Agreed LARRYG36 – arrangements have to be fit for the actual purpose of the vehicle in its environment.
In this faraway part of the world, most modern 4WD’s and SUV’s are used as family wagons riding on 19inch or 20inch wheels with licorice straps for tyres and travel on sealed roads to work, supermarket, gym, school, family trips, etc. All good, if that is the purpose of the vehicle.
Some 4WD/SUV’s are used for ‘trailing’, or ‘off-roading’ as we would call it. Then the idea is to be prepared to ‘recover’ from trouble or at least have the good manners to have the fittings and equipment so that others can help without putting themselves at risk. So recovery points become important, along with basic recovery equipment such as snatch-straps, bridles, shackles, jacks, tow-ropes, air compressor, basic tools, basic spares, mobile phone, maybe satphone, PLB, etc.
Then add fit-for-purpose protection such as at least the right wheels and tyres -- and a Front Bar which must be airbag-compliant to satisfy the law, protect the family and consider the unpleasant task of rescue personnel in the case of a very bad accident involving lots of trauma.
Then if thought necessary, add snorkel if deep water is likely, plus winch, underbody plates, sliders, diff locks and whatever else is needed if tough duty is involved cross-country or on trails or off-road.
In Australia (about the same geographical size as all of continental USA, but population only a little more than half of California) there is a lot of main road, meaning a lot of distance between towns in this very spread-out, relatively dry continent. There are plenty of wandering wildlife (kangaroos, emus, wallabies, wombats, wild camels, wild horses, wild pigs and smaller animals) and often grazing stock (mainly cattle, sheep, goats plus others) may be found near roads.
So at some stage or other, most people driving in rural areas here will have an ‘animal strike’, especially if driving at night, even more so around dusk and dawn. The idea of the Front Bar, sometimes called a Bull Bar or a Roo Bar (short for Kangaroo) is that after hitting an animal, hopefully all survive and the vehicle can be driven to the next town, maybe a few hundred kilometres away. Some crumpling of parts of the Front Bar is OK – such as at the shock-absorbing ‘concertina section’ of the mount on the chassis rails which is all part of the design.
Colliding with a kangaroo is very common (could be 40-50kg or 88 to 110 pounds in weight but mostly smaller) and even at only 80 kilometres per hour (say 50 miles per hour) can easily disable an unprotected vehicle, by some or all of pushing the fan and radiator into the engine, rupturing the cooling system, possibly disabling electrical and fuel connections as well. The airbags may deploy. In the worst case, the animal also may tumble on to the bonnet and go through the windscreen with obvious consequences.
A vehicle protected by a reputable well-designed and fitted air-bag compliant Front Bar usually still will be driveable after hitting a small or mid-size animal. Hitting a fully grown steer (around 1,000kg or about a 1 tonne) or a camel or a horse (around ½ ton) at any speed is like driving into a brick wall. The Front Bar will help, but it certainly won’t save the vehicle and it is highly unlikely that the vehicle can be driven after the event. Hopefully the driver and passengers will survive if the airbags deploy correctly and seatbelts are in use. The worst case scenario is the large animal going over the top of the vehicle.
Where are such risks found? Certainly in inland Australia. I have also hit kangaroos 20 kilometres (say 13 miles) from my home in Brisbane, a State capital city on the East Coast of Australia. Each time, I was very happy that the ARB Deluxe Bar deflected the animal without significant damage to the vehicle. The airbags did not deploy. If they were available for HDJ100R/IFS, I would use a polymer “Smart Bar” – maybe when I graduate to a “200 series” --
SmartBar Bull Bars - Australian Made, Lightweight and Tough
This video provides good vision of an ‘animal strike’ with a medium size animal. Happily, the vehicle, the occupants and the animal all survive …..
Another story ….
The day a bullbar saved my life - Unsealed 4X4
