Ball hitch when hit from behind?

What state?

 

Pennsylvania

 

https://www.winonadailynews.com/new...cle_6c50f174-6d80-5a72-af36-5cbb27d310b6.html

 

Well I guess the trooper woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and it’s years too late to fight that ticket

 

For obstructing the view of the license plate? Or for just having it on?

Sounds like a dumb law

 

Depends on the state. It is illegal in PA, for some reason

 

It is a dumb law, but the laws we have in Jersey aren’t much better

 

This whole thread is full of stupid armchair lawyers. Laws vary state-to-state, and don't generalize. That said...

The bumper on the Tacoma in the rear is NOT a crumple zone. It's plastic and cosmetic. The hitch is not a crumple zone either. It's braced across the rear of the truck to keep it rigid during use.

The frame itself in the rear is the crumple zone. It's just like a car's trunk crumpling. Your bed and rear frame will give in a large impact, pushing your cab upwards in a collision to protect you. This is pretty common truck design and makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Furthermore, any collision at a speed sufficient to damage the frame is really enough that adding a hitch doesn't make a difference in collision dynamics. If you get hit without a trailer hitch in a large impact, a ton of energy still is transferred directly to the hitch mount in that area, causing damage that would have occurred all the same if there was a hitch there. The bottom line is, if you have damage sufficient to damage the frame with a hitch in, it would also cause comparable damage with the hitch out.

Something going straight out like the the beaver step @avi8or_co posted, the step @NOLAtaco26 posted, or even better another bumper like @Vbpiper posted is great protection and ensures the crumple zone of whoever is hitting you is fully used before you take any damage. Sure you're hurting someone else at your expense, but it's their fault they're rear ending you anyways. Literally the only exception are long drop hitches; I could see those acting as damage multipliers.

In the situation where you have damage low enough to just damage the bumper but not the frame is where having a hitch or a step really shines. In those cases, a hitch is WAY better. The hitch harpoons the dipshit rear-ending you, and you drive away with no damage, saving you any insurance troubles.



If you're still with me, and as a completely unrelated aside, multiple studies have been performed on lifted trucks related to vehicle safety. Statistically speaking, your probability of injury in an accident goes WAY down with a lift, large tires, and/or armor. This is at a great expense of the vehicles lifted vehicles collide with; the occupants of stock vehicles colliding with lifted or modified vehicles are far, far more likely to be injured or killed in an accident than the occupants of the lifted vehicle, regardless of fault. If you're worried about your family and run the fucking gauntlet for your commute every morning (like I do in Atlanta with the whole family in the car), armor up, lift up, and add bigger wheels to your rig. It could save your life.

 

There no law like that

 

This thread was an amazing read to end my night. Thank you to all involved.

 

In AZ you get a ticket if you DON'T have one installed...Cops look at that empty square hole and reminds them of their head.

 

You made me laugh!

 

In what way are you comparing that to a rear ended truck? The physics of what happened is simple in your picture. The force applied by the car (car's mass times car's acceleration) was not greater than the force required to bend or break the parking meter. The friction between the front tires and the road was greater than the friction between the rear bumper and meter post and the engine produced enough power to push the car rearward and upward on the post.

 

That’s because the bumper your are referring to is actually the bumper cover. People just call it the “bumper” because most have no idea about the steel or aluminum reinforcement behind them. Some even just refer to the foam padding and believe that’s all it is, is plastic and foam

 

Not like the hitch law, but recently there were some (extremely stupid) laws passed that are political in nature and if I were to speak my mind about them I would probably get banned

 

Roger that

 

The bumper I'm referring to is the bumper. I took mine off and replaced it with a plate bumper, and sold the old bumper to someone who had been rear-ended, so I'm familiar with the assembly.

Here's what it looks like from behind. It mounts to the outside of the frame rails. It's a metal frame wrapped on the left and right with some plastic and foam. The hitch is integral to the component, welded into place.



Without a hitch:

• The person rear-ending you's front bumper crumples.
  
• Your rear bumper crumples.
  
• Both cars are equally damaged.
  
• If the force is high enough, the person rear-ending you pushes past the bumper into the stout part of the hitch anyways. Your frame is damaged, crumpling as it should.

With a hitch:

• The person rear-ending you's front end crumples a lot, with all of the collision force transferring from the hitch to a small part of their car.
  
• Your rear bumper is unharmed.
• Unless there's a ton of force, your truck is undamaged because it remained rigid in the collision.
  
• If the force is high enough, the person rear-ending you pushes past the hitch into the bumper. Your frame is damaged, crumpling as it should.

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see how you'd ever be better off without a hitch. In low speed collisions, you have no damage -- you would have had damage without a hitch. In high speed collisions, it doesn't matter -- the bumper and frame will take damage regardless of whether or not you have a hitch.

As an aside, the rear bumper is basically disposable. It's not durable. It has slots that make it easy to bolt on; you pivot it from a downward angle into position and bolt 2 more bolts, with 6 total holding it on. You can swap a bumper in under 10 minutes. It's not stout at all.

 

I know you know. What I’m implying is there are plenty that don’t