DaveInDenver said:
The crush cans are there for a reason. ARB supposedly crash tests vehicles fitted with them and they will operate the same as a stock vehicle. If you beef them up, it's tough to know how they will react. Do they go off with a tap to a shopping cart or will they not go off at all in an accident? My guess is without the crush cans they'd might go off at very slow speeds or too soon in a wreck. Hard to tell.
Though I am not in disagreement, it is my understanding (which is admittedly rather minimal :smilies27 ) that airbags are activated by an accelerometer, or in this usage, a decelerometer.
I think the crush beams of our trucks are designed more to absorb and spread energy, but obviously engineers calibrate the sensors with that in mind.
Over on TTORA, Jim and his shop assistant from Shrockworks have made claims that his (and consequently
all) aftermarket bumpers are airbag compatible. Please see
here, and
here
Supposedly it may activate "faster" since the
rate of deceleration is increase with no crumple zone. However, it's hard to determine what
circumstances would cause deployment.
In any case, as has been implied by others, the sensor relies on its own computations which means that a whole lot of external variables may mean everything or nothing to it. Hitting a shopping cart at 60MPH at an angle versus a solid wall head-on at 25MPH? Who knows what the outcome would be.
I would imagine that the additional weight and height of a built rig could add a little extra "variation" in the predictability of an airbag deployment. But that's probably just my brain overthinking it in this late hour.
