car/bull-bars-and-car-accidents.htm