What kind of bumper protection do you use? (US)

[Mihls]

I got my first Subie Forester, 2013, 80 k mileage.
My question for you off-roaders is, how do you protect your bumpers both from brush/ wildlife and city parking? Front and back?

On my previous car, a Nissan Pathfinder, I had a bullbar and a hitch in the back, that saved the car from one unfortunate deer and countless clumsy city drivers.
But I have been told I can not put a bull bar on the Forester as that can interfere with the crumble crash capacity as well as airbag functions?
There's got to be a solution to this!

Someone mentioned a plastic bumper protection 3M sticker from Subaru, hmm

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What's your take on this?

 

[Kevin]

G'day & Welcome over here too @Mihis

As discussed elsewhere it is a shame that SubaXtreme bars aren't available in North America and in my face-to-face discussions with them late last year they have no intent of changing that situation any time soon. I have SubaXtreme bars front and rear.

 

[Mihls]

Yeah, right now I wish I resided over there.
As you said they have no intention of changing that anytime soon here. In the discussions on Subaruforums in the States, there have been several opinions re: that bullbars would interfere with the crash crumble function of the car and airbag sensors. See quotes from the Forum below. What's your opinion on that?
All I know is that a bullbar saved both me and my car when hitting a deer in a mountain area where I spend a lot of time. Plus abuse from clumsy drivers. But that was on a Nissan truck with, it has been pointed out, a different frame.
I'm just trying to figure this out.

from Subaruforum
Foresters don't have ladder frames like trucks so bull bars may not be as effective because the attachment points aren't as robust. The full-length frames also help dissipate the energy over a larger area. Bullbars sold in Australia are claimed to be compatible with airbag sensors, so it seems doable. Imho, the greater concern is what effect they have on how the car crumples in a collision. I doubt any bullbars have been crash tested to find out due to the cost. If there is no crumple zone then the occupants are the ones that absorb the energy.
There is a huge market for bullbars down here and they have to meet the "Australian Design Rules". SubaXtreme bars are airbag compliant.
"It would likely be easier to comply with the airbag requirement. Bullbars are more likely to trigger their deployment by transmitting more of the energy into the body so I'm guessing they need to build some 'give' into the design, but engineering them to crumple at similar rates as the body would be much harder. Plus if they were to collapse like that then what exactly is gained by having them?

 

[Kevin]

Someone on one of the forums has a signature that I rather like and goes something like this "You can believe everything you read on the internet - Winston Churchill" (could substitute Abraham Lincoln)

Bullbars here do have to comply with Australian Design Rules so that is good enough for me. With that said, the security I seek by having bullbars on both my vehicles is to protect the radiator from animal strikes as without that the vehicle is going nowhere and that could be a major issue in outback Australia. On my ute, which does have a ladder frame, I hit a very large emu at 80klm/hr and that shifted the RH side of the bar back on its mounts about half an inch. If the bar had not been there I would've most likely lost a headlight and fog light.

Third Edition Australian Design Rules

The Third Edition Australian Design Rules (ADRs) are national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft and emissions. The standards apply to vehicles newly manufactured in Australia or imported as new or second hand vehicles, and supplied to the Australian market. For vehicles manufactured up...

www.infrastructure.gov.au

I had a nudge bar on my '97 Outback and it did not interfere with airbag deployment in a frontal collision.

 

[Mihls]

Yeah, I hear you. Good to know about your Outback. I can imagine this is even more important protection in AUS.
Here in the States, it's both urban and rural creatures you've got to worry about.

This looks similar to SubarXtreme's nudge bar, at least in design, probably not quality. Is it something similar you have on your Outback?

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Thanks!

 

[Kevin]

This looks similar to SubarXtreme's nudge bar,

Yes, it looks similar to the current bars. I think the one on the Outback was called a "Sports Bar" as it was a bit more than a nudge bar but not a full bullbar:



Unfortunately it could not protect me from an idiot that turned in front of me at a set of lights and I T-boned them - note the airbag behind the windscreen.

 

[Mihls]

Wow! That's when the picture tells it all. Hopefully, the airbag helped you...
In my case, it looks like bull/nudge bars might work mostly at protecting the car from wildlife incidents and idiot fellow parkers.
I don't know why they claim that in a large impact they would hamper the car from crumbling. At least in the Forester -13 from what I have heard, it is not possible to attach the Nudge Bar to the car in that way, the attachment points aren't as robust. But hopefully strong enough for other kinds of protection. I'm getting them.

 

[Kevin]

The airbag didn't hit me other than my wrists but my son in the passenger seat got a fat lip. Subaru did reduce the inflation intensity by 50% (I think) for this sort of damage as many people were getting hurt by the airbags unnecessarily. BTW the Outback was written off when it was discovered that damage went as far back as the firewall. I then got the Forester to replace it.

 

[Cereal_killer]

Hello, first post here. Here’s my front bumper setup. It’s taken several hard impacts (trees, rocks, dirt embankments, no animals or other vehicles yet thankfully)

 

[Raven73]

Cereal_killer
How did you go about attaching your winch? and have you use it to pull your self out?

 

[Cereal_killer]

There’s a steel plate welded on top of the factory crash bar then the winch mount plate (included with the winch) is bolted & welded to that.


I’ve not yet had to use it to pull myself out of a hole or somewhere I was stuck but I have used it to winch myself up a couple rock steps on a steep trail back when I was babying the clutch before I decided it was time to go ahead and do it anyway.

 

[scalman]

Nothing will protect bumper if you will hang on it. If not then its just for looks. Dont see any practical usage of something like that its just extra weight

 

[Royoutdoors]

I’m in Colorado, 1st deer broke a lot of things!
Built my own deer thumper, bolts to factory bumper mounts. 2nd deer didn’t make it!
No damage to Subi.

 

[Royoutdoors]

A couple more pictures.
2x2” square tube,1x2” tube both 3/16” wall for mount.
1/4” plate & 1/4” wall pipe for the rest