Bumper

everything should be this easy

Home New Cars Used Cars Car Loans Car Reviews
Photo-Lot Car Videos Knowledgebase Discussion Tips

Used Car Search:

make:

model:

zip:

radius:

	Search Over 500,000 Vehicles!
	Quick Filter & Sort: By Year By Price By Mileage By Distance
Photo Hover Preview
	Large Photo Browse
	Mapped Vehicle Location
	Contact Seller Form

Web2carz puts you in control of the shopping process. Here's how it works:
Get More Information!
Don't be shy. Contact the seller and get all the details. You are not at the dealership and there is no pressure.
Leverage Your Position
Contact multiple sellers and have them bid for your business.
Be Prepared
Bring all bids and research along when visiting dealer/seller. Negotiate price, financing, & warranty separately. Stay Strong!

Automotive knowledgebase

Add An Article

Bumper

tags: bumper saftey

A bumper is a part of an automobile designed to allow one vehicle to impact with another and to withstand that collision without severe damage to the vehicle's frame. Brush guards, push bars, etc. were added "after-market" to bumpers of automobiles, pickups, trucks, and utility vehicles since at least the 1920s to provide additional protection to the vehicle. While bumpers were originally made of heavy steel, in later years they have been constructed of rubber, plastic, or painted light metal leaving them susceptible to damage from even minimal contact. For the most part, these vehicles cannot push, or be pushed by, another vehicle. An entire after-market industry has developed which now produces various guards to protect these vulnerable modern bumpers.

The fun of bumping one car into another led to the creation of bumper cars at amusement parks and carnivals. These small cars are designed to fit one or at most two people and crashed into each other consistently.

Early bumpers was little more than a strap or flat iron. They later swelled out to chromed bumpers, especially in the 1960s with dagmars and other decorations. In the early 1970s self repairing bumpers was introduced and after a while they became mandatory (thus killing the Opel GT). Towards the end of the 1980s the self reparing bumpers went out of style and was replaced with fibreglass "bumpers" that cracked at impact.

Bumper laws had been rolled back in 1982, reducing the reliability of bumpers in newer cars to sustain damage. Minor collisions may already ruin the aesthetic appearance (paint and finish) of bumpers, and cracked bumpers can only be replaced entirely, resulting in hefty repair costs even for minor collisions.

In many jurisdictions, bumpers are legally required on all vehicles for safety reasons. The height and placement of bumpers may be legally specified as well, to ensure that when vehicles of different heights are in an accident, that the smaller vehicle will not slide under the larger vehicle, particularly in collisions with semi-trailer trucks.

© 2008 web2carz - all rights reserved	home new cars used cars car loans car reviews car videos photo-lot knowledgebase
discussion tips faq about contact jobs privacy terms sitemap affiliates special offers
bookmark