Bumpers

[matthew-parker]

I believe that the composite body of the Aptera will be tough enough to withstand any bumps a vehicle might experience in a parking situation without damage.

[george-hughes]

Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

I do think the weight and composite construction will protect the Aptera in most low-speed impacts. I don’t think we want to make too much of its light weight in the parking facet as people may wonder if they can just power the Aptera out of the city parking with a ‘push’ to make room for their 4-ton “Lightening.”

I think the real reality is the bumperless look, which is attractive as hell, is one of the reasons to stay with a three-wheeled ‘autocycle’ with its different regulations.

My personal recommendation is that Aptera forego a four-wheeled version until the bumper regs are re-written as that hit alone would likely increase the coefficient of drag to .20 from the get-go.

[len]

I have seen the Sol and Noir and the ahve been shown in maybe several dozen videos by now for you to search and see “ that helps “

I attached a picture of the Sol next to a man that I would say was about 5’6” tall so you can see the tail of the Aptera is not that low.

The front is like a sports car. I had a Honda Civic Si, which I would guess was just as low and the bumper. It was never hit in the eleven years I owned it, that I could tell from the bumper or license plate… and my bumper had a clear film wrap,so ….it would show an abrasion. Maybe I was lucky

Photo attached at eleven years old.

Nowadays I look for easy exercise ( a walk ) and would park my Aptera away from the others and walk to my destination where possible.

I hope this helps somewhat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[JRWiley]

I agree that the Aptera looks as cool as hell without bumpers. I just want to feel comfortable parallel parking this little beauty between 2 other cars. I too would choose to park away from others in a large lot that is not full; however, once a week I drive to a small coastal town in SC to teach and all that is available there in the way of parking is curbside parallel metered parking. Guess I could park it in a grocery store lot a mile away and take an Uber.

[john-malcom]

I agree with George. I believe the materials will withstand a parallel parking bump. Aptera has said this as well. The safety crash testing (To automobile standards) should shed some light on this issue. In the end only reports from owners with real world experience will resolved the discussion

[dean-mcmanis]

I would really worry if my car’s bumpers were ever “used”. New cars do have support bars in the front and rear of all vehicles, but the damage of any impact with modern vehicles is going to be costly. I have older cars that still have bumpers, but I’ve never used them in decades of ownership. Now parking lot door dings are far more common, but it seems that the composite body would be less prone to damage than steel panels on a traditional car. I can understand your concern, especially if the car is left unattended on a public street, but I think that the Aptera will do as good as most cars in this regard.

[kerbe2705]

Given the range of proximity sensors and cameras what will be part of every Aptera, you’d pretty much need to make a special effort to damage the vehicle during parking maneuvers…

[Riley]

The sol alpha prototype already got curb rash that is very visible due to the black composite under the vinyl. I can’t imagine they were letting just anyone go for a test drive. My guess is many people will accidentally damage their aptera. I really hope they put some advanced sensors on the wheel pants.

[ray-holan]

Hi, John. I live in a suburb of Cleveland Ohio and, as others in this thread have mentioned, parallel parking is a rare occurrence in my life.

However, as your parallel parking is a regular thing, I could see cobbling together large blocks of styrofoam for the front and rear of the Aptera when parallel parked. Easy to stash in the cargo area and wouldn’t add much weight. When you park, these could be secured with elastic bands similar to the OEM camper kit package. They wouldn’t withstand a heavy hit, but would protect both ends of the vehicle from the kind of taps the Aptera would sustain from some other party who was parallel parking “by ear”. They’d be homely looking, but effective.

[glenn-zajic]

I believe, without adding any hardware, Aptera could have a sentry mode when parked that could flash headlights and sound horn when a vehicle approached (like within a foot) and then really blare when it got within 6 inches. Snapping a photo would really give it a kick! While I think the car could take a bump I don’t drive in braille and wish others would show consideration, but some just don’t!