When it comes to ensuring your car’s safety on a budget, bumper protectors often make it to the top of the list.
It is for good reason too.
By attaching to the edges or sides of your bumper, these protectors become the first point of contact against unforeseen impacts. As a result, they keep your actual bumper safe from extensive damage that can stem from bumpy roads and other vehicles.
With the consistent safety of these protectors, you not only save on significant repair costs but also cut your spending on replacement bumpers every now and then.
Due to these reasons, it has become a norm to have these bumper protectors installed on your car in order to boost its safety and durability. No matter the type of car you drive, you can easily find a protector that fits your vehicle perfectly.
But as it happens with every other automotive part, bumper protectors are also going through rapid innovation. These advancements are already noticeable through the variety of materials and designs that are available in these accessories. However, this is just the start.
Due to the breakthroughs in current automotive technology, bumper protectors are set for a major overhaul in the next 10 years.
Bumper Protectors Have Come a Long Way
When bumper protectors first came to the market, they were available in the form of large attachments that essentially hid the rest of your bumper. They provided protection alright. But it came at the cost of your car’s aesthetic and overall visuals. These designs still appeal to some people, which is why they are still widely available. But they are definitely not for the minimalist at heart.
However, when the concept of bumper lips hit the market, it changed bumper protection with it. With this sleek alternative, you could protect your car without putting any extensively large protective accessories over it. Today, bumper lips rank as one of the most popular types of protective accessories and remain easily accessible even through online vendors.
Other types of bumper protectors constantly try to mimic this targeted protection approach of bumper lips. Some fail, while others succeed, but automotive aficionados still don’t shy away from giving novel designs a try.
This shows that bumper protectors have come a long way since their initial usage. With the pace that car trends are taking in the current day and age, it is safe to project that these protectors are going to advance further in the near future.
Usage of Different Materials May Gain Popularity
Instead of being made from a single material, some bumper protectors have started utilizing a mix of high-end materials during their manufacturing process.
By integrating different materials such as steel, rubber, vinyl, and even heavy-duty plastic, these accessories become more than a piece of a single matter. As a result, these bumper protectors sport the proper shape to defend the contours of front and rear bumpers, and the right level of shock absorption to hold their own against impacts.
However, most of these bumper protectors are currently only available for use in stationary cars, which means you can put them on your car just when it is parked. This limits the usage of these bumpers and what they bring to the table. But the performance they deliver still remains undeniable.
With this in mind, it’s easy to say that this usage of different materials may influence other forms of bumper protectors that could be used throughout your drive.
Safety Features Will Reign Supreme
With the advancement of technology, it has become imperative for bumper guards to offer more novel solutions. For these protectors, turning to safety features is one of many ways to achieve this feat.
This is why, the usage of reflective coating in bumper card design has also become popular in the past few years. These bumper protectors reflect light whenever they are faced with another vehicle. This is a highly essential feature to have in your car, whether you are pulled over at the side of the road or parked your car in a designated public space.
Seeing that this feature is highly economical yet quite critical, many bumper protectors have started utilizing it within their products. This includes conventional parking-use options and bumper lip variations alike. Due to this popularity, it’s fair to project that the use of reflective material may just become a typical feature of bumper protectors in the future.
Alternative Approaches Would Gain Traction
Apart from conventional bumper protectors and sleek bumper lips, there are various other alternatives available to protect your bumpers.
These include rubber protectors that attach to your license plate as an expanded frame, foam guards that hang above your bumper like a string, and plastic strips that become an extended part of your bumper’s center. To summarize, the more you look, the more options you have to protect your bumper.
Some of these approaches are parking-use only. But others also work optimally during drives. This makes them strong contenders to the typical forms and options that come to mind when you think of bumper guards.
In the light of these advancements, it is quite easy to predict that we might see a number of these alternative products in the future - with a couple of them even becoming big hits in the sector.
Sustainable Materials Will Take Priority
Some of the most popular bumper protectors are made with thermoplastics. This is quite alarming for the environment, which is already on the verge of irreversible damage.
To cut the environmental impact of the automotive industry, most automobile manufacturers make it a point to adopt sustainable practices into their production cycle. But the same thing cannot be said about aftermarket components such as bumper protection accessories. While some companies use sustainable manufacturing techniques in their solutions, others are not so caring about the environment.
However, this will be changing in the near future with all manufacturers being in line with environmentally friendly policies. Some of it would stem from thought leaders in the automotive industry, most of whom already push for these practices. But a significant cause may also appear in the form of manufacturing regulations in certain countries, which would ask for automotive parts to be sustainable.
As a result, it is fair to expect that we might see sustainable bumper guards in the future, which would allow us to protect our planet just as much as we safeguard our vehicles.
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