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I am about to take ownership of a Fourtrak 2.8TDS Independent, which has a set of bull bars fitted on to it. My question is that are the illegal to have on my new toy 
Hope some one can help..
I am about to take ownership of a Fourtrak 2.8TDS Independent, which has a set of bull bars fitted on to it. My question is that are the illegal to have on my new toy
Hope some one can help..
Which bars are bull
When I decided to manufacture winch bumpers I had to spend the best part of 3 days reading and trying to understand the European legislation on bull bars or 'Frontal protection'
short answer is if you bought the car with the bar there is no problem.
Here is the copy of the answer to a customer who wanted a folded sheet steel fourtrak bumper:-
I will be doing something similar to the bumper you like at some point soon.
With the tube ones, as they are hand made they are still evolving and each
is slightly different to the last, when I have used all the parts I've had
cut I will be changing the design again and going back to a folded type.
I have had to read through the Euro regs on frontal protection before
offering these for sale and as far as I can make out so long as the bumper
can house a winch and is within the outline of the original bumper it stops
being frontal protection and becomes a commercial application so does not
breach the regs but A bars and tube above the bumper are a no no,
Interestingly it isn't illegal to fit these but is illegal to supply them.
However some Euro states do not allow tubular bumpers to be supplied and
fitted to road going vehicles at all (unless fitted or purchased before the
regs were introduced!!?!) so in reality on a car the age of a Fourtrak it is
going to be hard to prove it wasn't on before 2007. As usual with European
legislation it is very complex and unclear and as yet there seem to have
been no prosecutions or test cases to set legal precidents. Check the
internet for accessory suppliers and you will see some companys now only
selling bumpers and A frames that fit within the bumper outline and some
still selling full size ones, others will sell you one "for off road use
only" and others won't sell them to you at all. It's all very confusing.
Hope this helps
Best regards
Dave
A little clarification for
A little clarification for you Dave.
It is illegal for a manufacturer to supply or fit them to a new vehicle unless they are the new "type approved" version, tested and approved by the manufacturer, and compliant with European legislation.
It is perfectly legal to buy a new vehicle and drive it down the road to an aftermarket supplier or manufacturer and let them supply; or supply and fit them for you.
Irrespective: Fourtraks have no problems because of their age, and it is perfectly legal to supply them for replacement of damaged bars.
Legislation is fantastic, spend hours studying it only to be more confused than before you start.
I love this crap
You go round and round with legislation and everything is contradicted by another sentance and its the same with anything, at the end of the day being hit by a solid 2 tonne vehicle is gonna hurt just as much as being smashed against a rounded pipe bull bar connected to a 2 tonne vehicle, the outcome will always be the same, what the people who make the rules dont understand about the fittment of these items is so bodywork etc is protected when your using them, they brush of tree branches and various things from the lights etc, again though its the same for anything in this world.;)
Full of ideas but no time to do them!!
www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
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youtube: Redfourtrack
As someone who's job it is to
As someone who's job it is to navigat legislation on a dayly basis, I could not agree more. Legislation is a nightmare, and totally open to interpritation in most cases. Untill you get case law (IE some por so and so gets taken to cort) you probably wont find a difinitave answer.
Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.
An interesting point, the
An interesting point, the initial debate was started because a child had its head hit on a bull bar at a zebra crossing here in the UK. The parents began a campaign, Government hijacked it in favour of their policy to attack motorists.
Actual testing was done by Government, and a variety of reputable, independent organisations, who found similar results.
In most circumstances it was found being hit by a bull bar actually caused less injury and damage to pedestrians, than just the plain vehicle front. It also found the child would have been killed if the bull bar was not fitted.
As this did not fit the ideology of the Government, they went ahead anyway and banned them. Although they could not legally ban them, they went down the European crash protection route, this was a crafty way of introducing such legislation.
So against all the overwhelming evidence they were banned, Government tried to stop the reports being published and failed because they were leaked. The result: bans on bull bars for certain vehicles under European legislation for certain vehicles.