Another one of my weird ideas. Any engineers reading this?

One thing to keep in mind is if you really want to soften the blow you could do a plate bumper in aluminum. That’s what I did.

My engineering/firefighter mind and experience led me to this. With a steel plate bumper (depending on design among many other variables, I would be replying heavily on the frame crumple zones to soften the impact. Stock was never a consideration but looking at the stock crash bar when I removed it is that it likely does almost nothing in a higher speed crash let’s say 30+. So frame is taking everything anyway. Aluminum would be more likely to deform and soften the impact vs stock or steel plate. Also has the benefit of being lighter than steel and stronger than stock, from a crash perspective.

Now I went with a steel high clearance rear bumper because of some idiot rear ends me at speed there is more back there to keep them from going thru the bed and impacting the cab. Again after seeing the stock bumper that thing seems like it would deform a lot on impact softening the hit. But I think it is too soft and prefer the steel back there.

 

More concern to me is what happens after the accident if someone is hurt by the bumper. OEMs certify their vehicles and insurance coverage / protection is based on that vehicle. You might be sol if the other person decides to sue.

 

I was going 35 mph. No brakes before impact.
Should’ve provided that for more details.

 

the test i posted is conducted at 40 mph

 

I guess you can sue anyone for anything, but I haven’t heard of people suing because someone put a different bumper on their truck...

 

Best crash prevention is paying attention to the road.

Considering we are talking about a front plate bumper, unless someone backs into you at 60mph, its most likely going to be the fault of the Tacoma driver.

Pay attention to the road and keep a decent distance.

I love my Tacoma so at least for me, I stay away from other vehicles lmao.

 

Do you have a reference for this claim? Seems unlikely considering how small the cab mount is and the numerous other places the wheel could still enter the cab in an offset crash.

 

didn't read the whole thread....but...

something to consider when putting on an aftermarket steel bumper connected directly to your frame, you've in essence created a giant steel battering ram. yeah it's going to effect the damage to your vehicle, but you also need to consider that now you're going to cause a whole lot more damage to the other vehicle you hit.

 

Wheel and Tire get smacked right into the Cab Mount and deflected. Weakening that mount allows more energy to enter the actual cab instead of deflected. How much would have to be tested since alot of folks do box the cab mount via a welded plate. Leaving it cut and open is far weaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eouRDQ417mU

 

At the risk of sounding dense, watching the video of a crash doesn't prove that the cab mount is specifically designed to deflect the wheel during a collision. The wheel does appear to not penetrate the cab, but to what extent the cab mount helped is inconclusive at best. I'm not willing to bet a nickel that the engineering intended the cab mount to stop that wheel.

 

Yes, for 4Runners though. Same design. There is no other place logically. In an impact the wheel gets driven straight back. The mounts deflect it down and away. Watch a video of a 4Runner or Tacoma small offset crash and watch front wheel.

 

I don't deny that the wheel gets driven backward in the collision. I don't even deny that the mount deflects the wheel. I'm just not convinced, based on a couple crash videos, that the cab mount was designed specifically in that location with that shape and size (and any other defining characteristics of a cab mount) for the intended purpose of deflecting the wheel in a collision. Hence, I wouldn't classify it as a safety feature. Maybe someone here is a automotive engineer and can add more insight.

 

There is actual documentation on the 4Runner site somewhere, along with the frame design with metal strength of each frame part. I have not seen anything like that for the Tacoma yet but the cab mounts are very similar.

 

If you could find it, that would be awesome. I like reading stuff like that....cause I'm a nerd

 

A lesson learned by auto manufacturers in the 50s I believe.

Automobiles were made as rigid as possible to protect its occupants in accidents. Unfortunately and unknown to auto designers at the time, this meant passengers experienced the full kinetic energy of an impact because there was nothing structurally in the vehicle to absorb that energy, leading to catastrophic and gruesome injuries.

Hence the development of "crumple zones".

 

It's just the one swan actually.

 

Click and Clack the Tappet brothers!

 

was doing some reading on expedition portal about the ARB. I’ll put the link below, but here’s the summary.

“Unsurprisingly, the biggest benefit of an ARB bumper is improved safety for you and your passengers, which is achieved in three main ways.

• First and foremost, the reinforced design protects the radiator, engine, and other vital components from damage in the event of an animal strike. This greatly reduces the chance of you being stranded with a disabled vehicle in some remote corner of the world.
• Second, the bumper is shaped to push an animal or other object underneath and to the sides of the chassis. This discourages any debris from rolling up onto the hood or into the windshield, where it could potentially harm the driver or passenger.
• Finally, ARB designs each one of their bull bars to match the vehicle’s factory crush rate, and then tests them in actual crash labs. This is ARB’s trump card in the world of bumpers. Instead of throwing a mess of steel onto the front of your truck and hoping for the best, their engineers work tirelessly to retain the critical crash pulse matched to your airbag system, thus eliminating the chance of an unnecessary or failed deployment.”

https://expeditionportal.com/arb-bumper-review/

 

Yeah I don’t understand why anyone would cut up the cab mount.

I love what FCA did with the new Ram. Check out this nifty simple square tube to prevent the wheel entering the cab.

 

Exactly why I am not changing from factory. Do you think any aftermarket bumper is actually put on every vehicle and tested like NHTSA does with vehicles ??? No.
I don't need a pedestrian liability issue either.