Bring back real old fashioned bumpers?

I wish one of the car manufacturers,( preferably Toyota? ), would bring back good old fashioned bumpers, like I heard they used to have on the first cars years ago.

The bumpers now are just ornamental and the slightest tap causes monetary damage.

Didn't the old fashioned bumpers on the first cars, have a real bumper sticking out on springs, with rubber on the outside of it, or something like that?

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At least I'm envisioning a plate bumper on heavy springs, with maybe a

1" thick rubber pad on the outside? Front and back?

Something that could actually keep one car from hitting another and causing significant damage?

I accidentally rolled forward a little, behind another car yesterday, and heard this little tapping sound. It was just enough to alert the other driver that I had tapped her car too. She got out, I said; oops, sorry, waved at her. She looked at her car which was ok, said ok, and drove off.

Then last night, my passenger side low beam didn't work. I figured it might just be a bulb, hadn't replaced one in years, so I bought a pair at Checker last night.

Then I looked at it today and the passenger side headlight is pushed in about half an inch on the driver ( inside ) end. ( my 93 Corolla DX )

I popped the hood just now and tried pushing it back out from inside, but couldnt.

Jeez, is this gonna cost me hundreds now to get it fixed, or can I do it myself maybe?

Bring back real bumpers Toyota!

Just think, we all might get lower insurance rates too, if a tiny tap didn't cause hundreds in damage because of these nice looking, but non- functional bumpers.

Reply to
Sarah Houston
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The problem with spring-mounted metal bumpers is that they are pretty heavy, which has a negative effect on fuel economy, and the style may not quite fit in with modern vehicles.

Unfortunately, even a heavy duty bumper would not help if the vehicle you hit has a higher bumper that contacts your car above the bumper.

Reply to
Ray O

I'd sacrifice FIVE mpg for strong, sprung steel bumpers with rubber impact points..like I had in my 1974 Dodge Challenger.

Reply to
Sharx35

Time for YouTube body repair videos? Some of them show where to push, where any hidden snaps or releases are located, etc. You may have to remove the whole bumper, which can actually be pretty simple.

Reply to
larry moe 'n curly

Rays right. I was rear ended by a big truck recently and it nearly took the roof of the car off. The car had an impact bumber that didn't help at all. My '94 4runner has chrome bumpers all around. Compared to a recently made SUV, it looks better, but I doubt if it is any safer because of the heavy bumpers. However, combined with the rather heavy tailgate and higher suspension, it will resist the kind of accident I had better than the station wagon had. Nevertheless, if you are interested in safety, keep your speed below the speed limit, let all the hard-ons out there pass you, and don't follow anyone closely.

Reply to
Windsurfer

Hmmm....everyone here is missing the point. The point of a bumper isn't to present a rigid impact point and "save" the car, at least not any longer. Bumpers are used now to make sure all vehicles on the road meet at the same height. Well, that's the theory, but trucks are exempt, and SUVs are trucks and don't have bumper height requirements.

Studies over the years found that having a rigid point caused more injury and deaths. Ever wonder why an Indycar crumples on impact? The whole car, except for the cockpit is dispersing energy. Race car engineers found that rather than make the car rigid, making it 'crushable' saved the drivers. This was handed off to the auto industry and adopted by carmakers. Prior to this, occupants of the car would be tossed around more, and more stress put on the seatbelt to hold the person to the seat put more strain on the person, also causing injury.

And there really is a hefty piece of steel behind that plastic. I don't know if they're still mounted with 'shock absorbers', but the point is to save the occupants at the cost of the sheet metal.

Reply to
hachiroku

Some years ago, I seem to recall a bumper filled with water, with plugs along the top which popped when the bumper struck something hard. As I remember, they were made for passenger cars (or taxicabs perhaps). Anyone remember these and what ever happened to them?

Reply to
mack

I still see them on buses. I saw one go one time, and there's a video on the web somewhere. It's NEAT! They put the plugs on the top of the bumper, and when the bus (or taxi) hits something the plugs fly out and water shoots up in the air. The one I saw blew the water well over the top of the bus, probably 20 feet or so.

Wonder why they didn't put the plugs on the bottom...

Reply to
hachiroku

Should be obvious...

Reply to
aarcuda69062

A good idea in theory, plain water would freeze, and adding antifreeze adds more toxic stuff to have to deal with., water is heavy at 8 pounds per gallon, and the style of those bumpers were even uglier than a steel bar.

Reply to
Ray O

Good advice, Brucie. Keep it around 25-30 mph on 495 north.

Here's a question, Ace: If you had been traveling above the speed limit that early morning, would that pickup truck have pushed in the tailgate of your POS Buick Century wagon?

Probably not. So going slow sure helped you, didn't it?

Reply to
oneup.again

A bus doing a back flip!! Now that I'd like to see!

Reply to
Retired VIP

I don't think there was enough pressure to flip a bus...

Reply to
Hachiroku

I don't think there was enough pressure to flip a bus...

Reply to
Hachiroku

No, that's 128

495 North is full bore! As fast as traffic allows!!!

Rt 2 West is even better...65 MPH all the way, even through Erving...

Reply to
Hachiroku

Rt 2 between Fitchburg & N. Adams in a 5 Speed Celica GTS :-)

Reply to
Ray O

I used to do Andover to Greenfield in a 1980 Corolla SR-5 (which I just found out is a Trueno, the same as my 'hachiroku')

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Reply to
hachiroku

Yeah, they were ugly, Ray, but no worse than the vehicles (taxicabs as I recall) that they were attached to.

Reply to
mack

One of the worst things about these lousy newer bumpers is that not only do they collapse when struck, but anything behind them that they're supposed to protect is destroyed as well. Anybody see the 5 mph collisions where the vehicle backs into a steel stanchion, and when the bumper doesn't do its job, the stanchion makes a nice crease in the spare tire cover, sometimes pushes in the trunk, and breaks the back window (on a RAV 4 or similar Honda.) Enough to turn your stomach!

Reply to
mack

That's because the bumpers were probably designed to the new 2-1/2 MPH standard.

Reply to
Ray O

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