Are genuine dealer-fitted bullbars bullshit?
QUESTION
Hi John,
In regards to your recent YouTube video Load of Bullbar, at the risk of me being crowned King Stroker, I would like to politely challenge your assertions that bullbars are essentially bad.
Directly from Toyotas website:
"The bull bar has been designed with Toyota vehicle engineers to integrate with Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) and maximise occupant safety. "
If this statement is true and correct, one could assume the Toyota engineers have considered the potential safety impacts by fitting the said accessory. Perhaps a more nuanced response to the question, ‘should I fit a bullbar to my vehicle?’ is if you feel you must fit a bullbar, stick to genuine, manufacturer supplied and fitted accessories only.
If your vehicle manufacturer does not offer a genuine bullbar then one should assume they are not suitable to be fitted to that particular vehicle.
I have observed NSW Ambulance Service fitting poly Smartbars to Three Prong van ambulances for several years now; one would hope a suitably qualified bureaucrat made this purchase decision in an informed manner.
If these bolton accessories are designed to be part of the vehicle "safety system" then I can see justification in their fitment.
Keep stroking, dude.
kind regards,
Justin
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ANSWER
Justin,
Last time I looked, Toyota bullbars were just white-label ARB bullbars. The Toyota product planner (an engineer) would have signed off on it. So the statement is objectively true.
But it is also just a paragraph of marketing waffle. You get that, right?
Toyota, of course, is the company recently found guilty of lying to 250,000+ consumers. So there’s that. There’s actually a real art in making misrepresentative sounding statements that are defensible in court, and your quote is one of them. (Most of Toyota’s website that doesn’t just quote the specs is pretty much that. They really are good at it, but other carmakers aren’t far behind.)
TSS has nothing to do with airbags, crumple zones and crash survival - it’s the safety assistance features like lane-keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control. Did you even consider doing basic research before your confirmation bias kicked in? The statement basically says: ’The bullbar doesn’t affect the function of the adaptive cruise or the auto headlamps, etc.'
What this does not say outright: ‘We’ve conducted extensive independent vehicle-bullbar crash testing to ensure maximised occupant protection greater than that of the original vehicle.’ Where is the evidence to highlight a 10 per cent improvement in adult occupant load reduction, or something?
You can’t actually bolt a bullbar to a vehicle and make it safer, without completely recalibrating the crash survival system, inclusive of a full crash test program. They clearly have not done this. (Because if they had, they would scream it from the rafters. It’s also apparent because they’d have to be built two different ways ex-factory, and this would impact the ordering process…)
Unfortunately, you have to understand physics and production logistics to get this. Most people don’t, or they choose not to, especially the ones who really want to love bullbars, etc.
Poly bullbars on ambulances probably protect the panels from minor scrapes at low speeds, which would be a salient factor of their operation. This kind of bar would be basically transparent in a serious crash.
Certainly you would be in the running for King Stroker, but unfortunately your overall literacy is a bit too high. You’re also a bit too diplomatic, too seflf-aware, and not nearly well enough acquainted with Dunning-Kruger.
Oh well…
JC
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