What Is the Purpose of a Truck Sport Bar?
Photo: GMC
If you’re shopping for accessories to install on your pickup truck, you should understand the function of a sport bar before you choose to buy it. What purpose do these rounded, tubular beams serve when they’re mounted on a truck bed? Are they just there to look cool and tough, or is there a functional reason to install a sport bar on your truck?
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Why do some trucks have triangular beams installed across the bed?
Originally, these round beams mounted to the upper edges of the truck bed served two purposes during off-roading: supporting the truck’s structural integrity during rollovers and housing auxiliary forward-facing lights.
The pointed right angle of the rear end of a truck cab can cave in if it impacts with the ground or obstructions at a certain velocity and angle, putting the passengers inside at risk. A true roll bar is made of resilient steel to disperse impact force and give extra support to the cab, reinforcing its structure so it doesn’t bend or crumple during a rollover. Not every sport bar is made to function as a roll bar, though, so don’t assume that any product you purchase provides this extra support. Some sport bars are purely for visual appeal or as light mounts.
Sport bars with lightbulbs on them give better visibility at night, whether that’s on the highway, on rural country roads, or in the wilderness.
These triangular-mounted sport bars used to be very common on pickup trucks a couple decades ago. Light bars in particular were an iconic upgrade on tricked-out pickup trucks in the 1980s, immortalized by Marty McFly’s Toyota SR5 in Back to the Future.
But as trucks became more durable and more domestic, these aftermarket enhancements faded out of popularity.
As with many fads, though, sport bars are now making a comeback that’s heavily fueled by nostalgia and innovation. Some off-road-ready trims on mass-produced pickup trucks like the 2021 GMC Canyon come with sport bars for functional and aesthetic reasons. Technology has caught up with light bars, as today’s models have high-end functions like retractable LED lights with remote Bluetooth operation.
If you plan on going off-roading, need extra lights for viability, or just want your truck to look cooler, a sport bar is a snazzy upgrade that you should consider.
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Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.