Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrinkledpants
Your car is designed to crush around you. To be DOT compliant, your factory front bumper has to take a low-speed hit and not activate the airbags.
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I think you're giving Ford too much credit on the design of these.. Also keep in mind as vans are trucks, they are exempt from many 'passenger car' regulations... not sure if this specifically applies here though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrinkledpants
If you have an aftermarket front bumper that is bolted directly to the frame and substantially stronger, those small forces are going to be transferred right to the chassis with much less "crushing."
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As far as I know, all the aftermarket front bumpers mount in the exact same place as the stock bumpers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrinkledpants
That means smaller impacts that would normally result in front end damage, but no airbag deployment may, in fact, trigger the airbags but not have front end damage.
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Certainly possible, but we're talking safety, so more airbag deployment is better than less deployment IMHO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrinkledpants
A bumper like AEV or ARB that uses the factory crush cans will negate this in a low-speed crash, but you're still drastically changing the crash forces and how the car crumples during an accident.
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Again, they all use the frame crush zone, so far as I know.. And the stock Ford bumper doesn't have much space to give, so I think drastic changes are unlikely.
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