Prado vs Kangaroo

[OzDriver Member Find all posts View Profile Close OzDriver]

Any views from anyone on the higher quality alloy bull bars e.g. from ARB or TJM. Are they much lighter but still strong?

[GEEEXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close GEEEXL]

Any views from anyone on the higher quality alloy bull bars e.g. from ARB or TJM. Are they much lighter but still strong?

not very strong IMHO

have bent plenty just nosing dead rotted stumps out the ground

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Bull bars are mounted to crumple zones so hit anything the first thing it does is careen into the lights bonnet and chassis.

Still repairable but hardly call it a scratch


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[GEEEXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close GEEEXL]

Bull bars are mounted to crumple zones so hit anything the first thing it does is careen into the lights bonnet and chassis.

Still repairable but hardly call it a scratch


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SPOT on

hence my earlier quips

[Bobcrusader Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bobcrusader]

Surely a crumple zone should crumple when hitting something with the momentum equivalent to a car or a telephone pole, not a kangaroo.

[Borec Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Borec]

As mentioned previously, we are compering Prado with and without a bar. There are laws of physics, the energy that is released when you hit something has to go somewhere, or rather the momentum is absorbed by something. So if the object you hit is heavy enough, it might not damage the bar visually, but the energy is transferred to the frame, and is absorbed by it, and might do damage which is not obviously visible. Your chassis might be slightly out of whack, some bolts somewhere might be cracked or bend, who knows. Some of the energy is absorbed by the kangaroo, when it hits hard bar lots of energy is lost by the deformation of the kangaroo rather then to the deformation of the bar. If you hit a kangaroo without a bar, the transfer of energy is more gradual (and less energy is used to deform the kangaroo) and you might have more damage on the car, but you might not get broken neck (it it is big kangaroo). Anyway, I might be talking lots of bullshit here, translate it anyway you want. but I still prefer a steel bar, to no bar. I remember driving a falcon from Lanceston to Strahan taking the inland route (A10), setting out from Lanceston just after diner, thinking that it will take about 4 hours. I wish I had a bull bar then, it took me about 10 hours, as I had to go at about 30-40 km/h due to the wildlife jumping out from everywhere every couple of minutes. Fortunately the critters there are not large, I still ran over about four possums, and had to stop for several wallabies and wombats. Had I had a bullbar I would be travelling with less stress, and probably little faster. I would definitely not travel after dark in Tassie again, without a good bar.

[Guest Close Guest]

Lots of interesting comments.
I've hit dozens of Roos over the years. I've replaced an alloy bar once when I clipped one on a wing.
My current ARB bar has had a few hits now. Yet to bend it yet to have an airbag go off yet to have a crumple zone go in, or any panel or bonnet damage.

I'd much prefer to be driving with a bar than not.

[carco Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close carco]

Recently did 1400 odd k's back from Mount Isa, all at night. The wildlife has too be seen to be believed. The old girl had a cracked head so we were speed limited to 70-80kph. We're so slow most animals wandered off the road but there's always the crazy that turns and runs down the middle of the road. Hit a fair sized roo previously which ended up over the roof, wrote that car off and it was only at 60kph. If driving at night, I think you have to go slow. You're not holding anyone up and when lights show in the mirrors, I just back off and wander out with the guide posts, plenty of room out there leaving the road clear for a triple road train to overtake. 110 at night is for the freeways.

[150gxl Member Find all posts View Profile Close 150gxl]

Any views from anyone on the higher quality alloy bull bars e.g. from ARB or TJM. Are they much lighter but still strong?

IMHO, The best quality alloy Bar is the Redcliffe produced East Coast Bullbar -ECB - Big Tube Bar.
I cannot vouch for the TJM and ARB (Chinese?) bars but have had five ECBs over the last thirty years.
Well built, heavy gauge components, beautiful welds, stiffeners, lower protection plates for underside, well ventilated for engine cooling. I have no association with these people, just love the product.

As well as giving a level of protection against animal strikes, there are many strikes on the bars by stones that would otherwise have hit lights or grille/radiator, windscreen, whatever - but didn't because of the Bar. There has been the blood of various birds to prove diversion of these potentially damageous, immobilising strikes.

Weighing up the prospects of Bar or no Bar, for me, is weighing up the chance of receiving a cursory glance vs being isolated. When outback, I don't want myself or my family, to be isolated.

Having a Bar is Not a failsafe guarantee - but it may just move the odds in Your favour.

[Bobcrusader Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bobcrusader]

I would definitely not travel after dark in Tassie again, without a good bar.

Some Tassie roads now have speed limits specific to the danger times to reduce the risk.

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Surely a crumple zone should crumple when hitting something with the momentum equivalent to a car or a telephone pole, not a kangaroo.

They move if you pull on them with a few blokes, you won't write your car off with a steel bar and side rails, but you will have more than just a scratch to show for it. It will cost thousands to make new again. But you won't be walking home at least.

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

As mentioned previously, we are compering Prado with and without a bar. There are laws of physics, the energy that is released when you hit something has to go somewhere, or rather the momentum is absorbed by something. So if the object you hit is heavy enough, it might not damage the bar visually, but the energy is transferred to the frame, and is absorbed by it, and might do damage which is not obviously visible. Your chassis might be slightly out of whack, some bolts somewhere might be cracked or bend, who knows. Some of the energy is absorbed by the kangaroo, when it hits hard bar lots of energy is lost by the deformation of the kangaroo rather then to the deformation of the bar. If you hit a kangaroo without a bar, the transfer of energy is more gradual (and less energy is used to deform the kangaroo) and you might have more damage on the car, but you might not get broken neck (it it is big kangaroo). Anyway, I might be talking lots of bullshit here, translate it anyway you want. but I still prefer a steel bar, to no bar. I remember driving a falcon from Lanceston to Strahan taking the inland route (A10), setting out from Lanceston just after diner, thinking that it will take about 4 hours. I wish I had a bull bar then, it took me about 10 hours, as I had to go at about 30-40 km/h due to the wildlife jumping out from everywhere every couple of minutes. Fortunately the critters there are not large, I still ran over about four possums, and had to stop for several wallabies and wombats. Had I had a bullbar I would be travelling with less stress, and probably little faster. I would definitely not travel after dark in Tassie again, without a good bar.

We have straightened bull bars that moved back 20mm from touch parking with three big blokes so regardless of the bullbar it is designed to move backwards so the airbad and associated SRS systems sensors operated exactly correctly.


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[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Bull bar bending 20mm from 'touch' parking? Steel or aluminium bar?

If steel, don't think so, and the steel bars are not the type of steel that would be easy to bend back 20mm by hand with three big blokes.

We have hit several roos, at speed. No significant bend of the bar, no airbag activation. I think you are talking about a far more significant impact than what this thread is about.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Having a side bar like in the photo partly by-passes the crumple zone by transferring load further down the chassis.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

This is a really interesting discussion. Intuitively most of us would back a big old fashioned lump of steel against a lighter collapsing steel structure. When it comes to saving lives physics doesn't work like that. Old fashion solid heavy steel three tonne car with a 2m bonnet vs modern two tonne light weight construction car with a 1m bonnet, who wins in a head on collision?

Have a look at this video;

http://www.youtube.com/embed/C_r5UJrxcck

I doubt that any of the bull bar manufacturers conduct crash tests to get approval, it wouldn't be viable writing off brand new Prados, Troopies etc. So they just attach the bullbar to the crumple zone. This does change the way energy is transferred in a collision.

Not necessarily a bad thing for animal strikes in the country, but it does change the way the crash protection system works. The crumple zone exists to transfer energy into the vehicles structure and away from the human occupants, and changing how it works has consequences.