The first video in this thread - the BHP testing of vehicle crash safety - is an important one. Many modifications to vehicles can make a vehicle less safe, and its worth remembering how much engineering and testing goes into the factory-design of a vehicle. Many suspension lift-kits - by comparison - are hastily put together and are not subject to the same testing. Let's face it - anything put on the roof raises the center of gravity of a vehicle, thereby making it inherently less stable both on and off road. The same can be said for a lot of weight in front of the front axle. In my youth - not understanding much of anything - I put a heavy steel bumper and winch on the front of a 1988 Toyota 4-Runner and did not make any changes to the suspension to accommodate that extra weight. I am quite certain that the added weight contributed to an accident in which I totaled the car (but was fortunate to walk away without a scratch). There were unusual circumstances, for sure: I was driving late at night in nearly a foot of fresh snow, and this was before I ran dedicated snow tires in the winter. I crested a hill and started coming down around a corner, only to see a car in the middle of the road (teenagers out throwing spins in the snow), I had to go two wheels up on the embankment to avoid t-boning their car. After I got around them and back on the road, my car started fishtailing down the hill; there was a sheet of ice under the snow on this side of the hill. I ran off the road, took out a series of posts in a retaining fence, and then came to a halt when the vehicle got wrapped around a big steel post.
I've always believed that the added weight in front of the front axle contributed to my inability to regain control of the vehicle. This issue of adding weight in front of the front axle came up in an earliler thread on this forum (I don't remember the thread name), and I made the argument that added weight up front must be addressed in the suspension with heavier-rated springs/shocks (though I did not provide my personal anecdote for why it mattered to me so much). Vehicle manufacturers recognize this, and have multiple spring packages depending on vehicle specifications: gas engine vs diesel engine, steel bumper vs plastic bumpers, a front winch or not (available on some Jeep, Ram, and Ford vehicles).
I've also always believed that the steel bumper absorbed a huge amount of impact in my crash - perhaps saving my life. It was wrapped around the steel post like tissue paper, and visually, it just looked like it absorbed huge amounts of energy. So I was interested to see that the BHP tests showed greater intrusion into the cab (in particular the foot well) during a crash, when a vehicle has a heavy steel bumper.
One thing the video did not address was animal strikes, and these pose a different risk to driver and passengers than the crash-testing that was performed. There seem to be two distinct threats from an animal strike: (1) damage to the front end of the vehicle (radiator, or something else), making it undriveable; this could be a major problem if one is far from phone service or any other kind of help, and (2) after being struck by the bumper, the animal hits the windshield and this results in injury to the driver and/or front passenger (possibly resulting in loss of control of the vehicle). The BHP testing addressed the consequences of an impact to the bumper, and resulting intrusion into the cabin, but did not address the consequences of an animal strike: vehicle driveability or the secondary impact of the animal to the windshield.
It might be that the costs and benefits of a heavy steel bumper come down to specific circumstances: were appropriate adjustments to the suspension made? And perhaps - at what speed did the incident occur? I would guess that a steel bumper with a bull bar could provide 100% protection to a vehicle and its occupants in a relatively low-speed collision with an animal, whereas a stock vehicle would suffer some damage. But at high speed, maybe the steel bumper poses a threat to the vehicle occupants (as described in the video and associated pdf file).
In any case - maybe the key lesson is to be really thoughtful about any modifications to a vehicle.
