Tests Aim To Make Sure Bull Bars, Airbags Mix
The Age
Thursday December 1, 1994
TOYOTA has released a new bull bar for its 80-Series LandCruiser along with a timely warning to owners to be careful about ``after-market" bars. While the argument over the compatibility of bull bars with airbags (and with kangaroos) continues, Toyota points out that the test must be whether a bull bar complies with Australian Design Rules as they stand today.
Governments and the industry are still talking through the question of new ADRs to set future standards for bull bars on both passenger cars and 4WD wagons and workhorses. On the one hand is a lobby that claims bull bars are dangerous to pedestrians and should be banned, certainly in urban areas, and on the other is the need for bull bars to protect against stock and wildlife.
The talks have been further complicated by the question of airbags. A new crash protection ADR that comes into force on 1 July next year virtually makes driver airbags compulsory on all new vehicles (although some will be able to meet the crash parameters without the bag). The problem has been that there was no existing research on how airbag-triggering mechanisms reacted when a bar was fitted.
The front sheet-metal reaction is a vital factor in the chain of instant triggering of a bag, but because few countries in the world fit bull bars as extensively as Australia, it opened a new can of worms. The only existing research was that done in Europe on the small ``nudge bars" - and they were mostly on smaller vehicles.
However, provisional results of the first Australian scientific tests are in the hands of federal and state road safety organisations. They show that properly engineered and fitted bars have little effect on the ``crash pulse" used to trigger the airbag in a local six-cylinder passenger car.
The research project was commissioned by the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association and done jointly by RMIT and Monash University. It used computer simulation of a 48 kmh frontal barrier impact, compared with the crash pulses from actual barrier tests of eight different cars in the same mass category.
The report said two test bars of different design had ``a very limited effect" because of the relatively soft mounts connecting the bars to the engine rails, but emphasised that proper design was all-important.
The AAAA's executive director, David Wright, said the association wanted to work closely with the authorities to define ``proper and workable standards" for the design and installation of after-market bars. ``These standards, if they are to work in the best interests and safety of all road users, need to be mandatory and enforceable," it said.
The four local car makers are busy doing their own testing - Holden has even built its own kangaroo crash dummy. However, tests on 4WDs are being done overseas, as all are imported, and so far only the Toyota Tarago and Toyota RAV-4 can claim an airbag-compatible bull bar or nudge bar; Rover Australia says the twin bags in its Land Rover Discovery are approved with the European nudge bar. An updated model of the Chrysler Jeep Cherokee, due in January, will have an airbag as standard.
Toyota is still doing its bull bar-airbag testing for LandCruiser in Japan, but has released the new polished-alloy bar, with full ADR compliance, in the meantime. It integrates turn signal and parking lamps, a CB radio aerial mounting plate and the Quick-Connect wiring harness to plug into existing wiring ports.
However, the company is concerned about after-market bars that don't comply with the ADRs, regardless of airbag compatibility. It has advised its dealers not to fit any after-market bull bar ``full bumper" replacement for the RAV-4, although they are available, because Toyota hasn't yet approved a specific kit.
There have been estimates that perhaps as many as 150 different sources are supplying bull bars to the Australian accessory and equipment market. The two biggest makers, Melbourne-based ARB and Brisbane's TJM, supply most of the factory-approved bars - although the new LandCruiser bar is from RallySpeed - and have their own laboratories and CAD-CAM computer equipment for research and development.
© 1994 The Age
