Automotive

Dent Bot to protect vehicles from parking lot mishaps

Dent Bot to protect vehicles from parking lot mishaps
The Dent Bot deploys at a push button command
The Dent Bot deploys at a push button command
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Dent Bot uses deployable bumpers to protect against car dings
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Dent Bot uses deployable bumpers to protect against car dings
The Dent Bot bolts to the bottom of the car
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The Dent Bot bolts to the bottom of the car
The Dent Bot protects and 4x4 doors
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The Dent Bot protects and 4x4 doors
The Dent Bot is still in the early prototype phase
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The Dent Bot is still in the early prototype phase
The Dent Bot deploys at a push button command
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The Dent Bot deploys at a push button command
View gallery - 5 images

As every car owner know, dents, dings, and scratches are an ever-present annoyance waiting to happen. On the grounds that the best defense is an active one, Ireland-based Dent Bot Automotive has come up with a concept design aimed at protecting cars against carpark dings by means of a deployable set of buffers that ward off open doors and other hazards.

Dent Bot installs under the car body using already existing holes to bolt on – making it, according to the company, "virtually invisible" when retracted. When deployed at a pushbutton command, it sets up bumpers over the lower and middle areas of the doors to not only protect against dings due to regular car doors opening, but also from 4x4 doors.

The company says that when retracted, the unit has enough clearance to avoid speed bumps, and is equipped with rubber boots and metal shields to prevent fouling by road dirt and gravel. It also claims that when deployed the Dent Bot only extends to the outer edge of the wing mirror, so it won't interfere with neighboring parking spaces.

The Dent Bot is still in the early prototype phase
The Dent Bot is still in the early prototype phase

The Dent Bot is still in the early prototype stage, so there will probably be a number of refinements before it's offered to the public. However, in its current design displays a number of potential shortcomings.

When deployed, it only covers part of the doors and leaves the wings, front, and rear open to damage. The bumpers may protect against some door dings, but maybe not all. They also seem a prime candidate to catching shins and could be a real nuisance in the sort of very cramped spaces where the device is most likely to be deployed.

The company says that Dent Bot will be the focus of a Kickstarter campaign sometime in the next six months. What do you think? Does this idea have legs?

The short animation below shows Dent Bot being deployed.

Source: Dent Bot

Dent Bot Car Dent Prevention

View gallery - 5 images
6 comments
6 comments
PimplyDykBallz
If someone wants to damage your car, they'll damage it. Doesn't matter what kind of stupid gimmick you try to stop it.
Germano Pecoraro Designer
But I think that the problem of the doors beaten against other car is a matter of rudeness of the people. I have some doubts on the operation of this idea: the safety bar is not too low? The sausages are not enough rubber self-adhesive provided by all car manufacturers and accessories?
CAVUMark
Just make the parking space larger, like they were in the 60s before the need to cram a thousand cars into the space required for 500.
Bob Flint
Not just the big ass SUV's but the beater that doesn't care where it's doors whip out too.
Just don't park where there could be trouble, drive an old shitbox, so what, or I like the offensive type of pointy lug nuts on some of the semi rigs, they will do some damage.
the.other.will
A car with a frame & plastic body panels instead of unibody construction is highly resistant to minor damage from front to back, top to bottom. I once backed into 1 & was greatly relieved to discover it had not suffered any damage.
michael_dowling
This story brings to mind my precious '96 SL-2 Saturn,which was destroyed in a head on. The polymer body panels kept her looking factory fresh till the day she died..