Bronco Roll Bar Strength

[Jrod0486]

I'm sure the cage is just extra safety for extreme situations. All if those Nurburgring lap records you see are caged vehicles.

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[Moze]

I have been watching the off road adventures of the new Bronco at Mo ab and the
Rubicon. What concerns me is that all the units testing have extensive roll cages apparently reinforcing the factory roll bar. This is disconcerting to me as I assumed
Ford would along with all the other upgrades install a roll bar that works. I would like to hear from Ford engineering as to the exact strength of the factory bar, and if it can't do the job than will there be an option for a replacement system that will??
ANY THOUGHTS???

I believe there is *one* of the test vehicles that has roll cage reinforcement. But that vehicle was also used for high speed testing in Johnson Valley, so that was added for the additional safety of the test drivers. I wouldn't take that as an indicator that the standard roll bars are insufficient, weak or poorly designed.

As others have said, based on Ford's safety record, I'm sure the roll cage is designed to keep us safe.

 

[shoelessjoe]

I wonder if the prototype standard rollbars are mild steel as maybe the available pre-production presses could not handle boron steel. In the meantime the production presses that can handle born steel are being ordered and installed later in the schedule.

Do we have any ME's that would like to chime in?

It is not the presses that can't handle the boron steel, they need ovens to preheat the steel then special dies are used for boron stamped parts. The steel dies have water lines throughout to allow cooling of the dies and to get the proper hardness of the boron steel after it is stamped.

 

[AZRap]

To drive on the track above certain speeds the test vehicle needs to have additional PPE for the driver.

 

[Streetbob08]

But most buyers are not professional off road drivers either, just saying...

Agreed. I too will be a novice off road driver when I get my Bronco. However we will have to pay for tearing up our trucks, engineers don't have to worry about that, so they will be more likely to drive them more aggressively I would think. I will be playing it safe on my first couple on trips out.

 

[Stampede.Offroad]

Thanks but the question then is: Will a hardened BORON steel bar fold upon a roll over or crash?

How fast are you going? Is it a gentle tip into some sand, or a cartwheel down a rocky slope?

If you roll over, any normal vehicle is going to be ******. The ROPS is there to keep you alive. If you want to be able to do somersaults in any vehicle and drive away like nothing happened, expect to have to reinforce it.

 

[Stampede.Offroad]

It is a real possibility when your on a single lane trail with a 1000' drop.

Unless you're spending NASA money on your rig, neither it or you is going to survive that kind of failure.

Being scary is a big part of what prevents most people from going to those places.

 

[TennesseePA]

Most of those extra bars and crossbars have scientific equipment attached to them. I’m going to assume that it is a form follows function scenario. They needed a place to securely mount sensors and computers so the added in a few mounts to accommodate.

 

[North7]

NASA level 1000 foot Bronco safety system design, mishap proven and publicly free design, be the first to have one for your Bronco today.

 

[Sammy7]

Looking at the video, the additional cage appears to be entirely on the inside of the stock cage. My guess is it’s a additional precaution should the stock cage fail. Considering it’s a preproduction vehicle in an extreme environment, I‘m not concerned.

 

[rgwinn]

This is from the Rubicon Video - Part 1. I’m not seeing that “full roll cage” you are referring to? Just the stock boron steel sport bars. ?

 

[North7]

This is from the Rubicon Video - Part 1. I’m not seeing that “full roll cage” you are referring to? Just the stock boron steel sport bars. ?

Look close, inside and below the stock rollbar, from the test rig in the Mickeys Hot Tub video.

 

[Moze]

Look close, inside and below the stock rollbar, from the test rig in the Mickeys Hot Tub video.

This is the Johnson Valley high speed test vehicle. This were put in to protect the test drivers during this very specialized tests.

 

[rgwinn]

Look close, inside and below the stock rollbar, from the test rig in the Mickeys Hot Tub video.

My point is they were running the Rubicon in stock trim.

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