Q&A - Bumper and Headlamp Heights

Q&A ImageQuestion: With all the off-road looking trucks on the road, I would like to know if there is a law regarding the heights of bumpers and head lights on all vehicles. Some of these seem extremely dangerous in the event of an accident. The bumpers are at window height for most cars and the lights are blinding to other drivers at night.

Yes, there are standards for minimum and maximum heights for both bumpers and headlights.

Bumper Standards

Let's look at bumpers first. Division 7 of the Regulations has this to say:

Bumpers, mudflaps

12 A motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, shall be equipped with a front bumper, and where a replacement bumper has been installed, it shall give substantially the same protection as the bumper originally installed by the manufacturer.

A motor vehicle shall be equipped with a rear bumper where the manufacturer of the vehicle installed a bumper, and where a replacement bumper has been installed, it shall give substantially the same protection as the original bumper.

A bumper shall be securely fastened to the vehicle, and the bumper bar or brackets shall not be broken, loose or missing.

A bumper must not have a sharp or ragged edge and must not protrude beyond the side of the vehicle.

From this, one could infer that a change made to the bumper itself means that it needs to be the same width, height and position as the original.

Bumper Heights 

As for height from the ground, we'll consult the Superintendent's Standards and find that for passenger cars the centre of the bumper must be within 400 and 500 cm above ground and light trucks must have the lowest part of the bumper no higher than 750 mm from the ground.

A modified collector vehicle may have a bumper center that lies within 180 and 560 mm from the ground.

Headlight Heights

Now for the headlights:

Headlamps

4.05 (2)  The headlamps must be mounted at a height of not less than 56 cm and not more than 1.37 m.

(3)  Subsection (2) does not apply to highway construction and maintenance equipment.

The height is measured from ground level to the centre of the lens.

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