Slopes forward (unless it’s following the contour of the vehicle).Is more than 100mm wider than the vehicle on either side.Is excessively rigid or strong for the purpose.Warrant of Fitness inspectors can refuse to issue a Warrant of Fitness if, in their opinion, a bull bar: If you solely use your vehicle off-road then only consider using a bull bar if your speeds are low and the bull bar will help prevent you getting stuck or damaging your vehicle. The safest option is to not fit a bull bar or nudge bar if you are using your vehicle on a road. They often used on light commercial vehicles that are used in difficult situations, such as utes for building sites or used in forestry work. Nudge bars are small bull bars – usually a single, low-mounted loop of tubular steel (see the image of the red Hilux below). While they are a lower risk to pedestrians, they’re still more risk than no bull bars at all because the bar creates a single focused point of impact for the pedestrian rather than a flatter impact surface that spreads the force, and this gives more risk of injury. These bull bars are not as rigid as steel, but do provide good protection in low-speed knocks. There is a risk that if you fit them to your vehicle that you may have to remove them some time in the future. It is the strongest type of bull bar, but tubular steel with no deformable padding is unyielding and can cause serious injuries to pedestrians. Replacing triggered air bags is expensive. Air bag deployment at low speed can cause injuries. They can either cause the air bags to be delayed in triggering, or can cause the air bags to be deployed in a low speed accident when they wouldn’t have usually triggered. ones not fitted by the original manufacturer) can reduce the effectiveness of air bags. This is particularly dangerous in side impactsĪftermarket bull bars (i.e. It means that more of the energy of the impact could be transferred to the occupants rather than be absorbed by the structure of the vehicle.īull bars create more damage on the other vehicle. Modern cars are designed to crumple to protect pedestrians in an impact, but bull bars don’t crumple and they can cause much more serious injuries for pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists.Īs the bull bar is fixed to the chassis, rather than using the vehicle’s crumple zones in an accident, all the force is taken through the bar and chassis which means that the impact of the accident is not absorbed effectively. They can also provide added protection low down by including a skid plate at the front to help protect the radiator and other engine components, and to help stop the vehicle becoming wedged on a difficult approach angle. Bull bars can provide a better visual reference to where the corner of your vehicle is, too, as many modern vehicles have sloping contours that make it difficult to judge where the corners are.įor vehicles used off-road they are useful for protecting against scrapes and panel damage, provide a mounting point for additional lights and features such as a winch or CB aerial, and can be used as high-lift jacking points. They can also work well if you hit a large animal such as a cow or deer. When do bull bars work well?īull bars are excellent in low-speed crashes in that it can prevent panel damage to your vehicle – the kinds of speeds are manoeuvring speeds, not much more than walking speed, for example when you are parking. The bull bars in Australia are designed to stop large animals hitting the windscreen, but they endanger passengers in other ways: they reduce the effectiveness of crumple zones and they can interfere with the operation of air bags. Our main risk in New Zealand is deer and the problem with the height of deer is that when you hit one with a car the body of the deer tends to hit the windscreen, putting the passengers at risk. From wombats to kangaroos to cattle, hitting one of them at speed can cause significant damage to your vehicle. Australia is full of large animals that often roam free on the roads. Recently there have been changes in the laws over in New South Wales because bull bar manufacturers were producing mammoth constructions like the one you see above. If you’re thinking about installing a bull bar (or bullbar) on your car, SUV or ute in New Zealand there are some rules to consider. This image, from, shows bull bars taken to the extreme, Mad Max-style
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