The safety of a car depends a lot on its’ bumper. A bumper also increases the dynamics and aesthetic value of a car. But often we see the bumper is damaging. It happens because the purpose of the bumper is one kind of protective shield of a car and it is obvious that the first impact will be on the shield.
An automobile owner must be aware of the facts about the damages. When you know everything about the damage, you can take precautions and do whatever you have to after the damage.
Having damage on your vehicle is never a good feeling. No matter whether it is the bumper or the looking glass, it always feels the same.
In this article, I am going to discuss the different damages of the bumper and so many other things related to it.
Table of Contents
What Causes Bumpers to Become Damaged?
When your car collides with something, the bumper is the first thing that has the first impact. It’s also the first thing affected by your car. A bumper protects the engine bay of your car. The rear bumper protects the rear boot or the hatch as well.
No one damages his own thing intentionally. An accident is the main reason behind the damage to a car’s bumper. The first scenario is when fail to push the brake on time and hits your car from behind. Your rear bumper will have damage right away.
In the second scenario, you might miss judge the timing and hit someone from behind. No doubt your front bumper will have an issue instantly.
Most bumper damage happens at the time of parking or when taking your car out of the parking lot. There could be some blind spots while you are parking your car and you might hit a fence, a column, or even a still car.
Sometimes rust is another reason behind some damage. It could happen when you don’t have the right material (rust-proof) for your car’s bumper.
Types of Damages
A bumper can hold up to 5 MPH impact without breaking. If the impact is more than 5 MPH, surely it’s going to have some damage.
If you look at the bumpers of the latest cars these days, you will see them have a cover or jacket over them. They are either made from plastic or from fiberglass.
Though these covers or jackets can reduce the chance of damage a little, they are not completely successful. So it’s important to know the type of damage to repair a bumper.
Depending on the reason, there are 5 types of damages that can happen to a bumper. Here they are;
1. Surface damage
When the bumper rubs with something and just has a scratch or simple spot on its’ body, it’s called surface damage. It happens when your car has a very low-impact collision.
You won’t have much difficulty repairing this type of damage. All you have to do is just paint the bumper. If your bumper has a cover or jacket over it, you may have to remove it and paint the whole bumper. But, it’s still an easy task compared to others.
2. Punctures
Well, this is quite a complicated type of damage. Due to any collision, the plastic cover or jacket over the steel bumper can have a hole or crack. If it happens, don’t waste your time repairing them! That’s not possible actually.
The solution is to have a new cover. You can paint that one to match the color of your car. Or, you can even continue without a bumper cover as well.
3. Sensor damage
Most modern cars have some sensors installed on the bumper these days. Safety sensors like airbags and automatic braking are installed over the bumpers.
Due to any collision, these sensors can be damaged. Check for it and if they are not ok, try resetting them. If they are still not working, you might need to spend some extra bucks buying new sensors.
4. Dents
This is the most common type of damage to a bumper. Whether the collision impact is low, medium, or high, there is a huge possibility that you will see a dent in your bumper.
This damage is repairable. The popped-in bumper can be popped out by using some pressure. Heat can also repair dents sometimes. But after both repair processes, you might need to paint the bumper if there is any scratch or discoloring.
5. Shock compression
This is not a simple type of damage. If you have this, you might not only change the bumper, but you will also have to install some components as well.
Filler materials or shock-absorbing metal brackets are some components that modern-day car manufacturers use in bumpers. They use these to absorb some shock from a major collision.
These are the 5 main types of damage that can happen to a bumper. There are some other damages as well. Scrapes, scuffs, breaking, and disconnecting from the joints are some of the other damages.
Never Ignore Minor Bumper damages
Small damages can happen to your bumper while you are on the road or even you are in your parking. But, you should never ignore any damage to your bumper though it’s a minor one.
Bumpers give safety to you and your car. If you ignore the smallest damage today, who knows it could lead to a bigger incident in the future!
We often avoid filing an insurance claim for minor damages. But that’s completely wrong. If you don’t inform claim it today for minor problems, they might not give you support when you have a major one.
I am sure no one is going to drive a single car for life. When you buy a new car, you will sell the old one. Damage on the bumper can decrease the resale value of your old car.
Conclusion
No matter what type of bumper damage you have, never be late to repair it. You must take care of the protective shield to stay safe in the future.
Let the professionals handle the damages as most of the damage types need tools and expertise to solve them. If you have severe damages, opt for having a new bumper instead of trying to repair them.
