| I own a jeep. I've always owned jeeps. From the | | | | damage. The cushioning effect of this absorbtion |
| old 70s CJ models to the newer, way more | | | | actually acts to decelerate the colliding forces at |
| comfy (or so my wife tells me) cherokees. I don't | | | | the point of impact. This has been proven by |
| know why I do, but I've always loved them. | | | | independent child head-form impact tests. You |
| Recently on an outback excursion I hit a | | | | just have to do a little research to find the |
| kangaroo. I was only doing about 10km/h so the | | | | studies. |
| damage was minimal, but this incident got me | | | | To paint a picture though of how this works, |
| thinking about frontal protection. So I called my | | | | imagine the pain caused if you fell and bumped |
| mates at All Vehicle Accessories in Melbourne to | | | | your head on a metal telephone pole. It would |
| have a chat about bullbars. During this chat they | | | | hurt right? Now imagine in the same fall, it was |
| brought up the topic of smartbars. Before the | | | | one of those big plastic wheelie bins that you hit |
| conversation, I didn't even know they existed. So | | | | and your head impacted in the middle of the bin |
| I got onto Google to do some research on the | | | | where it had most give. It would not nearly be so |
| products and found a lot of opinion (most of it | | | | painful. Thats how the smart bars work. The |
| based on aesthetics and perception rather than | | | | impact that smartbars absorb, is impact that is |
| utility and fact) but pretty much no factual | | | | not transferred to your vehicle, you or your |
| information. So me and my mates at All Vehicle | | | | passengers, or the pedestrian you just hit. |
| Accessories dug a little deeper, and this is what | | | | Topic 2. Performance |
| we found. | | | | There is no argument that smartbars are |
| Topic 1. Safety | | | | significantly lighter than bullbars. This means better |
| With frontal protection products, there are 3 | | | | performance for your vehicle. To embellish, if you |
| general areas of concern regarding safety. These | | | | install a smartbar instead of a bullbar, your vehicle |
| are the ability to protect passengers, the ability to | | | | will have less tyre wear, less suspension wear and |
| protect pedestrians and the ability to protect your | | | | safer handling, just because it is lighter. They also |
| car. Talking about protection generally, I find it | | | | provide better value for money than the |
| starnge how many bullbar exponents out there | | | | alternatives and are more environmentally friendly. |
| point out that when you are travelling at 150kms | | | | Manufacturing smartbars produces less than 1% |
| h, no matter what you hit, its going to be fatal to | | | | of the green house gasses which the |
| the object and probably the vehicle. Personally I | | | | manufacture of metal bullbars produce. So |
| think such arguments are ridiculous as they | | | | performance wise, smartbars are more efficient |
| suggest all collissions are at excessive speeds and | | | | with your car, your wallet and the environment. |
| dismiss the relative safety performance of the | | | | Topic 3. Maintenance |
| products at lower speeds. But just to make it | | | | Metal rusts. Metal looses its lustre. Metal reflects. |
| clear to everyone, when we are comparing these | | | | A rusting bullbar requires significant work to clean |
| products along safety lines, we are comparing | | | | up. A dull bullbar requires significant polishing to |
| performance at the fatal margin. This means we | | | | make it shine again. And a reflecting bullbar will |
| are comparing safety performance at the point | | | | effect your vision everytime another set of |
| where an impact will kill a pedestrian, or buckle | | | | headlights hit it. This is one of the defining |
| your chassis to the extent that your vehicle is | | | | features of the smartbar. Maintenance requires a |
| written off. | | | | bucket of soapy water, a sponge and a quick |
| The difference between the performance of | | | | wipe down. Thats it. The plastic parts do not rust, |
| bullbars and smartbars comes about because | | | | they do not require buffing or polishing and they |
| bullbars are rigid (Ie they have no give in them) | | | | will never reflect light from another source. |
| while smartbars are not. (Ie. they are made from | | | | This is a simple presentation of the facts which |
| polyethylene with a hollow internal structure so | | | | I've found in my research, when looking at viable |
| they have some give) Despite all the opinion to | | | | frontal protection products for my jeep. As |
| the contrary, at speeds leading up to fatal impact, | | | | always, do your own research and make the best |
| smartbars work better than bullbars in protecting | | | | decisions you can. I'm sure if you do do some |
| you, the car and the person you hit. The manner | | | | research and make your decision on the facts |
| in which they absorb impact minimises the force | | | | rather than someone elses "tuff man" image, the |
| of the collision and thereby reduces injury and | | | | decision won't be that hard at all. |