Monday, May 21, 2018 at 13:37
As you say may be vehicle specific, with the Prado 120, Toyota did a recall and removed the crush cans from the bull bars and replaced with stronger brackets.
It gets back to why you have a bull bar fitted, when we encounter or may encounter cattle we slow down, the bull bar is there for the one we miss, hopefully it will provide enough protection to prevent injury to the occupants and allow you to drive the vehicle out of where you are. Some on the other hand think a bull means your invincible.
Personally I have never found a plastic component that has been as strong as a metal one, I can't therefore see the sense in fitting a plastic bull bar, even if it bounces back, not much point the bull bar looking good if the panel work is damaged. Same for lightness, yes would be nice if it was lighter and as strong but unless it is carbon fiber it is unlikely to be.
Here's some other quotes from the thread:
"Tuff Bar Vs Smart Bar for high Speed Kangaroo strikes.
Gave a late night lift to a couple who hit a medium/ largish roo in a 150 fitted with smart bar in QLD last week.. Said they were doing about 95kmh on impact.
The bar was halfway in to the radiator ( which had also moved back to touching the engine fan...) the Roo was still in there too.. Bonnet, one 1/4 guard, grille, bar, radiator, condenser, and a bunch of other stuff gone..Pretty messy and expensive.
Myself I'll stay with my ARB, that has about 12 smaller/ medium Roo hits to its name now."
"Crossing the nullabor last night.. 4x4 with a smart bar and a roo strike outside belladonia.. Disabled the car, to the point it's been left there to be trucked out for repairs.
We hit a Roo with an East coast bar (ECB) same stretch in the transit race transporter. Dead on the mount point area, cannot even really see where it hit. Apart from some fur and blood. "
"Go the Tuff bar!
I had had 6 x Hiluxes over the past 13 years. The SR 4x4 that I got rid of last year, had a Toyota Steel Bar with Side Rails and a set of Lightforce XGTs. I hit about 12 roos over 3 years with that ute, 3 - 4 big ones, and the bar hardly moved at all. All of the roo strikes were at high speed.
My previous Hilux SR 4x4 had a white smart bar, and when I hit a big roo at 100km/hr between
Mildura &
Renmark, the roo pretty
well destroyed the front end, causing 14k damage, and rendered the car off the road for 8 weeks."
"I have a smart bar. It's had 1 serious strike at its weakest/most flexible point (ie at the outside quarter) and handled it
well. I would buy another one as my likely strike rate is low and weight is important to me. Having said that...... If my driving patterns and strike rate were like yours so I had other priorities then would think a big heavy tuff bar would probably win out."
Video of car with tuff bar hitting roo, I wouldn't like to have this happen with a smart bar:
As you say may be vehicle specific, with the Prado 120, Toyota did a recall and removed the crush cans from the bull bars and replaced with stronger brackets.
It gets back to why you have a bull bar fitted, when we encounter or may encounter cattle we slow down, the bull bar is there for the one we miss, hopefully it will provide enough protection to prevent injury to the occupants and allow you to drive the vehicle out of where you are. Some on the other hand think a bull means your invincible.
Personally I have never found a plastic component that has been as strong as a metal one, I can't therefore see the sense in fitting a plastic bull bar, even if it bounces back, not much point the bull bar looking good if the panel work is damaged. Same for lightness, yes would be nice if it was lighter and as strong but unless it is carbon fiber it is unlikely to be.
Here's some other quotes from the thread:
"Tuff Bar Vs Smart Bar for high Speed Kangaroo strikes.
Gave a late night lift to a couple who hit a medium/ largish roo in a 150 fitted with smart bar in QLD last week.. Said they were doing about 95kmh on impact.
The bar was halfway in to the radiator ( which had also moved back to touching the engine fan...) the Roo was still in there too.. Bonnet, one 1/4 guard, grille, bar, radiator, condenser, and a bunch of other stuff gone..Pretty messy and expensive.
Myself I'll stay with my ARB, that has about 12 smaller/ medium Roo hits to its name now."
"Crossing the nullabor last night.. 4x4 with a smart bar and a roo strike outside belladonia.. Disabled the car, to the point it's been left there to be trucked out for repairs.
We hit a Roo with an East coast bar (ECB) same stretch in the transit race transporter. Dead on the mount point area, cannot even really see where it hit. Apart from some fur and blood. "
"Go the Tuff bar!
I had had 6 x Hiluxes over the past 13 years. The SR 4x4 that I got rid of last year, had a Toyota Steel Bar with Side Rails and a set of Lightforce XGTs. I hit about 12 roos over 3 years with that ute, 3 - 4 big ones, and the bar hardly moved at all. All of the roo strikes were at high speed.
My previous Hilux SR 4x4 had a white smart bar, and when I hit a big roo at 100km/hr between
Mildura &
Renmark, the roo pretty
well destroyed the front end, causing 14k damage, and rendered the car off the road for 8 weeks."
"I have a smart bar. It's had 1 serious strike at its weakest/most flexible point (ie at the outside quarter) and handled it
well. I would buy another one as my likely strike rate is low and weight is important to me. Having said that...... If my driving patterns and strike rate were like yours so I had other priorities then would think a big heavy tuff bar would probably win out."
Video of an add for a light, the light was mounted on a tuff bar, I suspect a smart bar would not have copped so
well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rATTBDVt6A
I always find it interesting when manufacturers state there product is better but they never produce proof showing controlled testing of their product against another. I had a quick look at the smart bar website and couldn't see anything on their website so I assume this is the case with them too.
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