Alright. This is something I think everyone should know. Especially the ones who trash grill guards all the time saying "they cause more damage in a minor accident"

A buddy of mine (Xterra owner also) has the same grill guard on his truck that I do. Well on the interstate someone was cutting him off but didnt pull all the way in front of him....Ended up hitting his front end. Well the Grill guard tore through part of the passenger door, and all through the engine compartment. And the grill guard is just warped and scratched now.....no MAJOR damage to the X other than scratches where the guard rubbed.

I think that there are probably times where the "guard" helps, but for your story, there are 2X as many stories of it doing more damage.

Yeah - And I can show plane crashes are safe because a buddy of mine was in one and he didn't get a scratch on him.



Seriously, it all depends on the exact circumstances, your freind's experience seems to involve someone cutting across the front, so the forces that would go through the other guy's door and engine compartment would not be the same as those pushing the guard towards the X, but pulling it away...the fact that it held up is great, but its like seat belts...sure, there are stories of people who swear that not wearing the belt allowed them to be tossed out of the open window onto a soft sofa bed on the side of the road rather than into the oncoming jack knifed truck, etc...

But, there are more people with stories of how the belt saved them, and how not wearing one killed or injured loved ones, etc.

(Mostly has to do with the representative number of examples you require to base statistical decisions on)