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 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
