Plate Bumpers after impact with pics?

You have quite a story to tell if you ever want to...glad you made it out of there.

 

The Tacoma like most vehicles has among others, front impact air bag sensors that measure deceleration in case of a collision. The crush rate of the Tacoma is the rate at which the front end crumples to absorb impact energy. Because a collision takes some time from initial contact until the point of maximum impact, the computer needs to decide if and when to deploy the airbags, and which ones so that their point of full deployment coincides with your face hitting it at the point of maximum deceleration. Not sure if Tacomas have dual stage air bags...anyway so the sensors measure deceleration immediately and the computer estimates how bad the impact is going to be before maximium deceleration to time air bag deployment based on the known crush rate of a stock front end.

When you remove the stock front end including that aluminum crash bar under the plastic bumper and replace it with a plate bumper that bolts directly to the frame the crush rate is obviously changed. Any impact now registers a more sudden and sharp deceleration leading the computer to think that the collision is much more severe such as a head on collision (it only knows the speed of the vehicle you are in) and that the point of max decceleration is approaching much faster and as a result airbag deployment could be premature.

Thats why ARB has crush cans (the majority of an ARB bumpers engineering is behind the bumper unlike the other companies which do no R&D into crash scenarios as far as I know). These crush cans slow the impact to get closer to the crush rate of a stock vehicle and don't effect air bag deployment or timing. Thats why I personally would never run any plate bumper other than an ARB especially after my recent head on collision at hwy speed where the bumper and airbags functioned perfectly and my family walked away.

And the foam under the stock bumper is meant for pedestrian impacts..

 

Added

 

Well this thread has me even more excited that my bumper will be ready in the next week or so

 

Never was a fan of crumple zones. I can heal, the truck cannot lol.
Always seemed like an excuse to make cars crappier.

 

Inadvertently center-punched a parking bollard the other day. Cracked my 20 year old plate guard, bent the plate guard bracket. Nothing else moved. Good enough for me (again).

I would have definitely deformed the plastic bumper cover in a similar scenario, LOL.

 

...Newton would argue.

 

Newtonian physics was outdated a long time ago when it was found that spinning objects interact with gravity in a non-linear manner. Besides, material sciences, which is the foundation of crumple zones, was in its infancy in Newton's day. His equations are fundamentally sound, but launch rifled artillery a few miles and you will miss.

 

Can we agree that crumple zones are there to slow the deceleration?


And I am sorry, but you are ill informed. Launch rifles artillery a few miles and you will hit every time... with the right FO and gun crew.

 

Sorry. I reread my post and it seemed trollish.
I was just trying to clear out misinformation.
You are correct, crumple zones spread the deceleration more evenly over time to lower maximum rate.
As for the FO, it would depend on method, or system. Some systems never performed due to flawed systems. Some are being retired for mobile platforms, and other alternatives.
I have seen a 105 hit a pack of cigarettes at a considerable distance, and yes, that FO/Crew was tight.
Ever wonder what magical blue smoke gets woven into the FCS? It is non-linear, analog, and in imperial units.

 

Please note, I left the FCS out of the equation. This was done with intent.

I once a moving target at ~1900m with my first marker round out of a MK19. I even first round hit a stationary vehicle at 2680m... like the FCS, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

 

Wow, that's a hell of a shot for a mover! I hope you had money on that.

The pack of smokes was taped to the side of a target and hit with an APDS at 3km. It was recorded at 5000fps, and re-played repeatedly for my benefit. I lost that bet. It cost me an $800 bar tab, but was totally worth it. Proper and adequate motivation.

EDIT: Sorry to thread-jack gang. Excessive carb intake at dinner. Won't happen again. But if you ever get a chance to go to range testing, you'll probably scratch a few thing off your bucket list.

 

No money, but did get me a cool trophy and a pile of coins.

 

Thus far I'm completely unimpressed with ARB's claims because I haven't seen anything that tells me that the design somehow far exceeds Federal DOT requirements. Why? Because DOT says that the bumper must withstand impact speeds of 2.5 mph for front and rear collisions and 1.5 mph for corner impacts. How is "withstand" defined? Damage to safety-related parts and exterior vehicle surface not including the bumper itself. Trucks, SUVs, and vans aren't required to meet even that nearly meaningless minimal standard. IMO ARB's claims are just marketing hype to convince people that somehow their bumpers are safer and will protect the vehicles frame.

 

You know how you cushion the blow? A REAL steel bumper with gas piston shock absorbers, like much much older cars had. If all cars were equipped with these then non-extreme impacts would be cushioned without ruining the frame. I mean the crumple zone is such a LAZY solution. Yes let's scrap a perfectly fine vehicle because the frame was wasted to absorb a bump. Just an excuse to sell more cars.

I say get some real bumpers with shocks and weld solid reinforcements on those crumple zones. Vehicle would never be "totaled" from a bump.

 

I'd like to see a modern piston steel bumper in tests to see how close it is. Not the original old stuff, things improve over time.
And what do you mean, guidlines? I do not follow

 

What is this "ugly lower lip" you speak of? I don't think my taco looks ugly lol.

I mean, if they don't want cars to kill people if they strike them then they had better just get rid of cars or make better driving skills a requirement... I mean seriously, it's an unfortunate cost to automobiles existing. But getting hit by a car is going to almost always kill you (above a certain speed) unless they make the whole thing out of jello or something. lol

 

Still, you could use a steel gas piston bumper with this in mind. I don't see why it couldn't be done. As I said it is just another excuse to sell more cars lol

 

No, there is no crumple zone. Crumple zone is a unibody vehicle concept where energy is dispersed through the vehicle to protect the passenger compartment. That doesn't apply to full frame vehicles. Cans, "shocks", and whatever manufacturers put behind their bumpers since the Model T until today haven't done anything above 5 mph. Think about it. A two ton vehicle moving ten mph is a shit ton of force for any device to disperse. 1.3372e+4 ft lbs actually. That will smash it then transfer the energy to the frame or not smash it and immediately transfer the energy to the frame.

 

No.