IIHS crash tests

The Ford is designed to fall apart. I had a 2012 F150 Screw that liked spending time at the stealership.

 

Crumple zones

 

The ARB I had on my '02 had accordion shaped connections between the bumper and frame, this allowed enough impact energy to deploy the bags. It was made to crumple at that point of contact.

 

Comparing the Tundra to the newer trucks crash test its going to fall short. This is an old Platform, introduced in 07 it was probably rated good when it first came out. The F150 is a much newer platform and designed to excel at the current crash tests as will the next Tundra.

 

Lmao

 

Good point you are making there. Yes, the F-150 has one more star in the offset crash and is better in that category; still for an 11 year old design I think the Tundra stacks up well. And like you say the next generation will meet the current standard at that time.

 

What is the trigger required to release an airbag?

During a crash event, the vehicle's crash sensor(s) provide crucial information to the airbag electronic controller unit (ECU), including collision type, angle and severity of impact. Using this information, the airbag electronic controller unit's crash algorithm determines if the crash event meets the criteria for deployment and triggers various firing circuits to deploy one or more airbag modules within the vehicle. Working as a supplemental restraint system to the vehicle's seat-belt systems, airbag module deployments are triggered through a pyrotechnic process that is designed to be used once. Newer side-impact airbag modules consist of compressed air cylinders that are triggered in the event of a side on vehicle impact.[1]

Based on this, I would expect airbags to deploy sooner with after market bumpers because of the reduced or absent “crumple zones”.