Bumper cracked at 2 MPH

[SDaWG]

Hello, last night in the parking lot i was backing out and while on the clutch rolling backward and not paying attention i hit another car. There was a minor clearcoat scratch in the hond and minor enough for the lady that owns the car to not be able to find the scratch when i shoed her. SHe just said oh don't worry about it. But the problem is that there is a gash in my bumper and it cracked halfway through and is falling off the car. I was going at the fastest 3 mph, the speddo was still on zero. WEll i did some research and the 02 wrx has standard 5mph bumbers. doesn't that mean that at below 5mph the bumper should acruire no significant damage? well i need to replace my whole bumnper now! Do you think i have a case with SOA and this 5mph bumper deal, because obviously it didn't work. PLease post any questions and comments. I plan on going to the dealer first thing in the moriong but the service dept isn't oipen on weekends, do you think i have to talk to service dept? I am just trying to pay the least amount of money for this. THE other persons car was just a scratch in the clearcoat and my car has a fat gash and it cracked in half and it is falling off the car! All in a parking lot with the speedo on 0... but i was going 2-3 mph.

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[CosmoTheCat]

Funny how people don't understand the bumpers.

Last time I read about it, it was something like 2.5mph no damage to the car, 5mph no considerable (less than $1000) damage to the car.

The bumper skin isn't going to run you more than $1000 or so. Since you don't need to replace the foam, bumper beam, or mounting equipment (except maybe some plastic clips), you should be out with a ~$300 bumper skin and a couple of hundred to paint it. www.subaruparts.com may have the skin for a lot less, I don't know what they run. Considering a complete bumper replacement usually runs in the ~$700 range, yours should be less.

It's probably just a freak coincidence that your bumper cracked. Combination of the angle that you hit and possibly some flaw in the plastic.

[SDaWG]

i am pretty sure they are rated at 5 mph... i double checked again.
anyways no one thinks i can get a deal from subaru because i was going soo slow but it still cracked? Maybe a safety flaw on there half.

[CosmoTheCat]

From the NHTSA website:

49 CFR Part 581, "The bumper standard," prescribes performance requirements for passenger cars in low-speed front and rear collisions. It applies to front and rear bumpers on passenger cars to prevent the damage to the car body and safety related equipment at barrier impact speeds of 2½ mph across the full width and 1½ mph on the corners.

On April 9, 1971, the agency issued its first passenger car bumper standard -- Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 215, "Exterior Protection," which became effective on September 1, 1972. This standard called for passenger cars, beginning with model year (MY) 1973, to withstand 5 mph front and 2 ½ mph rear impacts against a perpendicular barrier without damage to certain safety-related components such as headlamps and fuel systems.

For MY 1979, the standard required that there be no damage to safety-related parts and exterior surfaces not involving the bumper system(e.g., sheet metal; lamps; and fuel, exhaust and cooling systems) with damage to the facebar and its fasteners at impact test speed of 5 mph front and rear impacts with barrier and pendulum; 3 mph corner impact with pendulum.

While the impact speed in the Canadian standard is higher than that in the U.S. standard, the Canadian standard has less stringent protective criteria. Specifically, the protective criteria for the Canadian standard requires that the vehicle does not touch the test device, except on the impact ridge with a force that exceeds 2000 lbs. on the combined surface of the test device.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/proble...per/index.html

The requirement that there be no damage to the bumper itself beyond a 3/8 inch "dent" and 3/4 inch "set" (or displacement) from original position was changed to allow damage to the bumper itself while still requiring no damage to safety-related parts and exterior surfaces not involving the bumper

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/...te/807072.html


In conclusion, you've got no case. Don't run into things.

[CosmoTheCat]

Oh yeah. Under "What is the purpose of bumpers?" on that first link:

It is not a safety feature intended to prevent or mitigate injury severity to occupants in the passenger cars

So, there goes your "safety defect" arguement.

You ran into something, pony up the bucks to get it fixed.

[SubyTechMaster]

Your "indicated speedometer reading" doesn't mean anything, they don't register in reverse.

You made a mistake, learn from it.

[SDaWG]

yes the speedo does work in reverse, try it... i know for sure. but anyways i will just pay for the stupid cheap ass bumper. sorry i am just a little pissed off now. but anyways thankyou haratio and sube tech.

[CosmoTheCat]

Yeah, it's pretty crappy. If we were still living in a land of steel bumpers you would have gotten a little dent instead, but plastic looks better.