Differences in NSX door protection bars

[MvM]

After a long long time I am finally nearing the end of the repair of my NSX.
It has taken a much longer time than I expected but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel right now :smile:

At the moment I am helping out putting the car back together again and am busy right now with putting all the stuff back into the doors of the car. Unbelievable just how much nuts, bolts and other assorted stuff goes in there. I did notice however a difference between my left and right hand door.
Both doors have a collision protection bar welded into it and I noticed the left door has a rectangular one while the right has a tubular one.
As far as I know the left door is original (my NSX is a 1994) and the left door (replaced) one is from before that.
My question now is: In which production year was this change made and for what reason. Is the rectangular bar better/stronger/lighter than the round one or is it just because of production reasons.

Just curious...

 

[DrVolkl]

Not sure of years/etc, but U.S. federal side impact regulations change every now and then....or it could be an aftermarket repair made by someone else or it could just be the way Honda made it.

 

[ScienceofSpeed]

I've only seen tubular bars in the various doors I've seen. However, I doubt that someone changed this. Honda has multiple suppliers for the same part. In general, a circular tubular shape will give the best strength/weight ratio.

Regards,
-- Chris

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

It took me a little to dig up this thread, but it stuck with me. For certain the 91-94 doors all seem to have the older tubular steel beams held in by the welded rounded brackets. I can say for certain that the early steel ones in particular are relatively heavy for you weight savings enthusiasts out there.

The 97+ doors seem to have the newer aluminum rectangular reinforcement for the side impact beams.

I am guessing that the 95-96 beams are identical to the 91-94 beams. That would be the logical conclusion as consistent per the front and rear beam changes which had also occured in the 97 model year.

Thus, I am fairly certain that the answer to the original inquiry was also 1997.