Bullbars

When I bought my fronty it had a wrap round bullbar in poor state of repair but I luckily found a replacement locally, with both sets of lights, cheap - result. However in trying to find the correct colour for some touch-up work I found Trugga's excellent options decoder only to find my truck originally had a colour coded soft A bar factory fitted. Does this mean the retro fit of the front end scrap iron is illegal. I not going to loose too much sleep over this but it does raise a question.

I think it would be on a 98...I dont think any of the facelift A's came with metal bullbars...

If i remember right the law cam in 25th May 2007 no more metal bullbars allowed to be fitted to vehicle made after this date!!!!!!

The soft rubber bars started being fitted to new cars around the time the NCAP rating started - 1997/98. Whilst this was voluntary its obvious that any manufacturer wouldn't want a low score. What was typically recognised is that a sodding great lump of metal bolted to the front could only make things worse, also NCAP was first rating system to assess pedestrian safety not just crash resistance, so again anything sitting outside the vehicles profile is gonna hurt if hit!

To keep the 4x4 buyers happy, several manufacturers started supplying pu foam rubber nudge bars, not typically, wrap around bull bars as the rubber doesn't have the structural strength. After a while more modern designs have come in with all in one bumper/spoiler styles with lights built in so the desire for bullbar is reduced, except in 4x4 community or farming for example.

Metal "bars" are not illegal but it is illegal to manufacture or sell a styling or protection bar that is not "E" marked (approved for current EU legislation which is why you can still see modern cars with shiney chrome A bars etc. Note that this is EU wide legislation not just UK but as always the population of different countries will comply to varying degrees on any EU rules! Also note that strictly speaking this applies to selling second hand as well - typically the loophole is that if you advertise that it is for replacement of an existing fitted but damaged bull bar. The rationale for second hand element is that joe public is stupid, so there is a risk that someone buys a 93 frontera bull bar and fits to an 2014 range rover as it is not illegal to "fit" a bullbar.

The latter point is where it gets a little "grey", if you "found" a non E marked bullbar and fitted it after 2007 is not strictly against the law but would definitely invalidate your insurance which is illegal!

Non E marked bullbars fitted to vehicles prior to 2007 are exempt from legislation, there was some noise years ago about these having to be manufacturers approved only or as available at year of manufacture or suchlike but i believe this was scaremongering rather than any actual prosecutions.

If you have in your possession a bullbar which fits your vehicle, that is older than 2007 then you shouldn't (but could) fit it but if it somehow became attached and you cant remember whether it was fitted when you bought the vehicle, i doubt you'd be identified and prosecuted especially as the onus is on the law to prove guilt.

The good news for you is that you state that when you bought your fronty it had a bull bar fitted, there is fair reason to believe it was fitted pre-2007 due to being non E marked and an old vehicle, if this or any item on your care is in poor repair then you should be entitled to repair/replace "as is". Plus in practice who would know that it wasn't the original? But that isn't a legal defence after you have posted your question on an open forum???

Not sure if this helps and ultimately legislation is brought in to make things safer, but personally if i had a 98 fronty that wasn't going to be smashed about off road like mine then i'd go for originality where possible, try and find a foam bar that would have been on from new.....

Good post!

2much
Thank you. A well crafted and eloquent reply which I think covers the main points, however much as I thought about trying to refit a soft A bar 2 things spring to mind.
1 The ironwork carries spots and fogs and fronty headlights are akin to candles in jampots and yes the lenses are clean!
2 Much of my work sees me well off road in fields, up tracks etc ( yes I get paid for off-roadng

)so the ironwork is defensive.
Given that where I live, my truck is just one of many assorted 4x4s bearing similar ironwork I just blend in - and it does dissaude the profusion of "Chelsea Tractor" drivers from trying to push their luck in cases where I have right of way

I think, for now, they will stay but I would like to try and fit a B type lower underpan with fogs in it then the soft A bar or see if I can french the fogs into the underpan on it now. Summer task I think.

The early A bars mounts are not an excat fit only one hole on each side line up. You would have to drill holes to get it to fit securely