moontime

Does anyone other than myself worry about how an aftermarket bumper may (or worse yet, may not) make the airbags function.

Here is something I found about most of the bumpers available, and I wonder if they don't say they are compatible or not strictly trying to prevent any liability issues.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...omparison.html

The ARB bumber is the only one to say it is compatitable w the airbags, but it looks like it should bee in the front of an F-250. The Fab fours is beautiful, but i cant get an answer as to if it will affect the airbags.

Any or all thoughts would be appreciated.

Ric

I looked into this before i got my bumper made, sorry cant find the page now, but on the 4runner i read somewhere that the air bag is speed or motion sensitive. so my bumper would be ok, Ill try to find it later.

drguitarum2005

I don't know how accurate this information is but I have also read that the airbags in our rigs function off of accelerometers so they deploy with a sudden decrease in speed, not an impact, so they would go off regardless of what bumper you have.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

The ARB is airbag compatible with the FJ.

ARB on a Ford?
Paleazzzzzzzzzz

I dig my ARB
Granted it is bigger than some of the other aftermarket ones, but it also has a lotta beef up front to deflect varmints or whatever may come your way.

Good Times

most aftermarket bumper vendors will not claim that their bumpers are airbag compliant because of the liability (insurance) issues. swapping out the stock bumpers w/ the aftermarket bumpers should have no ill effect on the airbags ability to engage when needed. the sensors are located on the cross member on the front and are only triggered on impact so there are no worries.

some claim that by adding a steel bumper you change the effect of the sensor but honestly i'd feel more secure knowing that i have a steel bumper than a tupperware up front.

one notes though: ARB makes their bumper mounts to crumple whereas other vendors do not. So this could be the reason why ARB's bumpers claim to be airbag compatible.

KD7NAC_07FJ

I was worried about this same issue and though I could not get anyone to say their bumper is airbag compliant here are some facts that I've dug up from the factory, dealers and verious manuals.

The FJ SRS Airbag uses an accelerometer sensor as DrGuitarum mentioned located a ways back on the frame.

Being an accelerometer it is not activated, it simply senses how fast, in this case, your vehicle decelerates. If the deceleration falls within the parameters of a "crash" then the computer fires the active airbag(s).

The good news is the factory bumper does not affect the accelerometer sensor. In other words the factory bumper isn't connecting to a sensor that will make the airbag fire. So logically any bumper you put on will not affect the accelerometer sensor.

I've read a lot of argument about the mass of the bumper affecting the weight of the vehicle and possibly causing the airbag to fire in a lesser impact due to the increased weight. That too is a misconception. The accelerometer sensor detects increasing and decreasing velocity not change in mass. If anything it might react a millisecond slower because you are stopping more mass. But there is the key; we are only talking about milliseconds.

Just my educated opinion but I don't think any bumper that just attaches to the factory attach points will affect the SRS Airbag.

YotaFun

The funny thing about this post is I was just going to post the same question today...

I wasn't sure how exactly the sensors on the bumper and for the airbags worked...

I always thought that the sensor in the bumper would feel the pressure of the impact and deploy the airbags at the speed needed to slow 'you' down and keep your face from smashing into the steering wheel...
I Never knew there was an accelerometer sensor...

Well Eventaully I will be getting ARB...
And granted I would rather have more metal then plastic in the front...

Ric

heres something to read :
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec2001/collision.cfm
short version:
The purpose of a crash sensor is to detect a sudden deceleration of the vehicle and to close an electrical circuit if the sensor determines the severity of the impact warrants deployment of the air bag(s). Crash sensors generally fall into one of four design types, three electro-mechanical and one electronic.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

They won't say it is air bag compatible for the same reason folks sell roll cages as "light bars".

Air bags go off because of a sensor that is NOT in the bumper regardless.

airrikk17

ive recently found they are calling roll cages "sport cages" its al labout liability in my opinion.
when i hit the deer , my air bag did not go off , i guess i didnt try hard enough to stop.

airrikk17

YotaFun

Quick Highjack:

How much damage was done to your FJ?

I hit a deer in moms lexus deceleratingfrom a 55mph zone to a 35 (hit the deer at around 40-45)

The airbags didn't deploy but I did slam the brake enough to actually lock them up
(later that week took the lexus to the stealership to have work done, cause the way the abs locked up was not what abs was suppose to do)
Still driving the lexus now with a few dents....

airrikk17

heres a link to the post about it .

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f135/deer-vs-fj-cruiser-94689/

shes all better now , and has better deer killing capability. LOL

airrikk17

moontime

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I want a trail rig hats still safe enough for my kids and the last thing i would want is to affect the safety of the fj.

That opens some possibilities, All pro or Fab Fours?

airrikk17

i absolutly love my fab fours bumper. but keep in mind this is the heavest thickest one made that ive found , and if your not planning on doing a lift with adjustable coils , i would personally stay away from it, if not youll have a major downward rack going on. and if you dont plan on using a winch, youll want to make some kind of cover for the winch hole, it leaves a lot of the radiator exposed if not. if you dont plan on using a winch , id personally go with the all pro non winch one.

airrikk17