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Bonnet Air Bag - Wrap

17K views 38 replies 14 participants last post by  Barnsh 
#1 ·
Hi gents, I went to get a price for wrapping the cars mirror caps and side vents in gloss black and the wrappers asked if I wanted the bonnet air bag doing too...

Do I? I think it would look good. They've said they've done it before and don't remove it to do it.

Any safety issues with doing this? Would it look good or look cr@p?

Cheers,

Jim
 
#2 ·
I do know LR received a notification from head office instructing dealers not to paint it.
Not sure if wrapping will affect operation.
 
#3 ·
Hello Jim,

I recall this being discussed on here before and the question of loss of insurance cover was always a topic.

I suspect this would be a problem in the U.K. it's definitely not allowed here in Germany and doing so would mean that the vehicle is no longer legally allowed on the road.
 
#5 ·
If you watch the YouTube videos the cover is propelled out of the way by the air bags ... I suppose any extra added weight may stop this ...
 
#7 ·
depicus said:
PaulTheWall said:
If you watch the YouTube videos the cover is propelled out of the way by the air bags ... I suppose any extra added weight may stop this ...
There is more than enough force to eject it, remember it has to function if covered in snow so a little paint is not going to make the slightest difference ;)
I agree with you. Equally the weight of vinyl wrap for that space is only going to be 100g so insignificant. It would be an issue if the whole bonnet were wrapped in a single skin though.
 
#8 ·
At the end of the day JLR specifically say don't do it, I agree it seems stupid .
But it's a chance you take with insurance whether they class that as modifying a safety
system.

It's up to each owner to make their own decision in the end.
After all jlr do sell black ones at an extortionate cost which depending on mareket contains the airbag too.

As an aside the new velar can be ordered with body colour so they are listening to the fact we hate the silver intrusion on the bonnet .
 
#12 ·
I'm not keen on the grey panel either, would rather it was black.
 
#13 ·
depicus said:
Chippy said:
It's a change (no matter how minor) to a safety relevant part and the authorities are very particular about such things.
But it's not a mandatory safety feature so no legal requirement for it to work or even be installed.
That may well be so but the vehicle homologation includes the pedestrian airbag and as such a modification negates that homologation. I don't know the situation in the U.K. but in Germany it definitely would and but would suspect that the situation is the same.
 
#14 ·
depicus said:
Chippy said:
It's a change (no matter how minor) to a safety relevant part and the authorities are very particular about such things.
But it's not a mandatory safety feature so no legal requirement for it to work or even be installed.
And your insurance IS based on those safety features. Why not just buy a black one and be done with it , no risk and you can always sell the other one on eBay.
 
#16 ·
Barnsh said:
And your insurance IS based on those safety features. Why not just buy a black one and be done with it , no risk and you can always sell the other one on eBay.
No it isn't. And there is no legal requirement so nothing to do with homologation. You're confusing legally required things like lights and mirrors with safety features that are there just to make our lives better. If that were the case my car would be illegal every day in winter while I wait for the AEB to kick in. I can turn Lane Keep Assist off but this is a safety feature.

Yes but at £500+ and fitting costs against the £100 or less for a wrap I can see why people would prefer to wrap.
 
#19 ·
depicus said:
No it isn't. And there is no legal requirement so nothing to do with homologation. You're confusing legally required things like lights and mirrors with safety features that are there just to make our lives better. If that were the case my car would be illegal every day in winter while I wait for the AEB to kick in. I can turn Lane Keep Assist off but this is a safety feature.

Yes but at £500+ and fitting costs against the £100 or less for a wrap I can see why people would prefer to wrap.
Wrapping small areas such as this is easy especially with the wrap that has air tracks in the adhesive. All you need to buy is the vinyl off eBay. I've done a couple of sets of chrome trim now on Jaguars and even a chrome grill surround.

I will be wrapping the surround on the Dynamic grill when I get it rather than spraying it.

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#20 ·
I agree with the weight being insignificant utility what other technical reason could it be ...
 
#21 ·
depicus said:
Barnsh said:
And your insurance IS based on those safety features. Why not just buy a black one and be done with it , no risk and you can always sell the other one on eBay.
No it isn't. And there is no legal requirement so nothing to do with homologation. You're confusing legally required things like lights and mirrors with safety features that are there just to make our lives better. If that were the case my car would be illegal every day in winter while I wait for the AEB to kick in. I can turn Lane Keep Assist off but this is a safety feature.

Yes but at £500+ and fitting costs against the £100 or less for a wrap I can see why people would prefer to wrap.
If you hit a pedestrian it would be interesting if insurance would pay out having modified the cover ?
The fact you can't turn Ped bag off means the cars insurance has this weighting attached to the classification of the car as it is standard fit.
 
#24 ·
JimmyMature said:
Barnsh said:
I guess the correct answer would be ask your insurance company.
Absolutely my insurance firm are very good for mods, my last car MK7 GTI was remapped and a few external changes and they were told about everything and other than the remap they just updated the records without price increase.

Wouldn't imagine they would be very good if you added a mod that the manufacturers have specifically told dealers not to do.

Jim
 
#25 ·
philn said:
JimmyMature said:
Barnsh said:
I guess the correct answer would be ask your insurance company.
Absolutely my insurance firm are very good for mods, my last car MK7 GTI was remapped and a few external changes and they were told about everything and other than the remap they just updated the records without price increase.

Wouldn't imagine they would be very good if you added a mod that the manufacturers have specifically told dealers not to do.

Jim
But the manufacturers don't advise re-maps.... 😎
 
#26 ·
depicus said:
Barnsh said:
And your insurance IS based on those safety features. Why not just buy a black one and be done with it , no risk and you can always sell the other one on eBay.
No it isn't. And there is no legal requirement so nothing to do with homologation. You're confusing legally required things like lights and mirrors with safety features that are there just to make our lives better. If that were the case my car would be illegal every day in winter while I wait for the AEB to kick in. I can turn Lane Keep Assist off but this is a safety feature.

Yes but at £500+ and fitting costs against the £100 or less for a wrap I can see why people would prefer to wrap.
I'm afraid I disagree. A vehicle homologation doesn't cover only legal but also technical issues.
Just because something isn't a legal requirement doesn't mean it isn't covered by the homologation.

Technical issues can be discussed and agreed between the vehicle manufacturer and the homologation authorities. Is they may, for instance, agree that an AEB system needs "X" amount of time to activate. That's written into the specification and agreed or not.

It's the same with the pedestrian airbag cover. JLR put forward a proposal and it was accepted by the approval authorities. If any changes are made then JLR are required to go through that part of the approval process again and that's one reason why they have told people that no changes are allowed. If the hadn't have done that then they are liable.

As Barnsh said anyone wanting to make a change can ask their insurance company. Just don't forget to again if you change insurer.

That's the end of my rant on this.
 
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