snow-induced fender-benders

ahunt01

New member
LoL I just posted a thread about grill guards to bounce off deer, but I'm now starting to think about idiots in the snow. People here don't drive well in the snow, and they frequently rear-end each other. So let me pose a couple questions.

I notice that the tire sticks out past the rear bumper, thus when a car rear-ends a jeep, they might push in the tire into the tailgate causing body damage. Is there a beastly rear bumper that would bounce cars off like a hockey puck?

I read somewhere on here about a dude running head-on into something and the jeep literally bounced back to a dead stop, however the jeep suffered no real damage. So as far as the front end goes, what front bumper would plow right through a car (in case I lost control) without causing major damage to the front end?

Finally, no aftermarket bumpers would have any negative effects on air-bag deployment, would they?

I still plan on getting safari bars, or the equivalent, to help reduce damage to the front end if I hit a deer ( or person, just kidding just kidding) going at a slow speed.
 

LoL. You don't really want that strong of a bumper. It's best to allow the crumple zones to do their job, rather than transferring all that energy through the frame. A sudden stop such as you would experience from a solid frame jolt would cause you much, much more injury (even with airbags and seatbelts) than a decelerating stop from allowing the crumple zones to do their job. Trust me, I'm a former paramedic with a minor degree in the Kinematics of Trauma. Body damage=cheap; frame damage=totalled Jeep. Besides that, I know that if you fab a bumper that will "plow right through a car", in many states you can be held liable for injuries and deaths as a result, even if you weren't initially at fault in the accident.
 
That answers my question as to why some companies that sell bumpers and brush guards talk about crumple zones.
So I guess the best thing to do would be to keep the factory bumper and install a good bolt-on brush guard (which is a lot cheaper than a new bumper anyways)?
Oh yeah, I guess safe defensive driving helps too.
 
Back
Top