Nudge Bar
Submitted: Friday, Jul 26, 2019 at 17:37
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Ranger D
Opinion if installing an after market nudge bar for a 2018 Mitsibishi Outlander is worthwile. We're heading on a 8 week road trip including the Stuart Highway, SA to
Darwin, then moving to
Cairns. And was interested if they give any protection against potential animal strikes. Or am I also been paranoid that we will hit something along the way.
Any advice appreciated!!
Reply By: Hoyks - Sunday, Jul 28, 2019 at 18:57
Sunday, Jul 28, 2019 at 18:57
Unless you are really scratching for somewhere to bolt some lights or a UHF antenna, then they are a waste of time.
If you look at how they are attached, it generally just some brackets and 4 bolts. Hit anything substantial and they will bend the brackets or shear the bolts and be pushed back into the bumper anyway, so you still end up with skippy hitting the front of the vehicle... as
well as an imprint from some light weight 3" tube.
In the space between the attachment points and under the hoop there is nothing substantial to the bars either, so they provide no additional protection low mounted intercoolers/transmission coolers or the radiator.
Nudge bars IMHO, a waste of time.
Try not to drive into the night, slow down a bit and watch out for emus (miss one and another will jump in front of you).
20 years ago I hit a roo and obliterated the plastic bumper, so I put on a bull bar and haven't hit anything since.
I only have one now as it gives me somewhere to hang some lights and a winch and was cheaper than a replacement plastic bumper that got scuffed up.
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Reply By: Karl F - Monday, Jul 29, 2019 at 09:37
Monday, Jul 29, 2019 at 09:37
If you are going fit something make sure that it is designed to do the job - a nudge bar won't do much at all.
The old 'animal strikes only occur at night' is a myth also - they can and do occur at anytime of the day.
After having a driving licence for nearly thirty years and only ever hit a few suicidal birds I had two major animal strikes in on the same day within 5 km of each other back on the WA June long weekend this year.
The first was a kangaroo which I hit doing about 60 kph about 3:30pm and it survived but the second was a cow which hit about 20 mins later at approx. 80 kph and unfortunately it was very badly hurt and had to be put down.
The only damage I had from both strikes was a dented number plate. I have a ARB commercial bull bar (steel) with side rails fitted to my Navara D40 and if I didn't have that I would have suffered a hell of a lot more damage.
No one can predict the future and just because something hasn't happened in the past - it doesn't mean that it isn't going to happen in the future.
Karl
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