Table of Contents
- 1 What does the foam in a bumper do?
- 2 What is the plastic piece behind the bumper called?
- 3 Why do cars have Styrofoam?
- 4 How do impact absorbing bumpers work?
- 5 What is NVH foam?
- 6 How are car bumpers related to the energy of motion?
- 7 Why are bumpers made of plastic and not rubber?
- 8 What are the little squares on the front bumper?
What does the foam in a bumper do?
They are designed to absorb impact to the front and rear of vehicles and minimize low-speed collision damage. In the United States, passenger car bumpers must absorb a five mph impact from another vehicle with no damage to the car body. The foam or plastic make this possible.
What is the plastic piece behind the bumper called?
This part is generally called the impact bar, or sometimes reinforcement bar or bumper reinforcer, and, along with the (often styrofoam, sometimes plastic, missing or hidden in your picture) absorber pad, serves the actual safety purpose of a modern bumper. The plastic piece is called the bumper cover.
Whats behind the bumper cover?
While most people assume the bumper is the visible, front fascia of a modern car, it’s actually a hidden structure behind the bumper cover. Modern bumpers, in particular, are designed to absorb minor dings and low-speed impacts. Behind the bumper (also known as a bumper reinforcement), you’ll find energy absorbers.
What is a bumper absorber?
The bumper absorber is located behind the decorative plastic bumper cover. As its name implies, the bumper absorber takes up the impact energy in a collision, to protect valuable body and mechanical components behind it. It is designed to be a sacrificial part and must be replaced if damaged in a collision.
Why do cars have Styrofoam?
Why is Styrofoam used? Because it is very lightweight and filled with billions of air pockets that enable it to be compressible but still retain enough structure to absorb and redistribute some of the impact force.
How do impact absorbing bumpers work?
When a car hits something at a low speed, the bumper will press backward to use the crumple zone to soften the impact as the foam and fenders absorb the energy. The crumpling of the bumper, fender, and foam limits the amount of damage that can happen to the car and the people inside of it.
What is the plastic thing under the car?
A plastic undercarriage cover is designed to protect the wires and sensors that are included with newer cars and trucks. With cables that hang down and sensors that stick out, there’s always a chance that a branch or road debris will snag something important and sever a wire or disconnect a crucial component.
Where does the bumper absorber go?
Bumper absorbers are meant to soften the impact of a collision. One usually sits in between your bumper cover and on top of the reinforcement bar.
What is NVH foam?
There are several functions that foams and NVH materials perform in the heavy-duty trucks and commercial vehicles of today. Reducing noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) are the most obvious. Vehicle foams stiffen the body structure and help control twisting and flexing of the vehicle.
The bumper cars run on electricity, carried by a pole on the back of the car that leads up to a wire grid in the ride’s ceiling. This grid carries the electricity that runs the car. Electrical energy carried to the cars from the grid is converted to kinetic energy, some of which is converted to heat.
Why do some cars have knock-outs in their bumpers?
Art told me that part of the reason why we see cars in the U.S. with “knock-outs” in their bumpers is because automakers like to use common fascias for multiple markets as often as they can to minimize cost and complexity.
What is the best material to protect a chrome bumper?
In terms of styling and practicality, many manufacturers used rubber to absorb the impact and protect the chrome metal bumper. I much preferred this to the modern plastic covered styrofoam and aluminum. The new ones scuff, crack and chip from something as slight as a car hitting it while parking.
Why are bumpers made of plastic and not rubber?
Lets consider plastics as bumpers, they have tendency to absorb load and reduce the effect of the impact also rubbers have the tendency to absorb and almost nullify the effect. Looking into design and processing aspect, bumpers are big in size so they are processed by techniques like injection molding, blow molding and roto-molding.
What are the little squares on the front bumper?
If you look at the front and rear bumpers on many new cars, you’ll notice little squares and circles about the size of potato chips sitting right there in the plastic bumper covers. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know why they’re there!