Why is the rear end or bumper of a Truck called Mansfield bar?

You must have seen this bumper at the rear-end of a truck or a trailer. Ever wondered what the name of this, is?

This article is about the rear-end bumper called 'Mansfield bar' and its naming, which is fitted on a truck or a trailer that we often happen to see on the roads. It, sometimes, is also called 'ICC bumper'. Large, heavy vehicles are often a huge threat to the lighter passenger vehicles on the highways. You must have heard of, or even witnessed collisions of cars with heavy trucks and trailers. Therefore, the government set rules and regulations to try to make trucks safer and subsequently, the lighter vehicles too, which is followed across the truck industry all over the world.

A head-on collision is something that we can barely avoid, unless we remain careful while driving. But, there have been many cases wherein the vehicles running behind a truck or a trailer ram into the undercarriage as it happens to be high enough for a car to easily slip under. In order to avoid such accidents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) set new regulations for the truck industry by providing a red-end bumper that hangs from the lower end of a truck or a trailer. 

An under-ride bar, which goes by the name 'Mansfield bar', was made mandatory on all the large trucks. They are sometimes striped or have reflectors on them to help be easier to see in the dark, which hangs down from the bottom of the bed of the truck at the back.

The woman in the above picture has a tragic contribution to this. You must be wondering as to how she could be associated with this. Well, this life-saving invention was named after her. She was Jayne Mansfield, a popular American actress, a singer and a model during 1950s-60s.

Jayne Mansfield

On 29th June, 1967, Jayne Mansfield, her lawyer, her driver and three of her five children were driving from an appearance in Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans for an interview, early in the morning. 

It was around 2:30 am, when her car came up on a tractor-trailer too fast, unable to see it because of anti-mosquito for clouding the highway. The little car didn't just kiss the rear-end of the trailer but completely thrashed into the undercarriage from behind, shearing off the roof of the car completely, killing the three adult passengers in the car instantly. Luckily, the three children in the back seat, survived with minor injuries.

Shortly, thereafter, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) made it mandatory for all the trucks and trailors to be fitted with under-ride bars, also called 'Mansfield bar' or 'ICC bumper'. The steel bar hangs at the rear-end of the cargo area and is designed to stop a car before it rolls underneath a truck or a trailer.

Crash test being done, to check the strength of the Mansfield bar

A lot of Mansfield / ICC / Under-ride bars are not designed and fitted well enough. This results in its collapsing when they are rammed hard, or the force concentrated on either side and as a result, the car ramming from behind, thrashes under the truck. In India, even though under-run protection is mandatory by law, it's not sufficiently strict. In most cases, they are poorly designed.

As you could see in the above demonstration, the Mansfield bar on your right, has the vertical members much closer to the center of the truck whereas they should be away, so that the overhanging portion of the bar is reduced as much as possible.

If you hit a truck from behind, even at a slow speed, the lack of under-ride protection could result in severe injury to your upper body and head, irrespective of your car's safety features.

In more than 7 Indian states, carelessly parked trucks have caused 8,304 deaths in a span of 2 years.

The following tips might help you avoid any untoward incident while driving :

• Try your utmost to avoid following trucks on the highway, especially the ones without Mansfield / under-ride bars.

• There's a lot of other reasons as to why you shouldn't follow trucks, they obfuscate your visibility of the road ahead, they throw up dirt onto your windscreen, sometimes, stones too. Many trucks don't even have clear brake lights or brake lights mounted way too high.

• Always maintain a safe distance from a truck or a trailer because you never know when they might abruptly apply brake while you remain totally unaware of what's going on in front of the vehicle.

• Avoid driving at night as old trucks with no rear lighting, slow-moving trucks with dirt-covered lights could be dangerous.

• Avoid driving in poor visibility conditions.

A young, beautiful woman lost her life for us to not lose ours..

The safety measures improved at the expense of her life  😢

Here is a video, showing her death car and a lot more about the incident :

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