Cargo barriers - yay or nay?

The drinks thing is the worst bit lol. But compared to saving a life?????????......Answered in one second. Oh and then theres the bit about being able to fill the back up and bolting stuff to the barrier. Other downer is rear vision but mine goes in or out without any spanners in a couple of minutes. BTW mounting kit for mine was $75 and then install was $100.(i got mine off ebay for $30)

YAY..absolutely...safety for you and your passengers...put in a reversing camera and then you can 'fill it to the roof'

Its a no brainer - you carry a heap of stuff in the back, and it could hit your head real hard if you get into trouble. Shove a few drinks into an insulated bag and stick them on the floor behind the front seats.

Definitely yay!
Max

Mate, there is no question, if you pack a bit in the back of the cruiser then save your neck or a passengers and buy the barrier. It takes very little to turn something into a lethal missile in a accident or hard braking situation.

I'll be different and say no.
It stops you getting to your cold brews easily, it opens an opportunity to lock you out of the boot where you keep recovery gear and tools, and it can be a pain on the head the passenger in the middle back row seat.

Find a way of securing your stuff to the car and you're sorted. Got a fridge slide? you're half way there. True, you cant load up to the roofline safely without one, but I seem to recall a need for rear visibility when offroading and driving (was that rule of being able to see out the back window a rumor or law?) and thats what I got a roofrack for anyway.

Like most of the others above, I reckon you should have one. I take my two kids with me as often as I can and reckon the slight inconvinience of no direct access to the rear at times is more than worth the extra safety.

One thing others haven't mentioned is the rollover protection it adds to the vehicle. I have seen a cruiser after it rolls and reckon the cargo barrier acts like a rollbar, right where my kids are! By the very nature of 4WDriving, we place our vehicles in arguably more precarious situations than normal, thus I want better protection than "normal", particularly for my kids.

Is getting a can from the engels while driving more important than the added protection of a rollbar? The choice is yours!

Cheers

Captain

they should be compulsory!

We had an 80 series on a trip and it rolled down a hill for about 100 meters in the Vic High Country, the cargo barrier was the only thing that saved them from serious injury. It acted like a roll cage and prevented the roof from completely collapsing.

A member who was on the trip did not have one but by Tuesday the following week had one installed.

After seeing the advantage of having one first hand, IMO it is the best safety item you can have on a 4WD.

Cheers

Really,
Why do you need to ask other people what you should do??
UNBELIEVABLE

Thanks all.
I originally wasn't keen, but it seems I'd be mad not to in light of all that advice, so I have told the guy I'll take it.
Thanks again.

Not for everyone, be careful if you own a 100s LC or a 4runner/surf or any vehicle where things can get jammed up against the back door and prevent you from being able to open the back door and access ya gear. Not being able to get drinks out while driving along may be an inconveinence but not being able to get to your water or food or sleeping gear or recovery gear could be just as life threataning as being in a car accident.

A) If you secure your load correctly that's the main concern taken care of.
B) There are other ways around the problem such as my home made storage box that leave only a small gap at the top (enough to slide through on your belly if you needed to, but not enough for any of my large plastic tubs to get through).

I mean it may be perfect for you, and they are good, however they are not the ONLY solution as some people try to dictate on here. They also can be dangerous in certain situations too.

And as far as all the hype about roll overs goes, when I was a kid and we lived up north our family was in a roll over in our 1982 Jackeroo. It rolled over 2.5 times at 80km/hr half way between Port Headland and Marble Bar and there was NO cargo barrier, however there was a large esky and a heavy ply tucker box and there were no serious injuries, plus we had to evacuate the car via the back (as it was on it's side and the gutters had bent over the doors). If there was a cargo barrier in the car it would have prevented us from getting out so easily.

Scotty,

A full tissue box on the parcel shelf hitting you in the back of the head in a 100kmh crash will almost probably kill you, and if it doesn't will probably leave you in a wheel chair.

A Melway or Sydway sitting on the parcel shelf will come forward and do the same at about 60kmh.

A tool box will take your head clean off your shoulders.

Go with the cargo barrier. You are a very long time dead. Spending the rest of your life in a wheel chair as a quad may however feel longer.

Fact: The handle of a club lock will fit into your eye socket in a roll over...
(Happy ending - they found the guys eyeball down inside his cheek still attached to its bits and pieces and he regained some sight in it later....)

Dave
(Paramedic)

PS How many of you have a street directory in the back at head height in the Commodore/Falcon or similar??

PPS Where's your 8kg or so of recovery gear??