DaveInDenver said:
I've wondered about this since only a couple of the shops claim airbag compliance. Are all bull bars are inherently airbag compliant, then? So, is it (and I know this is speculation) a legal thing that they say they are not? My guess is it's not that they won't go off in an accident, but that they might go off at too slow of a speed. Just wondering out loud, bumper looks really good.
You bring up an interesting point. In theory, a steel bumper is going to make the air bags
more sensitive. Regaining OEM sensitivity is the purpose of "crush cans": they soften the blow during impact thereby giving the accelerometer a little bit of margin before the sensors say, "Blow boys! Blow!" The point I was trying to make - and now I see this can be fuzzy - is that air bag sensors aren't in, or attached to, the bumper. That's a common misconception. "What did you do with the airbag sensors when you installed the bumper?"
Actually, now that we're discussing this, I'd bet that true airbag compliance would keep the original level of sensitivity by building in a way for the bumper to "give" a little during a crash. Such as with crush cans.
Funny and related story:
After I installed the bumper, my wife and I went to the bookstore on a . . . um . . . Friday night. We parked next to another Frontier that had a damaged front bumper. So, I left a note on the windshield explaining that I saw the bumper and offered up mine (FOC). A lady called the next day and she talked me into installing it on her truck for her. We got to talking about what caused the damage, and it was a security gate at the parking lot where she worked. It malfunctioned as she drove through, and it smacked her as she drove way less than 10 MPH (she idled through). Her airbags blew and the gate left a crease in the bumper where it hit. Bummer, huh?
She was kind of nervous about me installing the bumper because she thought I needed to "be careful of the airbag sensors."
Anyway, each vehicle make is going to be different. The Frontier has that (lovely) chrome bumper "shell" attached to the real steel McCoy (
in this picture). That bumper shell would likely take some of the impact before the accelerometer tells the airbag sensors that it's showtime. My educated theory (from working on the bumper area) is that the amount is negligible since there are no crush cans from the Nissan factory.
But dammit, Dave, you're making me rethink what I put in the article . . .
unk03:
This is worth doing some research with Nissan if someone with knowledge will talk to me.
