I'm not an engineering type, but my basic understanding of the issue is that a regular bull bar mounted to a vehicle with airbags can cause the airbags to trigger at a low impact, when they wouldn't (or shouldn't) otherwise.
This is because the vehicle body and chassis includes crumple zones which absorb the energy of an impact, but a solidly mounted bull bar, apart from being the first thing to hit something in an impact, transmits the 'shock' of the impact directly to the chassis, causing the airbag system to interpret the crash as more severe than it actually is. This might mean a much higher cost of repairing the car after a small low-speed impact but I've also heard it can be dangerous for the airbag to 'go off' in a low speed impact.
The ARB bars that are designed to work with airbags (most of them these days!) have corrugated mounts which absorb some of the shock from any impact.
I'm not an engineering type, but my basic understanding of the issue is that a regular bull bar mounted to a vehicle with airbags can cause the airbags to trigger at a low impact, when they wouldn't (or shouldn't) otherwise.
This is because the vehicle body and chassis includes crumple zones which absorb the energy of an impact, but a solidly mounted bull bar, apart from being the first thing to hit something in an impact, transmits the 'shock' of the impact directly to the chassis, causing the airbag system to interpret the crash as more severe than it actually is. This might mean a much higher cost of repairing the car after a small low-speed impact but I've also heard it can be dangerous for the airbag to 'go off' in a low speed impact.
The ARB bars that are designed to work with airbags (most of them these days!) have corrugated mounts which absorb some of the shock from any impact.
Hit the nail on the head there.
When i fitted my Ironman bar it was clear to see the Concertina area in the Mounting Bracket to act as a Crumple Zone.
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