I’ve been contemplating style / role bars. I’m not overly interested in the style aspect, but think they can look oka, and would be interested if they offered a degree of protection in event of a role.
I know the only option is a cage for full protection, and style bars are basically style accessories, but has anyone fitted any of the chunkier ‘style’ bars, with safety also in mind? Bars on my 5 would have to accommodate the folded glass rear window. Thanks Ray.
Ray
When I bought my Berkeley it came with a style bar but I wanted to go back to original spec so found an original chrome brace bar from a club member and fitted that and I’m glad I did. With the style bar any rough road surfaces, humps, bumps, etc resulted in annoying body shake, rattle and roll (car not mine!) but having fitted the brace bar it is a lot firmer and much less annoying. The style bar looked much better but must have been flexing despite being bolted to the deck area as well.
G’day Ray
Problem with a lot of style bars is that in the event of a rollover, they fold forward neatly breaking your neck
I guess in the UK TR Lane are the latest go to people for roll bars
Two very good points, thank you. I don’t want to lose any body rigidity (thing are shaky enough on a bumpy road 
), and I certainly don’t to increase the risk of serious injury in the event of an accident (if a style bar collapsed forward).
I’ve seen the TR lanes type role bars, bu don’t think they would accommodate the glass back window.
Maybe there isn’t a real middle ground - an unobtrusive ‘style bar’ that keeps everything rigid, and adds an element of safety. Regards Ray
The “mousetrap” effect of style bars folding forward and apparently breaking people’s neck has been endlessly debated for at least 12 years on various forums. I am only aware of a tiny handful (2-3) where the bar may have bent forward, and none where the bar has caused any kind of injury to the occupant. On the other hand, people have reported various head injuries as they are knocked about in the cabin hitting their chunky, full safety approved, but unprotected rollbar. And, the “proper” rollbar padding is really meant to pprotect a head thats covered by a helmet.
For a style bar to fold forwards, the car has to be hitting the ground travelling in a generally backwards direction. Leaving aside that logic would suggest most accidents happen when you are travelling forward (I’d concede a catastrophc incident might change the direction, but something like that will be pretty much unsurvivable anyhow), but being generous, say you have somehow managed to turn the car over, 50% of the time you will be going forwards, 50% backwards. So 50% of the time, the bar might collapse backwards. But that then presumes the mounting bolts and welds will take the shear stresses. And then there is the sort of seat fitted to the car; Mk1 early cars, imports, Mk2 imports and Mk2.5s all generally have a high backed seat. A smaller n umber (1994-2000 UK cars, and certain imports) have a seat with a smaller detachable headrest. The highbacked seat contains a highbacked steel frame. Generally most of these style bars are the lower or the same height as the tallest part of the seat. If a bar falls forwards, assuming the above cicumstances are true, it might hit the seat first. It might thus break the seat mountings, meaning the occupant will have more than a neck injury.
The NHTSA gives the 2004 Miata MX5 a 5 star rollover rating; meaning it has a 10% chance of rolling over. Assuming a 50% probability of each nasty circumstance coming to pass (car moving backwards, bar falling forwards, bar mountings remaining intact, bar mysteriously not hitting the seat, bar breaking the neck of the occupant,) I make that a 0.625% of you getting into your MX5 tomorrow, and breaking your neck because of a rollbar. And in actual facts, its likely to be even less than that; the preponderance of fittings used in style bars is cheap, non-graded, the welding is purely cosmetic, the tubing chosen for cost, not strength.
On a serious note, a driver killed in the US had a style bar fitted. His passenger was ok. Photographs of the recovered car circulated on various forums, and seemed to indicate that the style bar had collapsed forward. Despite some comments from those at the scene that this was in fact caused by the recovery crews righting the car,. the manufacturer was concerned to recover the bar and carry out some meaningless testing. A footnote was that the driver was killed by a single blow to the head by a rock on the road that caused his car to roll at an estimated 40mph (there had been a rock fall). His side window was open, and the top was down.
Mike Satur produced photos a few years back of a style bar he had produced for a MGF, that had rolled in NZ. The occupants had described their survival as being due to the style bar. Maybe, but then, the car was also fitted with a hardtop at the time.
I regard style bars as safety neutral; don’t believe anyone who calls them a safety device, but also equally scathing of anyone calling them a deathtrap. They are what they are; style bars, fitted for style. I’ve no doubt someone will post a picture of a set of bars that have fallen forward, but I would post back about the Scottish owner who would say his style bar saved his life. Both are isolated incidents, that in themselves mean nothing, because of the amounts of variables involved.
So, are there any chassis-mounted roll bars that are actually designed to support the weight of the car when inverted, that, if properly padded, are far enough away from your head to offer decent protection for an occasional track-day warrior?
It is the road driving that is obviously more relevant in terms of unprotected head hitting solid steel bars.
There is only 1 rollbar that has actually been tested to bare the weight of the car, and thats the Boss Frog double hoop:
http://www.bossfrog.biz/Miata_Rollbars.html
Hard Dog bars have been shown to be, through experience, also strong, but thats just a happy coincidence with the makers following SCCA rules.
Safety Devices also offer the Speedster Hoops, which is/was promoted as a safety device rather than a full rollbar:
http://www.safetydevices.com/products/motorsport/36-mazda/215-mx5-mk2