Could someone explain to me why we even have bumpers if none of them line up? I was behind a STOCK Dodge PowerWagon yesterday and I was looking at the guy’s rear differential. He was driving while yapping on his Nextel walkie-talkie phone and eating a Hardees ThickBurger, of course.
My new car, 2005 Mazda6s, was totaled last year because of a truck that was jacked up (again, stock from the factory.) His bumper sheared my engine block!!
So seriously, why even have bumpers?
A long time ago, people drove cars which were all about the same height. Therefore they had good crash compatibility.
Then, someone decided to take a piece of farm equipment and commute in it. Millions of other Americans joined in driving these trucks around on the highway. Unfortunately, these trucks were intended to have crash compatibility with tractors, not cars.
You discovered this the hard way with your 6, 6ix. I’ve heard the same thing from other people. One way that SUVs save their occupant is by submarining the cars they hit. Unfortunately at higher speeds it takes the heads off the car drivers too. But, who cares about other people right?
try diving a miata.
it’s hardly different than riding a motorcycle.
heads-up awareness at all times. you HAVE to learn to use the car’s agility to avoid accidents. judicious use of annoying driving lights are almost a prerequisite.
New cars really do not have the same type of bumper. Bumpers are years-gone-by devices for safety. Crumple zones are the current safety device. My WRX is a crumple zone thing while my Jacked up suburbam with 35s is an 8200 lb monster.
The only way to keep a light vehical safe from a heavy one is to have a sacrificial crumple area built into the car.
Simple 9th grade physics comes into play at this point. F=ma
the crumple zone is designed to absorb mass traveling at a designed impact velocity.
While I like the look of a traditional chrome bumper, I have come to grips that bumpers are now cosmetic for current generation cars. In 98 the Defender 90 was not allowed to be imported because the bumper height did not meet the new lower height requirement.
I bet 6ix would rather have no bumper height requirements than bumper restriction for designing new vehicals. It is definitely a catch 22. Safety vs design freedom. It still does not mean that a good looking design would be unsafe.
Brera is not currently planned for NA sale, but you
have to ask yourself where you would end up if you
rear-end another vehicle.
Not to pick on the Brera in particular, but the
‘door-stop’ configuration almost guarantees a submarine;
especially if a commercial vehicle is involved.
Moderator: we use bumpers here in Montreal and probably most other urban areas. When you have to parallel park everywhere you go, you will end up bumping another car eventually, especially with the snow.
According to Canadian law, a vehicle must withstand an impact of 8 km/h with no damage beyond scratched paint. It makes good sense!
thats a nifty idea
parking by braille.
my old '86 3 seiries had GREAT metal bumpers. i was hit sitting at a light at about 10-20 mph. not a scratch. the other car had a busted radiator, shredded front fascia and tweaked hood.
those old metal bumpers were great. growing up around detroit in the '80s my friends and i would go out in our second-hand american sedans from the 70’s and go play bumper tag. good, stupid fun. 
in the beginning, there were no ‘standards’ It wasn’t untill 73,74, that cars even had to withstand any kind of impact with minor damage. People have been driving trucks to town since the first truck was created. My fore fathers had a truck and a car, the car was used only to take the women to town. When these impact standards started, they bolted collapsable bumper mounts on the car. This worked for low speed impacts, but these mounts were bolted directly to the frame, and in a higher speed impact the frame was bent. 74 volkswagen karmann ghias have a big steel tube welded to the pan, in a wreck it totally destroys the pan, in the eariler version the body and bumpere were desrtoyed. which is better? any ways i thought you might like to know.
now this is what I call a bumper.
It’s actually a grill “protector”; for you know, deer, moose, and small locomotives …