So the Disco 2 may not be the best vehicle for crashes as has been shown in crash tests....foot well intrusion and less impact absorption than uni-body vehicles has been proven. But one common thing I see is collapse of the front roof on rollovers. Many factors go into every accident, but the front A pillars are I think weak for the vehicle weight. First pic shows the typical roof collapse that I have seen in many accident pics (this one from a forum member). However, second pic shows rollover with a roof rack. Now these roof racks are NOT safety devices, but maybe they offer a touch more rollover safety? Third pic is roof collapse and front half compression from high speed fatal impact with a tree. No one is going to survive this type of impact.......

Internal roll cage would be better, but there are also other impact effects of a roll cage.....

Don;t want to start a whole safety discussion, but rather focus on thoughts of rollover with roof rack....

 

When I was very very young (23-25) I rolled my 97 D1. I technically rolled 3 times, and once back onto my wheels I then went head on into a 2ft diameter tree trunk. The front end of my D1 was about 1ft shorter, but all 5 doors opened/closed like new. Like you said it all depends on the particular accident.

Now roof rack vs non roof rack I've seen more than half the vehicles with roof racks actually loose their roof racks during the accident. If it actually stays on and you end up on your roof sure I could see it acting like a crush zone to absorb some of the impact.

 

Those are 3 different accidents

The first one appears that the Rover ran INTO something that then went up and over the the roof, crushing it. See that there is no damage to any side doors, rear of the roof is fine, etc. Damage is all centralised to nose, hood, windshield, front of roof. Possibly went off an embankment and landed on its nose?

Second crash was clearly and lateral roll over. See the damage on the side doors, fenders, etc with limited hood damage.

And third was clearly a head on

A roof rack wouldn't do much of anything to help in a rollover, since the rack doesnt add any structure, it just its on top of the structure. MAYBE it might help by spreading the load out, but I wouldn't count on that

 

I had tipped an 03 over on its side, sliding down a hill in some winter conditions. the initial point of impact on this tip was driver A pillar.

I was on a group ride with a rover club. As y’all seem to agree; every accident is packed with particular conditions.

I had an Urban off road roof rack - which i believe to be one of the guys from safety devices on there own? In either case the rack bent, and mangled a little bit In driver front corner and the A pillar sustained the slow pressure& all glass remained & doors opened without any problem. I was not super lucky that time - but the guys flipped my truck over and drove it home. I’ll dig up the photo

 

So this is kinda the discussion i was hoping for .....I do believe that in your circumstance, the roof 'cage' does offer some form of additional structural integrity. Barrel rolling at 80mph vs low speed roll, totally different.... These roof racks are only clamped in place to a thin steel flange, BUT...may still be beneficial in certain accidents. OR, maybe you would not have rolled if you did not have the extra weight of the roof rack.....hmmmmm

 

 

looks like it held up pretty good
my wife got t boned by a mini van in my 04 disco going about 80 kilometres hour got hit right between the front and rear passenger door. Held up really good my wife was undamaged rig was a write off.

Now these tests were probably done when they were brand new

20 years later and maybe some frame rust lift etc might be a bit different

 

Test looks better than the 2019/2020 Jeep Wrangler JLU which rolled over after hitting the wall!

 

It’s hard to say weather or not the roof rack in a particular case would offer structural integrity. If I was a betting man, I think I’d pass on that one personally.

the weight of these trucks are not terribly higher then the chassis. Leaving the majority of the structure above the doors full glass right?

the tubing of the roof rack is really not Designed for structure either. What is the load rating spread over (4’ x 10’ ) the rack and/or the gutter rails? 300/400lbs? I’ve had my roof rack hang up on a branch on the trail and nearly peel the gutter rail off the truck like a can opener while breathing in the gas pedal. When I disassembled the roof rack to straighten out & salvage, welding in new pieces - it’s not even .125”? Perhaps .0625”

sure do appreciate its use tho. Do I feel safer with it up there? Never thought of it like that... I don’t think I’d expect Much from it.

 

There is no doubt that a full length rack would help spread any load across a broader area of the roof, loading the center (stronger) pillars more. Dropping it directly on the roof fully inverted would be the best case scenario, but even a mostly frontal or side rollover would still experience some additionaly load spreading from the roof rack. Pretty high level of reckless driving to get a Disco on the roof though. Much lower cg than a Jeep, any Jeep, due to the lower body and engine weight and higher axle and frame weight. Still, part of the reason I am mostly against lifting trucks unless your offroad weekly, because the rollover probability does go up.