Bumper questions from a newbie
11-02-2013, 08:39 PM
#1
JK Newbie
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Location: Duluth, MN
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Bumper questions from a newbie
Greetings all. I just (last Tuesday) traded up to a '14 Wrangler Sport from my beater TJ with about 200K on the clock and rust holes big enough to throw a cat through. Couldn't be happier, by far the nicest and newest thing I've ever owned. And with all the venison on the roads here abouts, an aftermarket bumper with grill gaurd is going to be my first investment to keep it looking that way. So here is my question: From what I've read, replacing the stock bumper with an aftermarket sans crush cans has the potential to permit the airbag to deploy in low speed collisions where it otherwise may not with the stock configuration. Having had an airbag go off in my face (not fun, managed to fracture my wrist on my own nose, breaking the nose of course in the process) I'd rather not have this happen. Baring the pricey option of the AEV with cans, I was thinking maybe there is some other way to engineer a bit of "give" into the system? Some years back I was considering bolting a couple heavy-duty rubber loading dock bumpers on the push bumper of my 1 ton. At the time I was only thinking it would be handy for moving vehicles around with out doing too much damage, but couldn't this also work to soften low speed impacts and prevent the airbag from deploying? Any thoughts?
11-03-2013, 03:26 AM
#3
JK Junkie
Welcome and congrats on the new rig!
The air bags are triggered by several accelerometers within the cab of the Jeep. They measure speed, angle, g-force, etc.
If loosing the crush cans is a concern to you AEV and MOPAR bumpers have provisions to maintain them.
The air bags are triggered by several accelerometers within the cab of the Jeep. They measure speed, angle, g-force, etc.
If loosing the crush cans is a concern to you AEV and MOPAR bumpers have provisions to maintain them.
11-03-2013, 08:28 AM
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JK Newbie
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Thanks for the welcome! The way I understand it the cans have nothing whatsoever to do with actual airbag deployment, that being controlled by the accelerometers, however they do reduce low speed impact forces, thus these forces never reach the accelerometers and the airbag does not go off in a six mph collision when it is not needed. Seems to me that the rubber pads mounted on semi loading docks are designed to do the same thing and may be a cheaper way to retrofit an aftermarket bumper for a bit of added peace of mind
