Fitting of Bull Bars on Indian SUVs, MUVs and other automobiles

In the years gone by utility vehicles from the Willys Jeep down to Mahindra CJ 500 D s came equipped with front bumpers in the form of a steel C - channel with sharp edges.  In between 1994 - 1999 all Tata Sumos came factory - fitted with steel bull bars bolted to the vehicles underbody at a specific location.  These bumpers and bull bars had the potential to cause grievous injury or even death to pedestrians, cyclists or two wheeler riders if they were involved in a frontal collision.  There was also a possibility of undetected chassis damage and fatigue failures when such vehicles were involved in a front end collision with another vehicles rear end.  These bull bars also increased the unladen weight of the vehicle and decreased its payload (theoretically) and fuel economy slightly. Consequently, these auto manufacturers have stopped fitting bull bars as OEM from 2000 onwards.  Currently, bull bars are available as accessories from the Maruti Omni roght upto expensive SUVs in most car decorators shops. Most MUV and SUVowners purchase them with the idea that installing them protects their vehicle from damage in an accident.  In North America and Western Europe the front ends of cars are now designed to comply with standards which ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in the event of a collision.  The engines of todays passenger vehicles are Euro - 3 compliant and legislation has ensured that continuous improvement by more stringent norms being introduced every five years.  I think it is time that the government, vehicle buyers, motorists and other road users did a re-think on the usefulness of bull bars in the interest of the safety of all concerned.

Hey check out the New Sumo Grande,way better than the old Sumo.

obviously, you must be driving in heaven NOT in india. here a bullbar is not for the safety of the car or the pedestrian, it is the safety of the driver. driving through traffice is an easy task, trust me , i drove in UK for 3 years. But driving in India is driving through

1. Traffic,

2. People on the road,

3. dogs on the road,

4. cows on the road,

5 horses on the road,

6. donkeys on the road,

7. vendor carts/ push carts on the road, AND,

8. the most important, the idiots on the road which the indian RTO has failed in 50 years effort to control.

, mind boggling, isn't it???

Whats the use of bull bars when today's cars have a crumple zone? With the bull bar, the crumple zone will fail and infact the driver will be more safer without the bull bar, as all the acceleration will be carried to the driver.

I tried this and I had understeer, I tried that and I had oversteer, at the end of the corner I just ran out of talent!