new police/state vehicles: no push bar?

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Hi BITOGers,

I see a lot of the new Police/State vehicles without the push-bar.

Did they incorporated in the bumper or they did go without for costs/policy reasons?

(Just curious)
 
Cops don't need to chase anyone anymore.

They send the perp a text and they slow down to 3mph just to read it. You can practically reach in and shut the vehicle.


Most PDs frown on bumper action. With the tech rollout they already know where to find you... in your jammies!
 
Probably more effective to just have a chopper that can chase a suspected until they crash or run out of gas.

And I'm sure lawsuits have made it harder for LEO to take action with a vehicle.
 
why the question:
I just remember about 4 years ago i saw an Impala Police vehicle sandwiched between 2 cars.... Total loss
(Going to guess trying to stop one of the car, they didn't stop and got push into the other?)
 
How would they attach the push bar? To the stamped steel subframe?

There hasn't been a bumper on a car in ages. A real bumper is made of steel and attached to a real frame. Today's "bumpers" are just plastic fascia attached by clips to the body. It's mostly for style and aerodynamics.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
How would they attach the push bar? To the stamped steel subframe?

There hasn't been a bumper on a car in ages. A real bumper is made of steel and attached to a real frame. Today's "bumpers" are just plastic fascia attached by clips to the body. It's mostly for style and aerodynamics.


That is the bumper cover. The actual bumper is behind the bumper cover.
 
Most of the push-bars that I would see in NYC in the early 2000s were all rusty, likely would fall apart if they were actually used. I also infrequently seen them nowadays, honestly see them more on the "trying-to-look-like-a-cop" crowd.
 
Pretty common on the new Explorer based patrol cars.

10759280293_dfc98ceed5_b.jpg


Setina still makes them, but they don't seem to be vehicle specific. I think that they're universal and the carmaker probably has to have some sort of fitting.

http://setina.com/push-bumpers/push-bumpers/

I'm surprised that they still insist on hubcaps though.
 
They are popular in some areas, and not others.
We've never had them in our SO, and they're not generally used in our area.
If we did have them, I could be in favor of them, but not due to LEO actions but more so due to impacts with animals (deer are thick as flies in rural IN).
 
Push bumpers add cost to an already expensive vehicle. These new police vehicles are not getting cheaper, nor are departments funding themselves flush with cash. A new Police Interceptor SUV (Explorer) is nearly $50,000. I suspect it's a cost-saving move.

For example, Chicago PD just announced they are buying 500 of those new Explorer-based vehicles at $47,000 each. If a push bumper adds, say, $2,000 to the cost of each vehicle, that's another million dollars on top of the already huge $23.5M price tag for those cars. Chicago is not exactly sitting on a huge cash surplus.

I can't even remember the last time I saw one on a Chicago PD vehicle. We still have tons of Crown Vics running around and they don't have the push bars, nor do the newer Explorers, Suburbans, or Tauruses. I occasionally see them on Illinois State Police vehicles, but their duties probably involve some different things than a cop in downtown Chicago would see.
 
i think that the liabilty of using a push bar to move a car out of the road is quite high. your $100k car breaks down on the highway and a state trooper uses his push bar equipped car to push you to the side and really messes it up. So who is liable?
 
Pretty much all of the marked cars have them here no matter if they are a Vic or Explorer. I think the UCPD might not have them, but CHP, SBSO, SBPD all have them.

As far as liability, if you are blocking the road in your 100k car and they have to push it out of the way, that is on the vehicle owner for blocking the road.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Pretty much all of the marked cars have them here no matter if they are a Vic or Explorer. I think the UCPD might not have them, but CHP, SBSO, SBPD all have them.

They have them in Berkeley, even on the Taurus-based patrol cars.

nixle_jTanji_staff-900x580.jpg


I got curious and looked up other UC campus patrol cars. Looks like each campus has its own livery. The only thing that's common is the shield.
 
Same here with the pushbars, all cars have them. Tauruses, Explorers, old CVs, even one unmarked Dodge Challenger has the black bars on it. Since the grille is black they don't stand out too bad.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Pretty much all of the marked cars have them here no matter if they are a Vic or Explorer. I think the UCPD might not have them, but CHP, SBSO, SBPD all have them.

They have them in Berkeley, even on the Taurus-based patrol cars.

nixle_jTanji_staff-900x580.jpg


I got curious and looked up other UC campus patrol cars. Looks like each campus has its own livery. The only thing that's common is the shield.


UCSB went from Crown Vics to Tahoes and Caprices. I don't remember them having push bars on the Tahoes. I need to cruise through Isla Vista and look. When my friend pulled me over a month or so ago to say "hi" he was in a SBSO Vic on a IV Foot Patrol beat.
 
Unibody doesn't matter. They mount to the front bumper reinforcement bar. They're less than $1,000 BTW. It's not a cost thing, because a pushbar pays for itself the first time it prevents damage to a bumper cover, grille, headlight, etc on these modern cop cars. I tend to agree that it's a liability thing.
 
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