‘Bad’ bumpers costing drivers

Badly designed car bumpers are costing drivers an estimated quarter of a million a year in avoidable repair costs, according to new research.

British motor insurers’ research centre, Thatcham, said that a collision at just 10mph could cost over £4,000 to repair, because most car bumpers are cannot absorb the energy of the crash. Thatcham found that most car bumpers are poorly designed or, in some cases, omitted completely, leading to “unnecessarily high amounts of damage”.

Current European law requires bumpers to withstand simple pendulum tests. However, Thatcham said that many cars are designed to meet these standards only and do not provide satisfactory protection in an actual low speed collision.

Thatcham said that the increasing popularity of large 4x4 vehicles exacerbated the problem, because they often overrode the rear of smaller cars. Exposed spare wheels could also cause unnecessary damage to both vehicles, the research revealed.

Thatcham said that the problem was costing British insurers an estimated £250,000 in avoidable repair costs each year, resulting in higher insurance premiums, loss of no claims bonuses and unnecessary inconvenience for motorists.

Matthew Avery, Crash Laboratory Manager at Thatcham, said: “Despite outward appearances too many cars on the road do not have sufficient bumper protection. Underneath the cosmetic bumper cover the bumper beam on many cars is either too small, poorly positioned or missing.

“Certain manufacturers have however proved that good bumpers can be cost effectively fitted. With the results of our findings Thatcham hope to encourage more and more manufacturers to address this issue, benefiting insurers, repairers and motorists alike.”

However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that bumpers were designed to strict safety standards and were designed to protect pedestrians and absorb the impact in the event of a crash.

Thatcham is leading an international initiative to design an insurance test to encourage manufacturers to fit deeper, wider and more energy absorbing bumper beams to their future vehicles.

(KMcA/GB)