C4 Fab bumper totaled my truck?

I had a C4 Fab hybrid front bumper on my '19 Off Road. I was hit by a driver that ran a red and the truck looked almost completely undamaged, however it took frame damage and wound up a total loss. I love the look of the bumper but I hesitate to run the same bumper on my new '22 Tacoma. Anyone have thoughts on an aftermarket bumper with better crush points? Air bags didn't deploy either

 

Just curious, did you also have the frame support brackets installed? I have the same bumper as you

 

That's an excellent question. I didn't do the install myself and had in done back in '19. I will find out!

 

Buy an aluminum bumper, it'll crumple like a pop can.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3543165009...gLKvPXqQSm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

ARB for the win.

 

It looks like this

 

Steel aftermarket bumpers are unsurprisingly stronger than the plastic and aluminum crash bar they replaced. I don’t know of any manufacturer that makes a bumper with crumple zones. The issue with stronger bumpers is that they will transfer the force of the impact to the crumple zone built into your frame. In the picture below you can see the small indentations in the frame- those are the crumple zones and even with the more common, longer frame braces installed, they will still collapse with a hard enough impact.



An aluminum bumper would help by absorbing some of the impact, but would likely still transfer the force to the crumple zone if hit hard enough. If you want the best chances to prevent damage to your frame in the future, keep the OEM bumper and crash bar.

essentially the bumper and frame both did what they were designed to do, but if hit hard enough, some damage can’t be avoided.

 

That makes sense, thanks. Are you running your OEM front bumper then?

 

No. I like to live dangerously.

 

The truck is long gone so I can't peak at it but I looked at my receipt and I didn't purchase the frame support brackets so I'm relatively certain I did not have them installed

 

Like ghostship said it likely wouldn't have made a difference anyhow. The bracket is meant to support winching not impacts

 

Correct. That bracket is designed to be loaded in tension, not compression.

 

Obviously glad you were ok....or assuming you were.


Is that pic after the impact?
I’ve been back n forth on whether to go plate or hybrid.

 

ARB's Summit bumper is designed to work with the airbags and crumple zones: https://arbusa.com/toyota-tacoma-2016-on/bumpers-protection-equipment/summit-bumper/

 

Before the impact, I don't have a photo of after unfortunately but it basically looked undamaged

 

And people call bull bars damage multipliers...

 

I just put a BAMF on. The first thing I thought about is the airbag timing. Hitting a 100# steel bumper versus a plastic cover and 5# aluminum bar is totally different. But the bumper looks awesome so…

I was thinking of mounting my bull bar I just took off onto my hybrid. Probably look dope.

 

Well the important thing is that you are all right.

 

I think ARB's are designed work with airbags.

 

Which bamf did you get?
....sounds like not a hybrid.