For a subset of pickup or SUV owners, beefing up their ride to look like an apocalypse-proof vehicle is near or at the top of their to-do lists. This often also includes fitting the front end of their vehicle with a bullbar.
Is this really a good idea, though? If the testing protocols of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) are any indication, the answer might be no.
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According to the vehicle safety organization, fitting a vehicle with a bullbar may compromise some of its advanced safety systems. This makes sense, considering the front of a modern pickup or an SUV is home to various sensors and cameras that might be vital to features like autonomous emergency braking.
What’s more, fitting a bullbar to your vehicle might also hurt its crash performance and be dangerous for other road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.
“The fitting of incompatible bullbars can have an adverse effect on the crash performance (occupant protection) provided by a vehicle, as well as interfere with the safe and effective operation of collision avoidance systems and sensors,” ANCAP says on its website.
“As part of the ANCAP rating, a vehicle must provide protection to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users that may be struck by the vehicle. ANCAP’s testing protocols for pedestrian impacts are not designed to assess impacts with bullbars or other frontal protection devices. The fitting of a bullbar may degrade performance in the case of a collision with a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorcyclist.”
If you really must install a bullbar, ANCAP says you shouldn’t interfere with any existing safety systems, and that modifications must meet local regulations. Any reputable aftermarket supplier should be able to advise you on a component’s compatibility with a unit’s safety features.
So, yay or nay on bullbars? Chime in.
