Unsafe at any speed

Cosmetic, non-functional “roll bars” and “roll

cages” (known as style bars or monkey bars)

are common among the show car crowd. Many

sanctioning bodies require fully functional roll

bars or roll cages when capable of certain levels

of performance. Basically, as your car gets faster,

the safety requirements get more involved. Many

show cars display cage-mounted chrome fire

extinguishers and race-style harnesses for more

image boosting. As a result of this trend, a truly

dangerous phenomenon has cropped up: cars

that are modified, improperly, for a race-ready

look with

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 “Style bars” that are more likely to injure or

kill their occupants than a completely stock

car. For example, the bars in the adjacent

figure don’t have any diagonal bracing, so

they may simply fold over.

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 Fire extinguishers that can’t put out more

than a cigarette, yet are mounted where they

can contact a passenger’s head

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 “Aero” or “Body” kits, made of various mate-

rials that do not deform in safe, predictable

ways, and/or require the removal of factory

bumper bars that are designed to channel

impact energy into the appropriate crumple

zones of your car’s chassis