Rules May Vary, But Driving Without A Bumper Is Always A Bad Idea

The Story

Driving bumperless exposes cooling systems to damage, eliminates impact protection for the chassis and pedestrians, and often violates state laws.

Nikonysta/Shutterstock There are many things one can do while piloting an automobile, but shouldn’t. Every feature on a car is intentional, and if it’s compromised in any way, it could spell trouble for its occupants, other motorists, or pedestrians and cyclists. For example, driving around with a baby giraffe in your front passenger seat with its head sticking out of the…

However, there’s one bizarre trend that’s more prevalent in daily life, which, at first, might seem harmless: going bumperless. But why is driving without a bumper always a bad idea?. It all comes down to protecting the vehicle’s crucial mechanical systems, improving its crash safety, as well as ensuring the safety of other motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists on the road. We…

Mino Surkala/Shutterstock When we say bumper, we mean either the sturdy bumper beam or the bumper cover — that bit of plastic that covers the front and rear end of the car. First off, the plastic bumper cover protects cooling components — intercooler, air conditioning condenser, radiator, oil cooler, etc. — and removing it introduces a variety of hazards. We’re talkin’ rocks,…

If any of those components are punctured, it could lead to a very bad day, like coolant that’s spraying out of a destroyed radiator – which isn’t just increasing the engine’s temperature, but also adding slickness to the road surface — or boost that’s escaping from an intercooler, leading to the car not running as it should. If there’s an oil cooler (or coolers) present behind…

Peter Nelson / Jalopnik Then, there’s the fact that the bumper beams themselves — meaning, the actual structural components made out of metal or strong composite — provide, well, structural support to the chassis. Meanwhile, energy absorbers between the bumper beam and the plastic bumper itself help it take on the lion’s share of impact absorption. A head-on collision without…

Why It Matters

Having no bumper and/or bumper cover could cause unnecessary harm to other motorists and whatever else you encounter on the road, too.

CarMotion Daily’s Take

For example, driving around with a baby giraffe in your front passenger seat with its head sticking out of the sunroof may garner deep social media clout and provide a moment to look back on with affinity in one’s sunset years, but it could pose a real safety risk — and not just for the giraffe. Watch this space over the coming weeks.