Ex-Guard Industries – ‘Life Saver’

I was going through some old pictures on my phone and ran across from photos from a once in a lifetime event (hopefully)! Back in 2010 I was driving the last trucks I owned before coming over to PeopleNet. It was in the middle of the night, about 3am, on my way with a load of mattresses to Kalispell, MT for a 6am delivery. I was just west of Browning, MT about to head through Glacier National Park when I spotted a white cow on the dotted line.

I swerved to the right and missed the white cow narrowly, but while I was watching to make sure I missed the white cow, 30 yards behind him and in the middle of my lane was the black cow that I didn’t see (picture below from when the sun came up of the victim, or perp, depending on your perspective). It was full grown, and the impact was staggering. My speed decreased about 30 MPH instantly, alarms started going off, flashing lights appeared on the dash, to say I was shaken would be a gross understatement.

Thankfully when I bought this Freightliner Columbia I also purchased an Ex-Guard bumper protection system, or cow-catcher for short to country boys like me. Honestly, I didn’t expect to actually catch a cow. I just thought they looked sweet, and they were really to easy to use and still perform maintenance on my truck. I hadn’t had any large animal strikes in about a million miles of OTR driving to that point so while the percentage was low, the ROI was still there, one front end strike from even a deer can run into the tens of thousands in damage depending on your luck. That’s not even accounting for any towing, other things you might hit after the animal impact, or lost time, load recovery and so on. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, it looks SWEET!

I dare you to tell me this doesn’t look sweet 🙂

Above is the before picture. Below is the after impact picture.

I won’t mention my speed on this lonely MT highway with no one around at 3am, but the speed limit is 65 mph. After hitting the brakes while dodging the white cow let’s safely say I was probably going 55 mph when I struck the black cow. On both sides of this stretch of road are steep and long embankments. Taking a ride down one of those embankments was going to be expensive and not likely to end in an upright situation!!

The center of the cow struck just to the right of the grill in the picture. You can guess which way the hind end of the cow was facing! The cow slid to a stop on across the oncoming lane of traffic and about 100 feet into the grass down that embankment. So I didn’t hit the cow dead center, and much of the impact from the hind half of the cow was on that smaller section of the cow catcher.

You can see the cosmetic damage. Under the hood the power steering case was cracked and the air to air after cooler was pushed back about an inch at the top left of it (which I hadn’t noticed yet). My call whether to drive it or not. I still had Glacier Nat’l Park in front of me so I towed it to Kalispell.

While the truck was being repaired I did what everybody should do when in Kalispell, MT with a few days on their hands, go fishing!

My truck was patched up, with some bondo and straps so I could go back home and get all rest of the repairs done at my home shop while I was with my family.

Introducing the Columbia Black Angus Edition!

The bottom line is without this Ex-Guard Bumper Protection System this story has a potentially devastating outcome for me, and without a doubt, a more costly outcome for me and my insurance company. The cow probably would have had the same outcome either way! No injury to me and I got to go home to my family a couple days delayed, but home in one piece none-the-less. I didn’t need to get the truck retrieved from the puckerbrush (pucker being the operative portion of that word). The damage was relatively minor, just ask someone who has seen the aftermath of a strike like this without a protection system, and I was back on the road with less than a week of downtime, which I used wisely 🙂

This isn’t a paid story, this was all unsolicited, and started from a review I put on Ex-Guard’s Facebook page upon finding these photos from 2010. Since that first review I’ve gotten to chat with some of their folks and found out more about the company and the people behind the product I purchased.

Ex-Guard Industries is based in, and manufactures their bumper protection systems out of, Des Moines, IA. So it’s an American based company making incredibly durable and high quality products at reasonable prices. The ROI on these systems is REAL, just ask my wife and kids, and insurance agent! Protect your equipment, reduce downtime, and most importantly safeguard your company’s most valuable asset, YOUR PEOPLE!

Thank you Ex-Guard, from the bottom of my entire family’s hearts!

Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about my story in the comments or by connecting here. More importantly call Ex-Guard to protect your people!

-Anthony Elliot | Coury Cartage

THE 2018 NSRMCA SHOW

KEEPING HCR Contractors Safe

2018 NATIONAL STAR ROUTE ASSOCIATION EVENT

Western Region Manager Dennis Geipel and I recently attended the Western/Central National Star Route Mail Contractors Association (NSRMCA) as a vendor for their meeting held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, NV on Monday, January 15th through Wednesday, January 17th.

Dennis and I visited with many HCR contractors and mail haulers in Las Vegas that stopped by our vendor booth. Many of these same visitors gave us testimonials as to how the Ex-Guard grille and bumper protection system performed on their respective vehicles. The majority of the comments we received were very complimentary as to how Ex- Guard minimized downtime because of its well-proven ability to sustain multiple wildlife collisions little or minimal damage to trucks.

To give all of you some background, the NSRMCA represents over 17,000 United States Postal Service Highway Contract Route Carriers (HCR). The HCR routes consist of contract box delivery routes, which resemble a Postal rural route; and also larger contract routes that consist of the utilization of straight trucks all the way up to tractor/trailer long-haul routes. The Association has two basic objectives of providing legislative and regulatory protection for its membership and ultimately for the entire postal highway contracting industry.

Having worked with this industry for several years, it is clear to see how this industry is a ‘good fit’ for Ex-Guard, and how we could assist HCR straight truck and tractor/trailer mail haulers deliver their vital product with “certainty, celerity, and security, in accordance with the operating schedule”. Many of the HCR routes begin their day at dawn, and end at dusk, running a set schedule while others provide around the clock service going from point to point, city to city, and state to state.

With the HCR routes covering so many miles per day, it is no wonder many of the drivers for these HCR contractors encounter deer and other four-legged creatures. It is a high priority with the Postal Service that the HCR contractors reach their destinations on time, but the safety of the driver and equipment is of utmost importance. Protecting these Contractors is our business and we take it very seriously.

Ex-Guard is very supportive of the United States Postal Service and all the mail haulers across the U.S. I have had the honor and privilege of working with many of the Contractors that are members of the NSRMCA for over 3 decades prior to my career with Ex-Guard.

BOB SAXTON
Director of Marketing
EX-GUARD INDUSTRIES

ATA TMC – Truckers Against Trafficking

2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition

We are very honored to have partnered with the Truckers Against Trafficking organization at the TMC Convention, providing the Ex-Guard for the truck that was displayed on the “Everyday Heroes” truck. What an honor it was to take part in creating this unique truck, showcasing the positive changes the truck will bring within the trucking industry to help with the prevention of human trafficking. The proceeds from this truck’s auction will go towards funding the program’s expansion.

2018 New Generation Freightliner Cascadia Fog Light Test

VISIBILITY TEST

To ensure the quality of our product on the latest vehicle makes and models, we took the 2018 New Generation Cascadia for a test. The image on the right showcases the visibility of the truck with and without a guard.

The conditions are true to what truck drivers face daily. Conditions shown are dark and raining on an unlit road. The driver has on the fog and headlights. For New Generation Cascadia models with fog lights, you can use our standard guards or ask about the XG 100 Series Deep Guard designs.

To see more video’s from Ex-Guard, check out Ex-Guard on Youtube.

Highlights from the #TMC2017 Show!

2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition

Ex-Guard was proud to attend and exhibit our products at the American Trucking Association annual Technology & Maintenance Council held February 27 through March 2. There were over 9,000  attendees and exhibitors at this conference.  Several OEM booths at the show were presenting new models such as the International LT and the redesigned Freightliner Cascadia. Kenworth, Volvo, and others also had state-of-the-art displays which were real ‘eye catchers’ making each booth a great experience.

From the show, it is quite evident there are many changes occurring in the trucking industry ranging from Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) to brakes and wheel bearings. You name it, this show had it!

Another notable change is the prevalence of collision avoidance systems. Now more than ever, they are becoming an industry standard within all the latest trucks. This is an exciting change that Ex-Guard is ready for. We protect the Collision Avoidance Systems on the front of your truck with our advanced front-end protection products.

Bob Saxton, Director of Marketing