Bumpers on today's cars include a plastic cover over a reinforcement bar plus energy-absorbing material to reduce vehicle damage in lowspeed collisions. But lots of expensive-to-repair damage still occurs.
Why are bumpers important?
For every 100 insured passenger vehicles up to 3 years old, about 7 claims are paid each year for damage, costing an average of $3,721 per claim. The average recent model incurs crash damage of about $350 per year to repair, totaling $16-18 billion per year for an estimated 47 million vehicles. Better bumpers can lower these costs as well as consumers' out-of-pocket expenses.
What's required? Is it enough?
The federal government sets minimum performance requirements for car bumpers and specifies a height range to increase the likelihood that the bumpers will line up and engage in crashes, but these requirements don't apply to SUVs, pickups, or vans. Plus the car bumper tests are conducted at such slow speeds (2.5 mph) that many bumpers aren't effective in real crashes.
Is it okay to exclude vehicles other than cars?
Excluding SUVs, pickups, and vans from federal bumper requirements means some of these vehicles don't have any bumpers at all. Most pickups and SUVs do have bumpers, but their heights often vary from those on cars. This means bumpers often are mismatched in collisions (see Status Report, Sept. 13, 2004; on the web at iihs.org). The result is extensive damage that's costly to repair.
What improvements are needed?
The size and location of bumpers should be such that they engage those on colliding vehicles. Bumpers should have sufficient energy-absorbing capabilities to confine damage to the bumper system itself. Beyond these basic attributes, bumpers should extend to the corners of vehicles to protect lights and fenders. They should be outset from the sheet metal they're intended to protect, leaving space to absorb energy. Bumpers also should be designed so they're relatively inexpensive to repair or replace. For answers to 10 questions about bumpers, go to iihs.org/research.
