Modular Krampe underride guard is awarded utility model

Legislation requires utility vehicles and trailers to have a rear underride guard. Designed to absorb the forces that develop in an underride crash, the guard consists of a horizontal steel beam with vertical bars that mount the beam to the chassis of the vehicle. The exact requirements for the design are specified by EU directives which also stipulate the exact distance from the horizontal bar to the ground and to the chassis. They also define the impact forces the underride guard must withstand in a collision.

Krampe allows its customers to adjust the height of the vertical mounts depending on the wheels and axle assemblies fitted. This means buyers can customise the guard to their exact requirements.

However, the requirements on a specific underride guard may change when the trailer is used in a different context. For example, for use on construction sites the underride guard should be able to be lifted up for increased ground clearance in heavy going and reversing closer to a heap.

By comparison, growers of vegetables and potatoes, for example, usually unload their crops onto conveyor belts or into bunkers. In this application, the underride guard must swing up or be pushed towards the chassis.

Listening to its customers, Krampe has developed a modular solution for the underride guard which uses exchangeable vertical mounts that customise the guard to the individual application and trailer specification.

Bolted to the finished trailer, the mounts are easily replaced if the trailer is fitted with larger tyres or if it is deployed to a different application. Whatever the assignment or specification of the trailer, the legal requirements are always met.

Depending on the individual design, the underride guard is either rigid or liftable or pivoting, offering a solution for any needs and in line with the latest EU ordinance which requires extensive stress tests to be carried out on the company test stand in collaboration with the GTÜ technical testing agency.

Krampe was granted the utility model for its modular underride guard at the end of 2020. This is now fitted to nearly all trailers within the framework of EU type approval.