Animal strikes and brush bars

[Hillbilly Heaven]

There are "brush bars" and "drive through" bumpers. Drive through are seen on 18 wheelers and emergency response vehicles. I chose a drive through bumper...
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and did have a t-bone deer strike @ 45MPH. Went under the truck and came out the back as hamburger. Zero damage to the, meat processor.

That is exactly the scenario I was describing in going under rather than over on higher ride height vehicles. Strikes coming at the driver being bird, giant bug, or animal carcass can cause loss of control rather than just driving over as an obstacle. Going under seems much much safer outcome for occupants.

The large pre-runner bar setup I posted earlier granted would be too low for a stock ride height vehicle, but for a lifted or 1 ton or bigger vehicle it would be tall enough. The large center tube is 2.5" OD and I would assume either 0.120 or 0.083 wall. The outer stringers are 1.5" tubing with same wall thickness. They are welded to 3/16" plate steel.

Good job on staying on 2 wheels. My boss was T-boned by a doe on his motorcycle the outcome was not as good as yours. The deer actually struck his leg rather than the bike first.

I have witnessed a cow striked that no brush or bullguard could protect you from. The cow jumped off the pasture bank into the rear side window of a passing car. It partially exited the rear window. When the occupants fled the vehicle the cow was still alive and thrashing about inside the vehicle.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That is exactly the scenario I was describing in going under rather than over on higher ride height vehicles. Strikes coming at the driver being bird, giant bug, or animal carcass can cause loss of control rather than just driving over as an obstacle. Going under seems much much safer outcome for occupants.

Physics will always dictate and hitting something even just a couple of hundred pounds at high speed is going to hurt. So my thought is that going under on a relatively light vehicle might cause it to deflect or skid and potentially roll. That's what I was trying to say about a fully loaded OTR truck, which when hitting a deer or elk would be like my Tacoma hitting an owl or raccoon. Like they say, it's all relative.

 

[1stDeuce]

FWIW, our fire dept runs ranch hand bumpers on our GMC 3500 ambulances, and they do minimize the damage from a deer strike. (Mule deer around these parts, not cute little white tails.)
We do this because the EMT's are often in the back working on a patient with a firefigher driver moving things toward the ER. Slamming on the brakes or swerving hard to avoid an animal that wanders into the road is not really a great plan in this case... Our chief is famous for calling out "There's gonna be a bump!". The bumpers occasionally bent a little, especially the headlight guards, but the patients make it to the ER in good time, and after an animal strike, the ambulances are still perfectly serviceable.

Long ago, on the way from MI to West Yellowstone for a snowmobile trip, one of our convoy bumped a decent size doe in N. Dakota. It broke the grill and bent the bumper a little, but it also crushed the lines going to the trans cooler, and broke one of them off completely. We bypassed the cooler with some hose to continue on, but the briefly kinked cooler lines caused a pressure spike that cracked the valve body in the trans and put the truck out of commission. With a good bumper or grill guard, the truck may still have had some damage, but we wouldn't have been delayed by a day starting our week long vacation.

I haven't yet bumped anything furry with my ARB, but I take some comfort knowing that it it does happen, I will very likely be able to continue my journey, whether that's heading home, or across the country.

 

[vintageracer]

They ONLY thing cheap grill guards and Bull bars are good for is bending the front frame horns or front frame rails whenever anything strikes them!

 

[dr_r2r]

Modern car's bumpers are designed to be softer and pliable to absorb collision. Why mess with it? What if it's a pedestrian and not a deer?

 

[robert]

Modern car's bumpers are designed to be softer and pliable to absorb collision. Why mess with it? What if it's a pedestrian and not a deer?

The OMG, what if it's a pedestrian, cry has been gaining ground in places like Europe and Australia. It's why they have bumper height laws and companies are redesigning front ends to be more "pedestrian friendly". Historically kids went under, adults went over (obviously due to height) but some lawmakers are trying to get front ends lowered and redesigned. Pedestrian strikes have supposedly increased with increasing cell phone usage- I wouldn't doubt it a bit (Darwin at work).

A properly designed aftermarket bumper should still be safe for the occupants- note that ARB, for example, uses a crush can system in some of their bumpers. Vehicle manufacturers build in collapsing systems as well, usually frame components that are designed to crumple, break loose and go under, i.e. engines, etc. The airbags are deployed by sensors so the bumper shouldn't change that. Yes, you will lose some of that impact absorption that a styrofoam and plastic bumper offers but those are primarily for low speed bumps, not hi-speed collisions.

I struck two dog (at different times) with an aftermarket bumper, the ARB on my previous 1st gen Tacoma, and they went under and out the back. No damage to my truck, killed the dogs. I have struck deer with other vehicles including a Mitsubishi MightyMax (POS company truck back in the early 90s) and a Ford F350 ambulance. The Mitsubishi hit two does, one was pregnant so I actually killed three, and I had to have the grill, headlights, front fender panels, hood and radiator replaced. The ambulance got a new grill, IIRC.

 

[luthj]

If you operate in an area with lots of pedestrians, then a big metal bumper is in fact a liability. Instead of bruises a low speed collision can cause maiming. Most folks worried about animal strikes operate extensively in rural areas where the likelihood of a pedestrian impact is quite low. Now, if you are doing lots of surface street driving in a big city? Yeah, worth evaluating.

In europe most aftermarket bumpers need to meet pedestrian standards. So they are built with metal springs/subframe, and a semi-flexible outer covering. This makes them more expensive, but they still go a good job for medium sized animals. Now a cow or moose? Thats a different story, and even a big steel bumper may not prevent a totaled vehicle.

 

[tacollie]

I hit a small elk with an ARB when I had my 02 Tacoma doing 45-50mph. I hit it's shoulder with the driver side headlight. It bent the bummer enough to lock up the front tire. It bent the frame, smashed the radiator into the fan, and broke a motor mount. The truck was not drivable. It may have kept the elk from coming thru the windshield. Bull bars help with animal strikes but there are no guarantees.

 

[dr_r2r]

There are no specific laws in the US about banning the bull bars. In the UK, any cars after 2007 it's illegal to install it. It's not about the OMG, what if. Studies had clearly shown that bull bar related deaths had significantly decreased without one. Just be warned though that some insurance companies can deny your claim if you cause an accident with a bull bar. I say that if you live in an urban area, I would think twice in installing it. But if you live in a rural area, it may be justified.

 

[Todd780]

It bent the bummer enough

Huh. Not sure what to make of that. ?

 

[DaveInDenver]

There are no specific laws in the US about banning the bull bars. In the UK, any cars after 2007 it's illegal to install it. It's not about the OMG, what if. Studies had clearly shown that bull bar related deaths had significantly decreased without one. Just be warned though that some insurance companies can deny your claim if you cause an accident with a bull bar. I say that if you live in an urban area, I would think twice in installing it. But if you live in a rural area, it may be justified.

Can't say about Chicago but I rear ended another car with an ARB on my old truck and my insurance company didn't blink. Actually paid me to replace the ARB. It did cause us to loose our accident-free discount, though.

This is what it looks like when an ARB bumper end up looking like when it shoves a RAV4's spare tire into the cargo area through the back window.

 

[robert]

ARBs hold up pretty well. '95 Tacoma vs '94 Subaru that crossed into my lane (45mph road; I was doing 45 and he was supposedly doing around 50 according to the witness behind him). I walked away, he didn't. I'll continue to use one.

 

[luthj]

50/50 offset crash. The most dangerous kind...

 

[Regcabguy]

Brush guards are called damage multipliers around here. They weigh next to nothing, are held on with a couple of bolts.

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Just realize there are two types of front end protection with respect to animal strikes. The ARB bull bar is designed for this purpose and when you compare them to the Westin (or similar) appearance bars it should be obvious.

They will bend but there's substantial amounts of steel and the mass is deflected up or down away from the critical parts in the front. Hit something large enough and you can still lose headlights, dent sheet metal but the radiator, suspension, etc. usually survives just about anything. Small strikes aren't a problem. But an ARB weighs 100 lbs and come with 15 lbs of hardware to mount.

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The Ranch Hands are the only grill guards that I think might provide some protections, at least in the middle they seem rigid. I'd worry about the wings still. They weigh a lot, too.

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Or the ones like you see on USFS ranger trucks, like the Warn or I think a Westin HD something. If the center is built to carry a winch it's probably going to be fairly strong. But look at the size of the wings ahead of the headlights, closer (or maybe the same) 1.75" as the ARB.

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I've got a neighbor who had a Ranch Hand brush bar on his '03 Ram 2500. It got nearly destroyed in Baja when he hit a cow on the road. He was able to drive the truck home but the impact of the brush guard on the body was significant. I think a regular offroad quality bumper would have faired better.

 

[Regcabguy]

ARBs hold up pretty well. '95 Tacoma vs '94 Subaru that crossed into my lane (45mph road; I was doing 45 and he was supposedly doing around 50 according to the witness behind him). I walked away, he didn't. I'll continue to use one.


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Amazing you walked away. The safety of those early trucks was pretty abysmal.