Styrofoam Bumper

[speedyg]

While I was installing my hitch a couple weeks ago I noticed that the rear bumper is basically a plastic bumper cover over a kind of styrofoam! It looked and felt exactly like the kind of foam used to make bicycle helmets :)

After bike helmets receive a hard impact they are supposed to thrown away because the foam crushes in order to absorb the impact and it no longer protects you the next time.

I wonder if it is recommended that after you get into a collision you replace your bumper even though the damage doesn't look that bad from the outside because the foam inside might be crushed.

[uthorns1976]

While I was installing my hitch a couple weeks ago I noticed that the rear bumper is basically a plastic bumper cover over a kind of styrofoam!  It looked and felt exactly like the kind of foam used to make bicycle helmets  :)

After bike helmets receive a hard impact they are supposed to thrown away because the foam crushes in order to absorb the impact and it no longer protects you the next time. 

I wonder if it is recommended that after you get into a collision you replace your bumper even though the damage doesn't look that bad from the outside because the foam inside might be crushed.

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That's nice. $52,000 for a styrofoam bumper?? Guess it saves weight, huh??

[SKperformance]

ALL bumpers from every single car maker is made of a "bumper skin" and a styrofoam backing to keep its shape. The rebar under neath it is steel which is what is used for impacts not the bumper skin.

It is made to be easily replaced under minor collsions without affecting the actual truck.

Only a heavy impact will cause a replacment of a rebar which normally always sets off the airbags.

There is nothign wrong ,infact it is the way the car protects you.

[patt]

While I was installing my hitch a couple weeks ago I noticed that the rear bumper is basically a plastic bumper cover over a kind of styrofoam!  It looked and felt exactly like the kind of foam used to make bicycle helmets  :)

After bike helmets receive a hard impact they are supposed to thrown away because the foam crushes in order to absorb the impact and it no longer protects you the next time. 

I wonder if it is recommended that after you get into a collision you replace your bumper even though the damage doesn't look that bad from the outside because the foam inside might be crushed.

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I've wondered about that as well - not for our RX400H yet, but over the years our Camry bumper has gotten enough minor bumps that I wonder if what is under the skin has gotten compressed or less protective.

[SKperformance]

The styrofoam is just to keep the shape of the skin.

If is deforms then the bumper skin would need replacing before it would.

If a rebar is bent you will know it for sure as the bumper cannot sit straight after.

[SW03ES]

Thats how a bumper is designed guys, all cars nowadays have a urethane bumper cover over a bar attatched to mounts, the strofoam fills up the cavity as SK said.

Whether the physical bumper needs to be replaced after an accident depends on the severity of the accident.