Gadgetory

if you were in the cars 1973 was not a good year the OPEC oil embargo had us waiting in long lines just to buy gas on either odd or even numbered days but even worse is what happened to bumpers starting in fall of 72 the 1973 cars were the first to accommodate new federal standards that said a cars bumper had to withstand a 5 mile an hour front impact or two and a half mile on our back impact without major damage so bumpers got big jutting and ugly overnight to this day many vintage car collectors draw the line at 72 now 40 years later and everything's different the old chrome bumpers like on this Lotus they're gone this is basically strong trimmed today the bumpers a tougher piece but invisible hidden underneath the cover that's integrated into the shape of the body but also the standards were cut way back in 1982 cars now only have to survive a two and a half mile an hour front impact or just a one and a half mile an hour bumper corner impact all this low-speed testing is important not because it saves lives but because it saves you money how well a bumper performs in slowed impacts will give you an idea how much you'll pay to repair the damage after and it varies a lot the IIHS test bumpers with a six mile an hour full impact and a three mile an hour corner impact those full impacts by the way are the lion's share in the real world the cost to repair that impact damage on similar cars can vary wildly according to IIHS a full-frontal on a 2011 Ford Focus bumper results in just five hundred eighty eight dollars damage same impact on a 2011 Hyundai Elantra almost five grand and a similar pattern continues across other test modes average all tests damage together and it's almost 4x more expensive from one car to the other so clearly when you're buying a new or used car it pays to double check these bumper impact ratings and what it costs afterwards but know you're fighting a bit of an uphill battle for three reasons most bumpers suck the IIHS finds most bumper designs simply don't go far enough past the very slim minimum standards to be tough enough high enough or tall enough lane cost control but also the fact that the best bumper would probably not be the best-looking bumper bumper toughness regulations were largely gutted in the early 80s and so far have not bounced back and finally pickups SUV's and minivans they get a pass on the federal height standard unlike your passenger car which as you can see quickly moves the discussion from and how well your bumper performs to how way your headlights and hood are gonna perform that gets expensive in a hurry I never parallel parked next to one of these your bumper is your first line of defense between you and the most common thing you'll pay for in a body shop this kind of impact you can see this one gave its life for the cause measure the effectiveness of these in dollars avoid common bumper related damage by parking carefully around non height compliant vehicles trucks and SUVs and consider low-speed forward collision avoidance tech in your next car depending on the car that technology could pay for itself if it saves you just one low-speed bumper impact