ausauto News Article

ARB ignores the doom and gloom

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the 'world financial crisis' it's good to see that at least one Australian manufacturer and retailer has an optimistic view of the future.

For many years, ARB has been persuing an extensive development program to produce and retail a range of quality 4WD accessories and this year looks like being no different.

First up is a new range of accessories for the Hummer H3 that includes a bull bar, rear bar, roof rack, Safari snorkel and Air Locker locking differentials.

An Old Man Emu suspension will be available very soon.

The five-fold upswept wing design bull bar has provision for IPF driving lights and CB aerials, dual hi-lift jacking points and can be colour coded to match individual paint finishes.

Designed to replace the OE assembly, the rear bar has a greater departure angle whilst still retaining the original equipment hitch receiver and factory recovery points.

The roof rack features a built in air deflector plate to help decrease wind noise and an option of a fully welded, steel mesh floor.

The company has also launched a portable fridge freezer ‘engineered by 4WDers for 4WDers'.

"From personal experience we knew there were features on current fridges that weren't up to scratch," says James Luke, ARB's chief engineer behind the project.

"So we focussed on these to create a fridge truly made for off roading.

"It took more than three years to design, dozens of prototypes and thousands of kilometres of field testing," he said.

The compressor requires only a small amount of space for mechanical components, giving greater storage capacity in the fridge interior.

Together with an evaporator integrated directly into the cabinet walls, this extra space translates into a usable capacity of 47 litres, or in lay terms, 72x375ml cans. "

"We didn't actually set out to make a three slab fridge, but I'm sure people will appreciate that we did," added James.

With a separate compartment for fruit and dairy, the interior cabinet also features a reversible basket, which offers the option of separating the fridge contents or allowing longer items such as fish to be positioned along the entire length.

"Considerable research and design has been dedicated to tackling the poor lid hinge and catch designs found in current portable fridges.

"While many fridges incorporate small hinge pins that are often difficult to reposition once the lid has been removed, the ARB Fridge Freezer utilises a unique stainless steel detent hinge that allows the lid to be easily and securely slid into position," said James.

Able to be operated on 12/24dc and 100-240v ac power, the ARB Fridge Freezer includes an integrated battery protection system so users can select the minimum operating voltage for the fridge to prevent excessive discharge of the vehicle battery.

Other new products include a  smooth and grained canopy for the Holden VE Commodore.