prolax13

Heres my opinion. My grill gaurd has saved me twice from bad damage. Twice when offroading I've gone through mudholes that required me to keep the pedal floored. Upon exit, the front end of the 4Runner went up in the air and landed down HARD on the grillgaurd. The first time, all it did was cut about a 2 inch slit in the rubber bumper thing. The second time, it twisted the mounting brackets and bent the grill gaurd about an inch to the left side. Had I not had it, I would have smashed the front bumper in and possibly done underbody damage. Instead, I ended up having to remove the grill gaurd, bang it back straight with a mallet, and reinstall it (took about an hour).

Ive head that at high speed crashes it will increase the damage to the vehicle due to its design and shape. However, I can only think of it one way. The grill gaurd adds to the crush area in the front end. Therefore, the driver will be more protected in head on collisions because there of the increase crush area. Driver safety is the most important, regardless of whether it costs an extra 500 for repairs.