Convincing my dad..Trail-Gear low pro

Long story short the Taco needs a new bumper..had my first accident and supremely fucked the oem one up. We aren't submitting my truck into insurance because of my deductible ($1000) and we think we can fix it up for less.

My dad thinks the only reason the repairs would be over $1000 is because of the front bumper so of course I started looking at which bumpers would be cheaper but also an upgrade. My dad likes the looks of the trail-gear low pro but was concerned about its compatibility with the air bags. I want to convince him it will be fine but I'm not sure what would do it. Any advice is welcome

 

Airbags are done via a speed senser rather than a sensor in the bumper. You'll be fine.

 

Interesting. ARB claims they are compatible with the air bag system but it sounds like they all are now.

 

Air bag sensors have nothing to do with the bumper. The sensors monitor the vehicles inertia i.e. a sudden change in force caused by a high speed impact would set them off. You should be able to find a nice off road bumper like arb for less than $1,000

 

sweet sounds like I'm golden. Anyway I can prove or show that this is in fact the case? He is a bit of a skeptic sometimes

 

To support the answers above - I am an insurance appraiser here in Alberta - I have vast knowledge and experience with the technology involved in the airbag systems. (I-Car certified) - Like mentioned above, the impact sensors for the airbags are not located on the bumper itself. They are usually located on the frame rail, or rad support. The speed is what controls the deployment, again depending on the manufacturer. If aftermarket bumpers caused any issues with this, there would be lawsuits like no other. I hope this answers your questions.

 

Thanks! I'll get to talking to him soon

 

I was wondering why I kept hearing about "airbag compatibility" The airbag sensors on my 04 are bolted to the inner fender. The driver's side is just below the batter, above the frame. The passenger's side is in the same location directly across from it. The reason I know this was because when I first bought my truck, the driver's side was not bolted up , but handing down bouncing on top of the shock tower. I was lucky it never activated the airbags. Thus I wouldn't think the bumper would have anything to do with the airbag sensors, other than it would take more force to fold one of the aftermarket off-road bumpers. That might cause it to trip differently, but IDK.